ANOTHER weekend of Victoria Premier Cricket Premier Men’s Firsts has wrapped, with plenty of impressive performances around the competition. In this series, we put the spotlight on one individual performance that may have caught the eye of teammates, opponents and fans. With plenty to choose from each week, it is worth mentioning that there will be some unlucky players that miss out on a weekly basis.

This week, that honour belongs to Ringwood batsman Thomas Rogers, who was outstanding at the crease in his side’s win over Footscray on Saturday. He simply had his way with nearly every ball, making a whopping 136 runs from only 128 runs. This included 13 four’s and two sixes, as he drove his side to a score that proved too much for the opposition in the end.

However, the Player of the Week for Round 9 is going to veteran St Kilda bowler Simon O’Brien, who was exceptional in his Firsts debut for the year. After a number of successful stints at lower levels, O’Brien was handed his first match at this level for the season, and did not disappoint.

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After St Kilda posted a whopping score of 311 runs in the first innings, the side would have been confident in their ability to get the job done with ball in hand. However, there was always the possibility of Essendon pulling off a miracle at the crease, so the St Kilda bowlers had to still bring their best.

Doing exactly that was O’Brien, who was absolutely ruthless in his bowling spells, claiming five wickets in his 10 overs, all of them crucial in delivering his side the win. He took down much of the opposition’s top order with his precision and execution, with Essendon batsmen unable to play many of the balls O’Brien sent in.

He started his innings off strong by dismissing opener Isaac Willet for just three runs, before taking down his replacement in Michael Hill just a few balls later. Remarkably, all of O’Brien’s five wickets dismissed batsmen in the top six of the Essendon batting order. Most came in the form of catches, although he was able to clean bowl the other Essendon opener in James Seymour.

Once O’Brien had completed his spell of 10 overs (for figures of 5/32), the job was much easier for his teammates, only having to remove the lower order batsmen. While there were plenty of contributors for the victors (particularly with bat in hand), O’Brien was certainly the most eye-catching and likely the most damaging as St Kilda claimed a whopping 95-run win.

St Kilda take on Northcote in a mouthwatering clash this weekend, but will be encouraged by the fact that they have the luxury of such a damaging bowler.