Longford is hunting an unprecedented fourth-consecutive premiership, while reigning A-grade premier Trevallyn and runner-up Perth return after short hiatuses. The Twenty20 competition will start proceedings with the shortest format to be played over the first two weekends before a shift to Thursday nights leading into a December final.

The premiership-deciding 40-over competition will see each team play each other twice from October 2, with the decider to be held on March 16.

In a change from last season, T20s will not be played for championship points and 40-over matches will start and hour earlier at 11am.

The defending three-time premiers are again favourites with the nucleus of their successful reign still intact.

The Tigers have added Charlestown District Cricket Club all-rounder Max Magann and former Diggers coach Andrew Bassett to its depth, which captain-coach Josh Adams said would serve them well in pursuit of a fourth-straight flag.

Joint league Jason Savage Medallist Dilan Sandagirigoda, who struck struck 491 runs and claimed 36 wickets last season, will shoulder a bulk of the batting along with Adams (432 at 36), opener Shannon Rumbel (516 at 30.35) and Blair duo Jackson and Dion.

Longford’s bowling attack has long been the league’s best with five bowlers claiming more than 20 wickets each last season – Brett Martin (41), Sandagirigoda, Kieran Davey (24), Adam Smith (23) and Jesse Arnol (20).

“We’re going to be fairly similar to what we have been over the past few years. Max is a left-handed bowler and middle-order bat, so he is going to be handy,” Adams said. 

“Anyone in our top six to eight batsmen can do a job on the day and we have about 16 to 18 blokes that could go through our Premier League team this year.

“We’re an ageing group but I still think the window is there for another year or two to have some more success.”

Adams said he expects Trevallyn, Cressy, Hadspen and Beauty Point to cause some headaches.

Last year’s runner-up have strengthened its middle order in a bid to try and break Longford’s stranglehold.

The Damian Whybrow-coached Bulldogs have added ex-Hadspen coach Scott Driessen, batsman Clint Moore and spinner Jonty Manktelow; with former coach Jono Goss committing full-time.

Whybrow (532 runs and 26 wickets) was Cressy’s standout performer last year along with Varun Nadesh (398 runs and 20 wickets), while Sam Graham stood tall in the finals series when it counted.

“We know we’re good enough, but adding experience to the line up will help us,” Whybrow said.

“We’re disappointed by last year’s loss and we’re still hurting but we learnt a lot.

“Jonty is Chinaman [left-arm wrist spinner] and provides us with another slow option, Driess bowls on the spot to help us tighten things up.”

Hadspen, who has not won a top-flight premiership in eight years, hopes a leadership change and growth within will be enough to challenge its highly-fancied rivals.

The Chieftains fell to Cressy in last year’s preliminary final by 20 runs with new coach Liam Reynolds hopeful a fresh approach and greater depth across the club’s four senior side will create a healthy competitive environment within.

Reynolds said Victorian all-rounder Sithara Perera was a direct replacement for departed ex-coach Scott Driessen in the middle order and that he would provide vital support with the bat to Reynolds (453 runs at 41.18 last year), reigning two-time Hadspen best and fairest winner Nathan Balym (516 runs at 36.69) and wicketkeeper Damian Woods (490 runs at 27.22).

Hadspen’s bowling arsenal will be fronted by Reynolds, who has recovered from a back injury, Nick Price, Dion Beams, Ash Smith, Jacob Walker, Simon Clay and Matt Green.

“It was disappointing to bow out in the way we did last year but we’ve managed to add some depth across the board, so we should be looking to match or better last season’s efforts – every match will be important,” Reynolds said.

Tamar Valley Tigers captain-coach Rob Crane says his players are chasing redemption after being booted out of last year’s finals series for playing under-qualified players in their semi-final win over Hasdpen.

Beauty Point were in tremendous post-Christmas touch thanks to competiton MVP and joint best and fairest Jason Savage, who struck two centuries in amassing 720 runs – almost 200 more than runs than any other batsman in the league – for the season.

Savage was also lethal with the ball and Crane is confident his side can achieve success without being too reliant on the club great with Adam Turner and Quinton Tahiri and Co. wreaking havoc at stages in 2017-18.

