THE 2015-16 Cricket North season gets under way this weekend with Westbury chasing a three-peat of first grade flags. All six NTCA clubs will be competing in first grade, five in second grade, and six in third and fourth grades and under-15 division 1 and 2.
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The Cricket North women’s competition will continue with four clubs involved and there will be two under-13 divisions playing Friday nights and a new under-12 ‘‘Rookies’’ competition on Monday nights. Today PHIL EDWARDS takes a look at how the clubs shape up.
CRICKET NORTH FIRST GRADE
ROUND 1 MATCHES SATURDAY
George Town v Westbury
South Launceston v Launceston
Riverside v Mowbray
WESTBURY
CAPTAIN: Michael Lukic.
COACH: Shaun Leatherbarrow.
THE SHAMROCKS have retained Shaun Leatherbarrow as coach with Michael Lukic stepping up into the captain’s role in place of Dane Anderson who will continue as a player.
Having achieved back-to-back flags last season and three premierships in the past four years, Westbury will be the hunted this season but Lukic was confident they can again be a force to be reckoned with.
The Shamrocks have lost English import Dave Rodgers, Josh Adams who has returned to Longford and Daniel Murfet who has moved to Hobart to play with Glenorchy.
Kieran Hume returns from and ACL injury and Matthew Battle back from a back injury which restricted him to two games last year with Richard Howe expected to play after his return from England in November.
‘‘I’ve been vice-captain the last two years under Dane and I’m looking forward to taking over the reins and I captained the team in the T20s last year,’’ Lukic said.
‘‘It’s an exciting time for the club to show where we are at and over the past couple of seasons we’ve lost a bit of experience with players retiring and making way for the younger talent at the cricket club.’’
Lukic said the club had high expectations of what they can achieve this year and their aim was to make the grand final again.
‘‘We’ve still got plenty of experience that can step up and perform and hold us in good stead and we should be pretty even in batting and bowling strength
‘‘It was a tight competition last year and it is going to be challenging but we are up for the challenge and fight to make it all the way again.’’
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MOWBRAY
CAPTAIN: John Le Fevre.
COACH: Roger Brown.
THE EAGLES have lost all-rounder Liam Reynolds to the TCL and fast bowler Ric Considine won’t be available until Christmas due to work commitments but the core of the team will be similar to last season with Fletcher Seymour and Alex Jordan expected to be available more regularly without school commitments.
Captain John Le Fevre said the team still boasted some experience with the likes of Clinton Reid, Justin Reeves, Matthew Scolyer, Jerome Illingworth and Rohan Pooley.
‘‘We’re probably getting toward the end of the careers for some of those players but with the core we have we should be able to challenge any side this year,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve retained Rohan, who is also working in an assistant coaching capacity this year and has brought some fresh ideas on batting and our fielding and has been a great asset.’’
Le Fevre said filling the gap left by a top-three batsman and handy bowler in Reynolds would be difficult but other clubs appeared to have lost some players and he expected an even competition this season.
‘‘It should be hard to get into a top-four spot but that is our aim and one or two would be good for a home semi-final.
‘‘We had an inconsistent season last year and struggled with player availability but hopefully our team will be more settled other than for Ric Considine so we can strings some game together.
‘‘Fletcher might be able go some way toward filling the void left by Liam but is probably more a bowling all-rounder and a young Grammar student in Jack Crawford should keep for us and has performed really well over the pre-season.’’
Le Fevre said their bowling stocks will include Reeves, llingworth and James Storay and they will have Seymour and Jarrod Freeman who will bowl off-spin when he returns from Australian duties.
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SOUTH LAUNCESTON
CAPTAIN: Nathan Philip.
COACH: Liam Devlin.
THE KNIGHTS have lost Ben Austen to retirement with Kyle Bowie returning to Zimbabwe, Casey Young out injured and Warwick Johnson taking time out from the game.
They have regained the experienced Mark Nutting and Brad Menghan from Bedhampton Club in Portsmouth but may lose their captain Nathan Philip after Christmas to university interstate.
‘‘The main thrust is that we will have all our kids back - John Hayes and Josh Freestone who will play a full year, Jackson Young who will play his first A-grade game on Saturday and Ben Darke will be full-time with his brother Jock returning to the club,’’ coach Liam Devlin said.
‘‘The whole philosophy will be to keep playing our good junior cricketers and move forward with our kids and Scotch Oakburn boys who got us going last year.
