Club cricket begins
Albion stalwart Jamie Glenn is putting down the bat and ball and taking up the coaching reins. Cricket writer Adrian Seconi caught up with him before the club season, which gets under way with a double round of twenty20 matches today.
JAMIE Glenn is hoping a change of role will bring about a change of fortune for his club.
The longserving Albion allrounder will coach the side this year. He will be assisted by former Otago spinner Nick Beard.
The pair may make the odd cameo appearance out in the middle. But their priority is to help Albion wrestle the Bing Harris Trophy off Green Island.
‘‘I’ve never been part of an Albion team that has won the Bing Harris, so I would like to change that and we’ve got the squad to do it,’’ he said.
‘‘But just because we’ve got the squad to do it does not mean we will do it.’’
The 33yearold joined the club as a 6yearold and has played 244 senior games for the Albion.
He has knocked off quite few milestones during his lengthy stint.
The righthander has scored 5932 runs at an average of 27.09, including eight centuries.
He has also claimed 110 wickets at 22.64, including a best of seven for 14.
But Glenn made only a brief appearance for Albion at the start of the season when it won the Bing Harris in 201415. As far as he is concerned, he did not contribute to that campaign.
He was in Invercargill working as a cricket development officer for the Southland Cricket Association, so he missed out on the glory.
Glenn has been travelling to the United Kingdom to play cricket during the off season for the past five years and was ready for a change. He was still keen to remain in the environment but was reluctant to take on the coaching role.
Once he heard Beard was going to be involved as well, his hesitancy evaporated.
‘‘That is what got me over the line, in all honesty. I said no initially but when I heard he was potentially in I said, ‘yes, let’s do it’.’’
‘‘I’ll see how it goes but I suppose you’ve always got to aspire to do something at the next level,’’ he responded when asked if he was ambitious.
Glenn played Hawke Cup cricket for Southland and captained the Otago B team but did not get an opportunity at firstclass level. But he does have oodles of experience and has tremendous knowledge of the club scene in Dunedin.
He will pad up if required but not at the expense of someone else, he says.
The same is true for Beard. Albion looks formidable on paper but the Eagles have had strong squads before only to fall short.
Former Otago allrounder Sam Wells has come out of retirement and will bolster the squad, which includes Volts trio Matt Bacon, Mark Craig and Hamish Rutherford.
Fringe Otago players such as Tommy Clout and Josh TasmanJones and overseas allrounder Ryan Trattell will play a big part in the campaign. Dan Duke and Tom Ford also shape as key personnel.
Defending champion Green Island has lost a lot of experience with veterans Dion Lobb and Ant Harris retiring.
Brad Wilson has also pulled stumps, while Australian allrounder Tom Beaton was influential last season but is not returning.
Despite the losses, Glenn expects the Swamp Rats alongside North East Valley to shape as the major threats this summer.
Jamie Murley (38) is returning from retirement for Valley and will push up the average age of the squad. But it is the young brigade who will likely have the greatest impact.
Allrounder Hunter Kindley will be hoping to put some bad luck with injuries behind him and push for higher honours. Fringe Otago batsman Llew Johnson, Tom Griffin, Thorn Parkes and New Zealand indoor representative Corey Perrett are expected to have an impact, while playercoach Travis Muller will be a constant threat with the ball.
Taieri finished second last season but has lost some key players in Jack Hunter (Christchurch), Fraser Colson and Jarryd Taig (overseas).
New Otago signing Dale Phillips and Southland Hawke Cup runmachine Harsh Visavadiya will help bolster the batting, while spinner Ben Lockrose and seamers Regan Flaws and Brad Frost will take their share of wickets.
CarisbrookDunedin has picked up promising new Otago allrounder Dean Foxcroft and will be formidable early while its Volts players are available.
Steven Newey was the leading wickettaker in the oneday competition last season with 22 scalps at 12.27, while Max Chu is likely to be in the runs and Camden Hawkins is a productive toporder player.
Kaikorai cannot be underestimated. Ryan Whelan is a promising seamer making his way through the ranks and Fergus Ellis is one to watch with the bat.
UniversityGrange managed just one win last season and may struggle again.
Former Otago toporder batsman Andrew Hore has made himself available for the side. The 50yearold will be more than twice the age of some of his new teammates, though.
