Irymple all-rounder Bryson Lush looms as the main contender to Workers Gol Gol maestro Wade Hancock’s Innes Medal chances.
The Innes Medal presentation dinner was set to be held last week however had to be called off, with the SCA now live-streaming the count tonight.
Hancock hit 715 runs at an average 59.58 for the year with a top score of 157 to be the favourite for the SCA’s top honour, but 22-year-old Lush has enjoyed a breakout season upon his switch to the Swallows from West and has not gone unnoticed.
Lush had not played First Division cricket since 2017-18 after injury wrecked his 2018-19 campaign, but his move to Henshilwood Oval was certainly fruitful.
He hit 540 runs at 38.57 and also chimed in with 20 wickets at 13.40 to constantly be in the game.
Former Workers Gol Gol champion David Hogarth, a three-time Innes medallist himself, leaned towards his former Workers Gol Gol teammate but thought the Irymple opening batsman was a real chance on the back of his dramatic rise.
“I’m hoping Wade but Bryson Lush has got to be (close),” Hogarth said.
“Not that he was a bit of an unknown but umpires kind of notice someone they have never noticed before so that might give him a really good chance.
“Who would have thought that at the start of the year? When I remember him he was batting No.8 in the seconds.”
Lush started his season with 74 in the season opener against his old side, also taking two wickets, to likely start the year with maximum votes.
Two rounds later he also took three wickets in a low scoring Twenty20 against Coomealla Wentworth which could garner three votes.
Two more half centuries, his round 11 one against Coomealla Wentworth combined with a four-wicket haul, and a round 17 137 should also see him poll well.
Hancock also started well with three half centuries in the first five rounds, 157 against Mildura East in round 10, and three more regular season half centuries after that.
Hogarth said it was clear Hancock was capable of this sort of season from an early age – lamenting that Hancock gave up cricket to pursue football before his return to Sunraysia in recent years.
“He’s the most talented junior I’ve ever been involved with,” he said.
“ Right from the start.
“As a 14-year-old he’d bat in the nets with the senior bowlers and he just handled it so easily, in his proper first year of First Division he had 400 runs at Christmas at an average of 70, he could have made it if things panned out differently like anything with a cricketer.
“He was a freak as a kid.”
