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 alike. 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.

In Round 12, that status belongs to Essendon bowler Musa Hussain, who was excellent in his side’s upset win over Richmond at Central Reserve North on Saturday. Hussain only bowled five overs in total, but was simply excellent whenever he was given the ball, proving extremely economical during each stint. To top it all off he claimed three wickets, while conceding just three runs (thanks to four maidens) in an eye-catching display in a team full of contributors.

This round’s Player of the Week award goes to Melbourne batsman Blake Thomson, who had the highest run total of Round 14. He was as composed as ever when fellow opener Sam Harper was dismissed for just two runs. Melbourne fans, players and coaches may have been panicking at this stage, but Thomson kept his cool, and formed a damaging partnership with Campbell Kellaway (who racked up 96 runs himself).

Thomson was probably the most important part of Melbourne’s win, given the fact that their opponents in Ringwood had posted a (defendable) total of 210 runs, and Melbourne were already one opener down with just seven runs on the board. This did not stop Thomson, who was cautious while attacking with bat in hand. He found the boundary a total of 15 times, with 13 of these being along the ground. The Ringwood bowling attack had no answer for his calm and controlled style of play at the crease, as they found themselves unable to force Thomson into playing a delivery the wrong way.

As he guided his side to their 10th win of the 2021/22 season, Thomson was still unable to be dismissed. He finished with 100 runs next to his name and will be looking to continue this run of form as finals approach at a rapid rate.