ANOTHER name will be etched into the glorious line of Les Innes Medal winners on Wednesday night.
The Sunraysia Cricket Association First Division best and fairest will be crowned after a fantastic home and away season, with a number of players aiming for multiple-time honours and others looking to win the medal for the first time.
The Premier Women’s MVP will also be awarded alongside divisional batting and bowling average winners, Team of the Year members, Under 18 male and female Player of the Year and the Country Week Player of the Tournament.
The contenders:
Shacaya Thomas (Gol Gol)
FOR much of the season the Jamaican has been the leader in both run scoring and wickets taken, meaning he will be right up in the voting as he aims for a second best and fairest award.
The 2020/21 Innes Medal winner got his season off to a customary flyer, and looms as a real chance to poll in four of the first five rounds to gain an early lead.
Teammates Wade Hancock, Aidan Calarco and Luke Hickey will likely be fighting him for votes, but he’s clubhouse favourite here at the ‘Daily office.
Chris Williams (Mildura West)
A WIN for Williams, almost two decades after his first competition best and fairest, could see him join only Tom Vadlja and Mark Cleary as players to have won at least four Innes medals.
It’s likely a few best on ground cards are coming the way of the only man two score three centuries for the season, which combined with an early season seven-wicket haul, and a potential rain-affected three-voter puts him right in the mix.
Williams has played less of a role across the back half of the season due to a calf injury which would work against him, but expect him to be around the top three.
Wade Hancock (Gol Gol)
THE man with the Midas touch, Hancock started the season a few weeks later than most but certainly made up for lost time.
A monster 694 runs at an average of 115.7, including some brilliant centuries, has been the result of a massive campaign for Gol Gol’s number three, and his insane run will garner plenty of votes.
Pure batsmen are less likely to poll as well as their all-rounder counterparts which perhaps gives his teammate Thomas a greater chance, but you can’t discount the right-hander due to the sheer weight of his run scoring.
Mark Thomson (Irymple)
THE Irymple skipper has hardly put a foot wrong across the season, being one of the most consistent performers in the SCA.
While the maiden First Division century still awaits, scores of 90 and 85 should elicit maximum votes in games, and his bowling ability also plays a big role as evidence by his final round 6/46 against Gol Gol.
Working against him are some impressive one-off performances from teammates that are likely to pinch votes late in the season, but a victory would see him become the first player to take the double of winning both the Under 16 John Hall Medal and Innes Medal.
Shaun Mathews (Nichols Point)
The reigning Innes Medal winner has quietly put together another fantastic all-round season in a team that flew into their maiden SCA semi-final.
With 321 runs and 23 wickets with his spin bowling, Mathews is a chance to poll votes in as many as seven of the team’s 13 completed games, and could be the first back-to-back medal winner since Merbein South’s Mark White in ’05/06 and ’06/07.
His efforts could be thwarted by multiple teammates however as Luke Coates, Shannon Bowen and Leigh Thomson-Mathews are all likely to catch the eye, and could even pip him for top club honours.
Nafis Shaikh (Coomealla Wentworth)
Again. pure batsmen are less likely to fill the stats sheet but those who are classy at the crease always catch the eye, which is the case for the Coomealla Wentworth import.
Shaikh, 19, finished his maiden campaign on Australian soil with 468 runs at a very strong average of 52, raising the bat for the half-century five times.
The Englishman might be hurt by the Blues winning just five games for the season but he still impressed even during defeat which could garner some extra votes for him.
