A REJUVENATED Brad Thomas continued his brilliant start to the Sunraysia Cricket Association (SCA) season, leading Nichols Point to a thrilling one-run win over Coomealla Wentworth on Saturday.
In his first season as captain, Thomas has not put a foot wrong, his contribution at the weekend, proving a game breaker.
Batting first, Thomas led the way with a patient 55 off 101 balls to help his side to 7/174 off their allocated 40 overs.
He then backed it up with 5/42 off 13 overs as the Pointers dismissed the Blues in the 38th over, one run shy of the target.
Thomas, who was lured to Nichols Point in the off-season, said the change had reignited his passion for the game.
“My biggest thing was I needed a bit of a challenge and something a bit fresh to get the enjoyment back into my cricket,” Thomas said.
“I feel like when I have got that challenge in front of me and the added responsibility of the captaincy, it brings the best out of me.”
Thomas is enjoying one of his best starts to a season for some time.
He has scored 271 runs, the most in the competition, at an average of 38.71.
“So far so good, but I would like to turn some more of those 40 and 50s into bigger scores, but hopefully with the two-day format coming up it suits my game a bit more and allows me to push on a bit further and get some bigger scores,” said Thomas.
Nichols Points’ improvement has come on the back of the inclusion of several news faces.
Thomas said greater depth had meant competition for spots had become more intense, which had contributed to more consistent performances.
“We probably had five out of our best 11 not playing on Saturday – three of those were Chappy (Daniel Chapman), Shaun (Mathews) and Alphie (Kaushik Aphale), so we knew we were going to be up against it, but we still had a fair bit of confidence with the guys we brought in that we could still get the win and luckily enough we did,” said Thomas. “The club as a whole is really enjoying it at the moment.
“I guess being able to bring in a few new blokes this year has created a bit of pressure at selection and it has brought the best out in people.
“We are really optimistic about our chances this year.”
