TCL Premier League 2017-18 season preview

Trevallyn and Tigers are the omissions from last season’s competition, while Legana has again joined the Premier League after winning promotion from A-grade.

The competition will begin with the Twenty20 format before switching to 40-over matches in the last week of October.

The finals series will take place in the first three weeks of March. 

CAPTAIN-COACH: Josh Adams

LAST SEASON: Premiers

INS: Scott Graham (returning)

OUTS: Dean Cousens (retired) Ben Dodd (retired)

There’s no doubting who the early favourites are for this year’s TCL Premier League. 

The clear standout in last year’s competition, he two-time reigning premiers have kept much of their list intact heading into the 2017-18 season, with retiring pair Dean Cousens and Ben Dodd the Country Tigers’ sole departures. 

Longford boasted three of the competition’s top five bowlers last season, with Adam Smith, Brett Martin and Kieran Davey snaffling 106 wickets between them, while skipper Josh Adams notched up 620 runs at an average of 77.50.

Shannon Rumbel and Dion Blair will again play important roles after recording a century each and season averages of 35-plus in the last campaign.

Adams said maintaining consistency on and off the field would give his side the best chance of securing a third-straight title. 

“We’ve got some good depth right throughout the club so I think we should be thereabouts (again) if we can play some good cricket,” Adams said. 

“Overall we’re pretty well-balanced with bat and ball with not too many standouts, so I think we’re pretty consistent all the way down.

“It’s really about getting some consistency into our training and hopefully we can take that out into the field.”

COACH: Scott Driessen

CAPTAIN: Liam Reynolds

LAST SEASON: Runners-up

INS: -

OUTS: Clinton Moore (Devonport), Jacob Walker (year off)

The Chieftains have had six months to dwell on the heartache of last season’s final and will look to come back stronger than ever in their season opener against Beauty Point this weekend. 

Coach Scott Driessen said his side had “high expectations” for the season ahead. 

“We played really good cricket all through last year and it was a disappointing way to finish the final, so we just have to learn from the errors that we made and try and improve in some areas we know are pretty key for us,” Driessen said. 

“We’ve worked pretty hard internally to improve in a lot of spaces and hopefully this year those improvements can yield some benefits.”

The departures of keeper-batsman Clinton Moore and bowler Jacob Walker mark the only changes to a side which lost only five games last season. 

The Chieftains will again benefit from the competition’s top opening partnership in Damian Woods and Nathan Balym, while Driessen hopes some of the team’s upcoming talent will play a bigger role this season.

“Liam Reynolds is obviously the key all-rounder in the bowling and batting and we’re probably looking at some our younger players in Ashley Smith and Nick Price and Dave Price to stand up with the ball as well.

“We’ve got a well-rounded side, we just need people to perform and we’ve got a lot of younger players coming through as well so we’re looking to the future and developing through our lower grades and giving some kids a taste of senior cricket.”

CAPTAIN-COACH: John Kedey

LAST SEASON: Third

INS: Ashley Batty (Westbury)

OUTS: Tyler Dudman-Wise (Bishopsbourne), Ben Stonehouse (Legana)

ACL enjoyed a dream first year in the Premier League last season, finishing third on the ladder and making it to a preliminary final before falling just short of a grand final appearance.

Captain-coach John Kedey admitted ACL had endured a tougher pre-season this time around but promised his charges would continue to give their all on the field.

“This time around we don’t have the depth we had this time last year, so our challenge is going to be improvement from the guys that are playing this year to improve at least five to 10 per cent,” Kedey said. 

“If we do that anything could happen, but the benchmark of the competition is obviously Longford and I  believe a lot of things will need to go right for any (other) team to succeed this year.”

Kedey and all-rounder Simon Chappell formed a destructive top-order combination last season, combining for more than 900 runs between them while Ben Harris and Drew Clark notched up 322 runs from 16 innings apiece. 

“Chappell made TCL team of the year last year and was also club best and fairest, he opens the batting and bowling so we’re hoping he kicks on like he did last year in combination with (Harris) at the top of the order.

“Our vice-captain and deputy vice captain Sean Barry and (Clark) we’re hoping will step up this year and improve from their season last year.

“We’ve got a bit of work to do in recruiting but we’re remaining positive... we’re a club that’s an honest club that’s always going to look to succeed and always try to improve.”

CAPTAIN-COACH: Robert Crane  

LAST SEASON: Fourth

INS: Robert Crane, Gavin Nutting, Jarrod Bailey, Sam Cooke, Zach Cooke, Joseph Bodis (George Town)

OUTS: Nathan Van Noord (Legana), Geoff Stick (Legana), Jake Hinds

A shipment of new faces from the Bell Bay docks has Beauty Point well-placed to build on its fourth-placed finish last season.

