ONE of the reasons for South Mandurah’s rise to the top of the ladder this season has been the performances of the Holmes brothers.
South Mandurah is currently sitting second on the ladder by just 0.03 points behind Shoalwater Bay.
Michael, 29 and Brad, 26 are the leading run scorers in the competition with 423 and 418 runs respectively.
Brad also sits eighth on the leading wicket-takers table with 19 at an average of 14.11 while Michael has chipped in with nine at 12.33.
Michael said the side has stepped up its professionalism this season.
“We have improved a lot this year compared to previous seasons,” he said.
“This year we have put an emphasis on training properly.
“I have been pretty consistent, I haven’t got a century, but I have got a few 50s.”
Michael has played 101 A-grade matches and has a career high score of 127.
He has cracked 3437 runs in all grades at 29.63.
This season Michael is averaging 47 from nine games with a high score of 76, his best season to date in A-grade.
He said he believed the team could go all the way, if they keep their form up.
“Our priority is to win the flag,” Michael said.
“South Mandurah has never won an A-grade premiership.
“Everyone down there understands it is not just going to happen, we got to make it happen.
“I think the club deserves it, we have done really well to get to where we are.”
He said the president and other members of the club have worked hard to turn it around from being a club who did now always train as strong as they could have.
Last week, Brad smashed 129 to lead his side to victory over Hillman.
Brad has played 112 career matches and has scored 3019 runs at 27.45 with the 129 last week his highest ever score
To go along with that, he has 88 career wickets at 18.25 with the 4/11 earlier on this season his best.
“I have been in alright form in the last couple of games and I just took it out on the track and hit a century,” he said
As well as being two of the best cricketers in the competition, they are both talented footballers and have played for Peel Thunder at the highest level.
Brad played 86 League games with Peel Thunder from 2007-13 and was the club’s leading goal kicker in 2011 and 2012.
Michael played 15 games for the Thunder from 2009-10.
Although the brothers play together on the same teams, they are still very competitive between each other.
“It’s a healthy competition,” Michael said.
“We are always pretty proud of each other and I was happy for him hitting the hundred.
“In our junior days Brad was always the better bowler and he was the better batter.
“He used to be an out-and-out slogger up until a couple of years ago he has got a bit of a defensive side to his game which is probably why he has improved so much.
“He has got a lot more mature with his batting.”
Brad said they also don’t mind a bit of banter every now and again.
“If he plays a bad shot and gets out, I let him know about it and if I play a bad one and get out he lets me know about it,” Brad said.
“He is the better batter and I am the better all-rounder.”
“I’m probably better at footy and he is probably better at cricket.
Both boys have not ruled out playing cricket at a higher level, representing Rockingham-Mandurah in the WACA first-grade competition.
“It’s defiantly something and you want to play at the highest level, we have both done with footy but never with cricket,” Brad said.
Michael said he was keen to have a crack next season.