The exit door was partially locked during winter with opening Batsman Jarrod Bailey the only departure, which was offset by the acquisitions of paceman Beau Hills’ and defected Legana pair Aaron Dusautoy and Nathan Van Noord.

“All of the George Town boys that followed be to Beauty Point are staying on,” Crane said.

“Hopefully we start a bit better than what we did last year. Sav and Gavin Nutting will be keys along with Beau.

“Aaron will is pretty handy with bat, ball – he swings the ball a a fair bit – and in the field. We will match it with the best.”

Bluebacks captain-coach John Kedey believes his side will be a much improved outfit from last season despite losing their highest runscorer and No.1 wickettaker.

Former skipper Sean Barry (25 wickets at 22.23) and team of the year batsman Drew Clark (413 wickets at 25.81) have both relocated to Beaconsfield along with quick Brendan Reid.

However, ACL have recruited well with Westbury bat Jesse Digney and a plethora of visiting interstate and international university students signing up.

“We are excited to see how our recruiting pans out with a big change in our batting and bowling line-ups from the past four,” Kedey said. 

“Jesse was the NTCA second grade leading runscorer last year and will open the batting, Dinesh is another off-spin option, Deepak is a left-arm quick, Stephen is a top-order left-arm bat, Kade is a tall fast bowler, Michael bats in the middle order and Anuradha is a great all-rounder.

“I expect it to be a bowler-dominated season with a lot of clubs picking up some good bowling options.”

Chathura Athukorala (260 runs at 28.89 and 16 wickets at 17 last year), Kedey (275 runs and 24 wickets), Shaun Woods and Simon Chappell will also be key cogs in returning ACL to finals. 

The Durhams experience a tough season back in Premier League last season, winning just four of 18 matches.

They have waved goodbye to several talented faces in ex-coach Aaron Dusautoy, fast bowler Nathan Van Noord and batsmen Luke Laycock and Jason Ellis.

But new coach Geoff Stick is looking to draw on the experience of returning club great Matthew Wells and get the most out of its talent pool within.

“We’re not expecting huge results and won’t be basing our season on them either, we are starting the process of building back up our core group of players,” Stick said.

“I want bring bring a more consistent and professional approach to all grades and we’re going back to basics.

“We have had a big focus on our fielding. Our batting is there and our bowling will come, but last year we were dropping four or five catches a game.

“I’m expecting more from Jeremy Robinson with the ball this year, Donald Howarth has been the pre-season standout and we are excited about him and Sam Howe being able to commit to Premier League.”

Back in Premier League, Trevallyn is hoping for big things during its 90^th season.

The club on the hill earned promotion after winning both last year’s A-grade and A-reserve premierships with huge contributions from Mowbray legend Clinton Reid (719 runs at 71) and bowler Jay Willis (27 wickets at 12.37).

Co-coaches Glen Gleeson and Matthew Cocker along with Andrew Fitz have stepped back and will not play Premier League, with star recruit James Whiteley to take on the captaincy.

South Launceston stalwart John McCoy, ex-Perth and Diggers all-rounder Paul Fruin and Western Australia’s Daniel Kirk will also call Trevallyn home.

The biggest lost is Job Edmunds, who hit 332 at 33 last year. “We’re back where we want to be – finals is certainly our aim,” Cocker said.

“We’ve picked up a few handy all-rounders, which you need in Premier League. Our batting will be our strongest point. Job is the only one we’ve lost from our premiership last year, so we have a fairly strong base.”

Captain-coach Ross Tulich said the returning Devils have set modest expectations after finishing second in both A-grade and A-Reserve last season.

Paceman Keith Lindsay will be handy support for Tulich and Jont Richardson, who claimed 41 wickets – including three five-wicket hauls – last year, while co-coaches Matthew Lawrence and Matthew Williams will be forced to carry a lion-share with the bat.

“We’ve got a pretty young list of bowlers but with a bit of development I think we will stand up to the challenge,” Tulich said.

“Our main goal for the year is to develop each player on and off the field.

“We don’t have any performance goals as we’re going in pretty open.”

Road to Christmas 

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