MILDURA West captain-coach Chris Williams says opening batsman Ben Hallam has been able to capitalise on his hard work this season.
Hallam, Mildura West’s leading run scorer during the SCA minor round, scored 69 off 121 balls against Merbein South at the weekend to go to 527 runs for the year at an average just below 33.
This, coupled with a career-best 115 in round 16 against Mildura East, had Williams singing the opener’s praises.
“Ben’s someone we’ve put a lot of time and effort into and he’s reaping the rewards of that,” he said. “It doesn’t just happen, he’s been playing First Division cricket for five or six years now and can certainly hold his head up and feel like he belongs.”
Since debuting in First Division in the 2014-15 season, Hallam’s previous best season was 265 runs in 2016-17 and his top average was 20.82 last season.
Williams said Hallam’s attitude had served him well.
“He always wants to get better, he’s hungry to bat, he now understands what it takes to bat periods of time rather than flashy 20 or 30-run innings. He has the hunger and ability to go on and turn those into big scores,” Williams said.
“To get his first First Division hundred a few weeks ago was pleasing for him personally and also for me as his coach and the rest of the club are really happy about that, it’s just a good reward for the effort and work he’s put in.”
Mildura West go into day 2 of their clash with Merbein South at Chaffey Park on Saturday 101 runs ahead and, having already secured first innings points, they have a great opportunity to make the top four.
