Revamped BPCA takes flight
A new era for the Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association kicks off today with three new clubs from all points of the region, as TOM HUSSEY reports
INVERLEIGH
Ins: — Outs: Tristan Lake (interstate) Last season: Finished 4th GCA3. 7 wins, 7 losses. Captain-coach: David Peel Club says: “We’re just looking to try and be as competitive as possible, we don’t want to come into a new competition and embarrass ourselves or let the club down so a lot of the boys are actually pretty excited about the new challenge,” says captain-coach David Peel. Addy says: An unknown quantity coming into a new competition, but Inverleigh looks set to field a strong batting line-up with both No.1 batsman Lachie Platt (536 runs) and captaincoach David Peel (399) among the GCA3 top 10 run scorers last season.
DRYSDALE
Ins: — Outs: Andrew Dundon (interstate) Last season: Finished 6th. Won 4, lost 5, drew 1. Captain-coach: Leigh Allan Club says: “(We’re aiming for) finals this year for sure. We’ve still got the nucleus of a really good side, we’ll probably add to that and we’ll probably bring some kids through the side as well just to give them a bit of experience, but we always aim for finals and this year’s no exception,” says captain-coach Leigh Allan. Addy says: With an ageing A Grade side Drysdale will be looking to blood some more youth throughout the season as it establishes a new generation of players coming through. Paceman Luke Malcolm could be set to take the next step after taking 18 wickets last season.
BARWON HEADS
Ins: Sam Herbison (Geelong City). Outs: Craig Biddiscombe (St Joseph’s) Last season: Grand finalists. Won 6, lost 4 (h& a). Captain: Sam Schaller Coach: Ashley Muir Club says: “We’re very positive obviously but we know there's a lot of hard work to do. We were disappointing at the start of last season and had a good second half that allowed us to get to where we got to but we realise that there’s still a lot of work to do to catch up to Collendina, who I’d imagine are still the best team again in the comp this year,” says coach Ashley Muir. Addy says: At full strength Barwon Heads looks to be every bit as competitive as last season, particularly after the disappointment of losing a grand final. Experienced opener Sam Herbison has been recruited back to the club to strengthen the batting line-up and will offset the loss of middle order batsman Craig Biddiscombe, who scored 306 runs last season.
WINCHELSEA
Ins: Marc Carson (Newtown & Chilwell, former Geelong CC), Daniel Johnson (South Barwon), Ryan Tench (interstate) Outs: Mitchell Harrison (Highton) Last season: Finished 5th GCA3. Won 7, lost 7. Captain: Daniel Johnson Coach: Brad Evans Club says: “We’re virtually going in with our eyes closed, not knowing the association, not knowing the opposition, so its very hard to pinpoint exactly where you’d like to finish and what you’d like to achieve, but success — more wins than losses for a start,” says coach Brad Evans. Addy says: It’s a fresh start for Winchelsea this season with a new competition, a new captain and a new coach with all-rounder Daniel Johnson coming across from South Barwon and Brad Evans returning from Queensland. Former Premier cricket champion Marc Carson has also joined to lead the pace attack after a year out of the game.
ANGLESEA
Ins: Tyler Dittloff (Napoleons-Sebastapol), Jordon Haines (Grovedale CC) Outs: Daniel Midolo (injury) Last season: Finished 5th. Won 5, lost 5. Captain: Ned Cooper Coach: Dale Kerr Club says: “Obviously the expectation is to make finals this season. Just missing out last season was a bit disappointing but we’ll hopefully make finals this season in the A Grade and see how things go from there,” says coach Dale Kerr. Addy says: Anglesea has recruited Tyler Dittloff as it tries to squeeze more runs out of its batting line-up and provide support for captain Ned Cooper, who scored 488 runs last season — third in BPCA A Grade. Dale Kerr returns after missing much of last season with injury, but the side will be without Sam Kerr for the first half of this season through injury also.
