Sport
9 January, 2026
Laane open two-day season hosting Carisbrook
Following their fifth consecutive one-day A grade premiership, Laanecoorie Dunolly hopes to sweep this season’s A grade trophies, starting against a Carisbrook team currently fingertips away from the finals places.
After losing to Laane by nine wickets thanks to unbeaten 87s from Tom Hannett and Nafis Shaikh back in round seven, last season’s runners-up finished their white-ball campaign in a spectacular vein of form.
Carisbrook’s back-to-back victories against Clunes and Beaufort have them breathing down the necks of the Bulls as they eye a finals return.
So far this season, Carisbrook have shown incredible consistency with the bat, scoring the most runs of any team during the one-day campaign and reaching triple digits in each of their innings.
The trio of teenage superstar Elliot Cullinan, stalwart all-rounder Dean Nalder and flourishing wicketkeeper William Coutts have been vital to the strength of Carisbrook’s lineup, combining to make 765 of their team’s 1633 runs in 2025/26.
If Carisbrook can maintain their batting prowess, they are poised to be a tricky test in the two-day format, but they also have to rely on a bowling department that has struggled at times this season.
Brayden Wright and Jordan Hooper, who have also delivered strong batting contributions, have brought a much-needed injection since being introduced into the bowling attack, with 11 and six wickets respectively.
Carisbrook’s bowling attack will need to be at its best against an immensely talented Laane batting lineup that’s scored 1506 runs in just 286.3 overs so far in the regular season, nearly 110 overs less than their weekend opponents.
What makes Laane so dangerous is their plethora of explosive players, currently boasting three batsmen in the top six run-scorers, and they have posted the five highest individual tallies this season.
Laane’s bats have particularly had the wood over Carisbrook, especially captain Hannett, who’s belted 198 runs in two unbeaten innings this season, including a century in round two.
Carisbrook’s historic semi-final upset against Laane which rocked last season’s finals is rightfully well-remembered. However, what has faded from memory is that Carisbrook nearly got the better of Laane in their earlier regular-season meeting.
With hard-fought knocks from Coutts, Martin Mark and Cole Harris allowing them to finish on 181. Carisbrook had their opponents in serious trouble at 6/100 before the partnership of Matt Smith and Zac Graham secured Laane’s victory.