Senior club squads 201920
Green Island
Placing 201819: Champion. Gains: Nick Kelly. Losses: Tom Beaton, Fletcher Coutts, Dan Fleming, Ant Harris, Dion Lobb, Brad Wilson.
Squad: Mark Joyce (captain), Regan Cairns, Tony Cardno, Caleb Carson, Ethan Childs, Gregor Croudis, Hamish Drummond, Jake Gilbert, Josh Kellett, Kelly, Brad Kneebone, Jamie MacDonald, Joel Meade, Jack Mockford, Nick Parata, Geordie Scott, Blair Soper, Christi Viljoen, Jeremy Waldron, Dan Wright.
Taieri
Placing 201819: Second
Gains: Tom Myles, Tom Dempster, Tommy Wilson, Kallin Crowie. Losses: Fraser Colson, Jarryd Taig, Jack Hunter, Elliot Love, Morgan Duffy.
Squad: Beckham WheelerGreenall, Cam Jackson, Cam McAuslan, Riley Dixon, Marcus Frost, Regan Flaws, Callum Egen, Tim King, Dempster, Myles, Wilson, Brad Frost, Ben Lockrose, Dale Phillips, Jake Foley, Crowie, Harsh Visavadiya.
CarisbrookDunedin
Placing 201819: Third. Gains: Dean Foxcroft.
Losses: Sam Angus.
Squad: Nathan Smith, Max Chu, Camden Hawkins, Foxcroft, Anjas Bhogal, Kurt Johnston, Richard Sillars, Kane McKay, Pat Arnold, Jack Pryde, Will O’Brien, Robbie Tallott, Sam JamesEverton, Hudson JamesEverton, Steve Newey, Blair Donaldson.
North East Valley
Placing 201819: Fourth. Gains: Jamie Murley.
Losses: Ben Brady, Robbie Tallott.
Squad: Bailey AndrewsKennedy, Fraser Bartholemew, Neil Broom, Jacob Day, Sean Dykes, Matt Fisher, Tom Griffin (captain), Tom Harding, Kyle Hastie, Charlie Holt, Louis Holt, Llew Johnson, Hayden Johnston, Sam Johnston, Hunter Kindley, Will Kindley, Anaru Kitchen, Travis Muller, Murley, Thorn Parkes, Corey Perrett, Michael Rae, Matt Spicer, Declan Su’a, Sam Tallott, Russell Thomas.
Albion
Placing 201819: Fifth
Gains: Sam Angus, Sam Wells, Ryan Trattell Losses: Shawn Hicks, Casey Marsh.
Squad: Angus, Matt Bacon, Craig Baldry, James Brown, Richie Buchanan, Tommy Clout, Jack Coman, Mark Craig, Dominic Crombie, Taylor Cumberland, Lucas Dasent, Dan Duke, Tim Ford, Tim Heller, Jamie Hunt, Gus McKenzie, Liam O’Brien, Hamish Rutherford, Josh TasmanJones, Luke Tatley, Trattell, Wells, Matt West.
Kaikorai
Placing 201819: Sixth. Gains: None. Losses:
None.
Squad: Josh Bates, Hayden Creedy, Callum Douglas, Fergus Ellis, Jacob Duffy, Ben Donkers, Josh Finnie, Scott Hunter, Jordan Gain, Mitch Renwick, Dom Madden, Michael Rippon, Ness Scully, Tom Sinclair, Jeremy Smallridge, Jeremy Smith, Kurtis Weeks, Ryan Whelan, Ben Alder, Vinay Chandrappa, John Steele.
UniversityGrange
Placing 201819: Last. Gains: Venkat Kottle, Ben Hatton, Morgan Duffy. Losses: Sam Noden, Josh Taylor, Cameron Meads, Myles Driscoll.
Squad: Andrew Hore, Stephen Markham, Sanchit Sandhu, Matt Worshop, Quinn Pooley, Greg Webber, Jithendra Ratnayake, Ravi Rattihalli, Predeesh Soobramoney, Kavindra Wijenayake, Usman Shah, Harrison Biggs, Sabbir Nazir, Cam Clarke, Sam Darling, Kottle, Dhvanil Gandhi, Hatton, Duffy, Sam Downing, Ryan Dowling, Jayden Dowling.
A Squads provided by the clubs.