‘‘Our aim is to be in a good spot come Christmas and look to play finals again.’’
Devlin said he hoped the Cricket North competition would continue to promote young talents from the respective clubs and develop talented cricketers from the North of the state.
RIVERSIDE
CAPTAIN: Alex Saunders.
COACH: Rob Wyatt.
THE Blues have a new captain in Alex Saunders and new coach in Rob Wyatt who comes to the club with extensive experience in WA grade cricket.
They have lost English import Oliver Law and last year’s captain-coach Luke Richardson has retired but have gained another import in top-order batsman James Scott, from Cheshire.
‘‘Rob [Wyatt] has been exactly what we needed as head coach overseeing all the grades and has done a lot of work on our batting which is something we needed to do,’’ Saunders said.
‘‘Hopefully James can fill the void left by Oli Law and Oliver Wood who is part of the state under 17s is a year older this year and should be a big part of first grade and Zac Towns is back playing after a year off.
‘‘I think our team will be fairly similar to last year – we had a disappointing finals series and we are hoping to go further and make the grand final this year.’’
Riverside will still have some experienced players including Lyndon Stubbs (assistant coach), Ramesh Sundra, Tom Garwood, Ken Fitzgerald and Patrick Mackrill.
‘‘Our strength in the past has been our bowling but we have probably lost a couple of bowlers this year but hopefully our batting will be stronger this year to make up for it,’’ Saunders said.
‘‘We will be aiming to win the premiership this year and we think we will be good enough to do that.
‘‘Alex Kerrison will be back from England for round 2 and he should be a big contributor this year too after having his first season playing in England.’’
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LAUNCESTON
CAPTAIN: Rowan Smith.
COACH: Andrew Gower.
THE Lions have appointed former Mowbray premiership player Andy Gower as coach with Rowan Smith continuing as captain.
They have lost the services of their import Dom Chatfield and Tom Bennett is sidelined due to injury taking their two top run scorers from last season out of the equation.
‘‘Other than those two players we will be similar to last year and we haven’t really picked up anyone,’’ Gower said.
‘‘We’re pretty confident about the season ahead and we have a lot of good 15, 16 and 17-year-olds that will debut this year and we’re looking forward to the challenge and their no-fear attitude.
‘‘A lot of the guys have been in under-15 and under-16 development squads so we’re confident in their ability to fill the holes – we will have ups and downs but we think there is an upside to playing the young guys and rebuilding and experimenting with these kids and giving them opportunities.’’
The Lions have retained an experienced core with Gower looking for a big season from vice-captain Alistair Taylor, Cameron Lynch, Ben Humphrey, Luke Badham and Tom Gray.
‘‘Those guys will be in the leadership group with Rowan and we are looking for them to lead us through.
‘‘I am quite excited about taking on the coaching role and a fresh start at a new club where you can forge your way with what you want to do – I played hard and was pretty aggressive so there will be high standards set.
‘‘We’ll enjoy our cricket but we will play hard and fair and I think we will be comparable to last year – our goal will be to play finals cricket.’’
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GEORGE TOWN
CAPTAIN: Robbie Crane.
COACH: Winston Mason.
THE Saints have appointed the experienced Winston Mason as their coach on their return to first grade this season with Robbie Crane captain.
Mason said the season will present a big challenge after the club lost a lot of A-grade players to other clubs last year with none returning this year.
‘‘Experience-wise we are fairly undermanned but youth-wise we are going to blood quite a few of the young fellows who are 15 and 16-year-olds during the year which is what we need but we are not going to be overly strong,’’ he said.
‘‘We have two injured players and five unavailable for the first game so that will not be any indication of the rest of the year hopefully but our focus will be on bringing that young talent through and we have a long-term plan.’’
Mason has coached the club previously as well as being involved in coaching at Old Scotch Cricket Club and with Tasmanian under-16 teams and Northern squads for many years.
‘‘I was happy to take on the coaching role because I retired last week and have plenty of time,’’ he said.
‘‘The big emphasis is on youth and I have time to recruit and train and Tim Coyle is going to do some coaching sessions for us.’’
The Saints have retained some experience with the likes of Crane, fast bowler Gavin Nutting, Marshall Pooley and Jarrod Bailey but are missing Stuart Mason, Corey Nankervis and Shaun Muller for the first game with end-of-season football trips.
‘‘We should go all right in the one-day games and T20 cricket but the two-day games will be a challenge and we have young Lachie Mason and Josh Barron who are in the emerging talent squads.’’
