SCCA moves into limited overs – interview with Blaine Schloss

With the Sunshine Coast Cricket Association season moving into limited overs portion, we caught up withMaroochydore Division 1 skipper Blaine Schloss.

How did you guys go last week?

Least week we had a really good result against Caboolture in what was a top of the table clash. So, we put together two really god days of cricket against a relly good opposition, which was really pleasing. To bowl them out for 130 on what was a pretty good pitch was a great effort from our bowlers. We hit our areas really well. And then to come out and to really make a statement with the bat and to make 300 plus was a really good response. Credit to Adam Thornton and Luke McInnes – for his first first grade 100 – they really showed the way with the bat.

Was there any thoughts of putting Caboolture back in and going for that outright?

Not really. With the time that was lost on the first day tere was probably not enough on the second day to do that. We’ve got alot of respect for them as an opposition. We certainly weren’t going to open the chance or the reverse outright or anything like that. It was just important for us to get some batting under the belt heading into the one dayers.

Up at Nambour first up for the one dayers (50 over per side games). Any thing special preparation wise for the Showgrounds?

We’ve had a bit of a chat during the week about what sort of brand of one day cricket we want to play. We want to be fairly agressive, both with ball and bat. [We’ll] try and take early wickets and then chase down what ever guys set, or set a really good total and try and defend it. Which ever way it pans out it doesn’t really phase us. We’ve trained really well during the week. The boys have been refining the way they want to play their one day cricket. We’re just going to go in with simple game plans. We’ve got a lot of respect for Nambour particularly when they play at home. They’ve got some key players which we need to dismiss early and make sure they don’t make too much of an impact against us.

Twenty20 starts Sunday. So, similar mindset for them as on Saturday?

Yeah, absolutly. I guess there’s a little less pressure in the Twenty20s considering they dont count towards the overall ladder. We’ll certainly be going there trying to play as free flowing cricket as we possibly can. Again, we’ve come up with different game plans, different structures that we want to play with moving in to those Twent20s. I’m pretty confident that if we can execute them we will come away with a solid result. The guys are looking forward to getting out there and loosening their shoulders when they get a chance and putting on a bit of a show in the field. Looking forward getting up to Noosa and seeing how they go in that shorter format.

Looking to have some fun in those games?

Yeah, absolutly. At the heart of it that’s what T20 cricket is, is a lot of fun. But any time you pull on a Maroochydore jersey you want to win. We’ll certainly be going up there to win. We should have a pretty strong team, be close to full strength on Sunday. So, certain going to play to win and I’m sure we’ll have some fun along the way.

Same team playing Saturday and Sunday – no changes to the team?

We’ll be very similar. I think will be one change just based on availability for the Sunday. But we’ll be very close to full strength as I said. We’ve got some guys, some plodders who’ll just hit the ones and twos and then we’ve got some guys who can clear the pickets as well. It’s just a matter of striking that right balance of T20 cricket [and] give the guys the best opportunity to play the game that suits them.