New skipper and number three Robert Crane headlines six players recruited from George Town over the off-season, a haul which includes former Tamar Valley Tiger Gavin Nutting.  

“It’s good for the club to get a lot of new faces there with me and the boys coming over,” Crane said.

“We’re hoping to play finals for sure, I know a couple of the top sides are going to be hard to beat (like) Longford and Hadspen.

“I’ve played a lot of cricket against Longford’s captain Josh Adams and they’ll be the side to beat.”

The current of players flowing down the Tamar has seen Nathan Van Noord and Geoff Stick make new homes at Legana, while Jake Hinds will take a year off to focus on football. 

Despite their absence, Crane is confident his side has accumulated enough depth to pose a serious threat to the top sides. 

“I’ll be pretty disappointed if we don’t make finals, we’ve got a pretty good team this year and a very good bowling attack.

“Gav Nutting will play a big role with the ball, as well as Sam Cooke, and I reckon Riley Milner should step up this year and Jason Savage.”

CAPTAIN-COACH: Damian Whybrow

LAST SEASON: Sixth

INS: Damian Whybrow (Launceston) Danny Bennett (Whitemore), Varun Nadesh (Malaysia) 

OUTS: Paul Bassett (Perth)

Experienced TCL cricketer Damian Whybrow will lead Cressy into its second Premier League campaign. 

The ex-Trevallyn coach will take over the reins from Jono Goss after spending a year in a mentoring position at Launceston Cricket Club and has locked in a finals appearance as his primary target.

“(We’re looking at) just being more competitive each game and putting consistent games of cricket together -you can’t be good one week and not the other,” Whybrow said.

“I think your whole team’s got to play well with the bat and ball if you’re going to be competitive going into the season.”

Whybrow’s appointment comes as the club continues to expand its borders, with an influx of players allowing Cressy to field teams in three divisions for the first time.

One of the club’s new faces is Varun Nadesh, a spinner who has represented Malaysia at underage level, while former Whitemore cricketer Danny Bennett should join Nadesh in the side’s best 11.

Cressy will also be counting on batsmen Goss and Adam Wesley, who combined for more than 500 runs last season to emerge as their side’s most reliable performers.

COACH: Andy Bassett 

LAST SEASON: Seventh

INS: Zane Brown (Tigers), Tim Crawford (Bishopsbourne)

OUTS: Paul Fruin

Despite losing leading batsman Paul Fruin, Diggers are confident they can begin working their way up the table this season.

Last season’s seventh-place finishers have added Tim Crawford and ex-Tigers batsman Zane Brown to their list, but coach Andy Bassett says effort and dedication to the cause are where his side will experience the most improvement. 

“It’s going to be a team effort really,” Bassett said.

“We’ve all got to put our hands up and do a bit so we can go a bit further than what we did last year, we only won a couple of games last year.”

Diggers had several solid performers with the ball last season, with Andrew Bassett (27 wickets) and Scott Davie (16 wickets) both proving dangerous, and will enter season 2017-18 with a focus on producing better performances with the bat.

“Our batting is going to be the main one, we need to improve our batting a lot.

“We’ve got the talent there, they just need to put their hands up and do a bit more.”

PRESIDENT: Chris Demeyer

CAPTAIN: Aaron Dusautoy 

LAST SEASON: A-grade minor premiers

INS: Aaron Dusautoy (Riverside), Nathan Van Noord (Beauty Point), Geoff Stick (Beauty Point), Wayne Ford (Launceston) 

OUTS: Matthew Wells (retired)

Legana returns to the Premier League full of confidence after winning promotion from the A-grade competition and strengthening its list over the off-season.

Young gun Aaron Dusautoy moves from Riverside to skipper the Durhams, who have also picked up Beauty Point pair Geoff Stick and Nathan Van Noord as well as Launceston all-rounder Wayne Ford.

Former premiership player and captain Matthew Wells is the only player not returning for the upcoming season.

“We’re pretty rapt to be back in Premier League again,” president Chris Demeyer said. 

“We’re regenerating our club with young blokes in the top grade, looking at a future focus and to build some strength going forward.”

The Durhams had plenty of top performers last season, none more impressive than Luke Laycock who amassed nearly 500 runs to become the division’s top-scorer.

Sam Howe and Jason Ellis also impressed with the bat, while Jai Bourke and Michael Dunn finished as the division’s first and fifth-highest wicket-takers respectively.

“We’ve picked up some players over the off season and we’re hoping we can leverage our strong bowling side to get a berth in the Premier League finals this season - that’s our main aim and our biggest strength will be our bowling line-up,” Demeyer said.

“We’re hoping for a big season with the bat from Dylan Sharman, Adam Bourke and Sam Howe and with the ball we’ll be looking to those three new recruits, Dusautoy, Stick and Van Noord.”