Limited prep won’t hurt ‘Gades, Ludeman
TOMORROW 10am: 2pm:
MELBOURNE Renegades gloveman Tim Ludeman is confident a limited preparation won’t affect his side’s start to the Big Bash League.
The Renegades have been forced indoors for much of this week, with heavy rain causing the cancellation of back-to-back practice matches against crosstown rivals Melbourne Stars.
Inclement weather is also likely to wreak havoc tomorrow when the ’Gades play an intraclub match in Geelong ahead of the WBBL clash between the Renegades and Brisbane Heat.
“It’s not ideal, but that’s the luck of the draw,” Ludeman said. “We played a game on Wednesday against the Stars and we were meant to play another two on Thursday and Friday but they’ve both been washed out.
“So it would be handy to play on Sunday. We do have another one planned against the Stars next week, now that a couple of them have been washed out.”
With the Renegades set to hit off their season against Perth Scorchers at Marvel Stadium on December 20, time is running out to complete preparations for a new season. But Ludeman remains unfazed.
“It’s not ideal, but most of the guys will come in from state duties and they’re all in pretty good shape anyway,” he said.
“A rest after six (Sheffield) Shield games is handy as well. We’ve trained indoors and had a few, good solid hit-outs.
“I think everyone’s just excit- ed to get amongst it and get the tournament started.”
The Renegades’ squad will be split into two for tomorrow’s scratch match, with a handful of fill-ins from the Victorian Premier Cricket ranks making up the numbers.
“It’s always a good hitout,” Ludeman said.
“It’s nice to work alongside your teammates and find out a bit more about them.”
The Gades have lost star allrounder Dwayne Bravo, but added leg-spinner Cameron Boyce and all-rounder Dan Christian to give Ludeman belief his side can challenge this summer.
“Everyone’s confident at this time of the year. Everyone wants to do well and we’re no different,” Ludeman said. “We want to press and press hard.” GW: Correct. I was a product of cricket and footy. We played in the second division in those days and we had an import, DS De Silva coaching, and one of the conditions set by the GCA of the day was that North Shore had to rebuild itself. We were a strong club in the early days of the GCA, but unfortunately we got relegated and the club went and recruited De Silva with the intent to rebuild and we won a few flags, maybe three. But under the promotion-relegation we were told to stay where we were. North Geelong started talking to me, and through Laurie Winch, Roger Allen, Leigh Mellington, they talked me into playing at North Geelong for about 10 years. In the end, I went back to North Shore for a couple of years and then my young bloke started playing cricket at St Peter’s, so I went back and played fourths for some father-son time. But the bulk of my cricket was at North Shore and North Geelong. GW: I’m going to be honest and say I was lucky. North Geelong was a great club with great people and they were very professional. Everyone was prepared to help each other out. So that helped me to better my cricket. I was given the opportunities and I just tried to make the most of it. GW: You’re too kind. When I was coming through juniors I wanted to be a batsman. And I can remember one summer when cricket finished around Christmas, DS De Silva spoke about doing some extra sessions and I did. For whatever reason, something just clicked. So a bit of tutelage and guidance from DS was something that allowed me to bring something to the table. He gave me an opportunity to play firsts. At one stage I was just floundering. Billy Frost gave me a chance in the thirds to bowl and DS coached me into the firsts and it took off from there. I remember there was one game against Bell Park and we didn’t make many — it might have been 110 — and we had them 7-40 that night and I’d taken four or five and that gave me a bit of belief. GW: I won three at North Shore, three at North Geelong and another couple back at North Shore. I was lucky enough to play in eight winning grand finals, but there were a couple of losing ones as well. At North Geelong we had a fairly strong side, Alf Clark, Peter Quick, Neil Alford, Steve Blackford, Phil Unsworth and Peter Kenyon. We had a formidable side on paper but we got beaten by Leopold and East Belmont a couple of times. I’ve been very fortunate to play with the best cricketers at North Geelong. We prided ourselves on playing a good brand of cricket and therefore attracted the right players, so I can’t speak highly enough of the opportunity they gave me. GW: Probably not. I wasn’t very good with the bat. My saying was ‘if I’m needed with the bat, we’re in trouble’. There’s nothing that really stands out. You play as a team and you want to win as a team. One game that sticks to mind was a great performance from Peter Quick. He took seven-for in a winning grand final against East Belmont and those sorts of memories last forever. I got to play alongside Alf Clark who made the most runs in the GCA, one year we won the Provincial title at Country Week in the early ‘90s and I played with the likes of Jason Bakker, Peter Smith and Michael Dunn. Playing cricket in Geelong, and being associated with those names, that was the best thing for me. GW: There might have been a couple of bowling awards at North Geelong and I won a J.J Mellington Award, so I had some individual success and I’ve brushed alongside some big names and I’m pretty thankful for that.