COLLENDINA
Ins: Kade Norquay (injury) Outs: — Last season: Premiers. Won 8, drew 1. Captain-coach: Corey Walter Club says: “We’ve got a couple of the guys that have been training for a little while now and working on some individual things … so it’s more about trying to develop a few of the younger boys. We’ve got Max (Sutton) here who’s 17 and kept for us all year and did an unbelievable job so he’ll get better again and a couple of guys in the middle order that will be looking to take that next step as well, which we’re really excited about,” says captaincoach Corey Walter.
Addy says: The reigning premier will again loom large this season with batsman Nathan Walter set to slot back in after missing the finals with a broken ankle. He’ll join the likes of Corey Walter, Ben Ricardo and Andrew Higgins, who each scored over 450 runs last season. Kade Norquay, a previous A Grade premiership captain, also returns to the club to further strengthen the batting ranks.
LITTLE RIVER
Ins: Casey Lang (Winchelsea) Outs: — Last season: Premiers GCA3. Ladder finish 3rd. Won 9, lost 5. Captain-coach: Nathan Kenyon Club says: “We’re looking to obviously try and play finals, which at this stage is going to be a lot tougher task for us, we’ve got a fair few injuries to our premiership team from last year so it’s probably going to be a while before we get back to full strength but hopefully we can have a strong second half and get close to finals,” says captain-coach Nathan Kenyon.
Addy says: Little River begins its first season in the BPCA behind the eight ball after suffering a multitude of injuries to premiership players. The side’s leading wicket-takers, Nathan Kenyon (AC joint) and Troy Smith (collarbone), are set to spend extended periods on the sidelines, along with a host of other key injuries.
JAN JUC
Ins: Ryan Smith (Torquay) Outs: Josh Leyonhjelm, Lachlan Howe (interstate), Nick Smith (overseas), Harry Greenhalgh (overseas), Joel Bienefelt (South Barwon), Fraser Locke (Newtown) Last season: Semi finalists. Won 7, lost 2, drew 1. Captain-coach: Ben Grinter Club says: “We’ve had a lot of blokes leave the club so it’ll be a bit of a different year for us, it’s something that the club probably hasn’t seen in a few years but we’ll just try and be as competitive as we can and hopefully set a good platform for the club in three, four, five years’ time bringing these juniors through,” says captaincoach Ben Grinter.
Addy says: Jan Juc could be set to feel the loss of Nick Smith heaviest after he took the equal most wickets in the A Grade competition last season with 33, however 16year-old Josh Norman could be set to step up and fill the void after claiming 6-13 on debut last season.
PORTARLINGTON
Ins: Paul Wells (Rokewood), Jason Woods (Corio), Harry Day (interstate), Adrian Paul (interstate) Outs: Devlin Foot (Grovedale), Jamie Morgan (Injury) Last season: Finished 7th — won 3, lost 6, drew 1. Captain: Yet to be announced Coach: Tony East
Club says: “We’ll try and consolidate and improve on where we were last year … just work away and try and develop some consistency and obviously we’ve got a couple of new players in, hopefully they’ll be good players for us,” says coach Tony East.
Addy says: Portarlington will look to a blend of experience and youth to raise it to finals contention. The loss of Devlin Foot is set to be felt most after the paceman took the fourth most A Grade wickets last season, while all-rounders Paul Wells and Jason Woods have been brought in and are set to have an impact.
OCEAN GROVE
Ins: Sam Jubber (Glen Iris) Outs: — Last season: Semi finalists Finished 4th. Won 6, lost 4. Captain-coach: Paul Jubber Club says: “We’ve certainly improved our depth from last year … we’ve played together two or three years now and we know each other’s games inside and out so we’ll hope to capitalise on that, but we’ve also brought in some key players that’ll add to our mix so that’ll hopefully allow us to go a little bit deeper than what we did last year,” says captaincoach Paul Jubber. Addy says: After a tied semi final against eventual premier Collendina last season, Ocean Grove will be desperate to progress further this time around. Mick Thornton is set to become a fixture in the A Grade middle order, while Sam Jubber will be a crucial addition batting at first drop as well as opening the bowling.
QUEENSCLIFF
Ins: Nil. Outs: Nil. Last season: Finished 8th. Won 3, lost 6, drew 1. Captain-coach: Toby Smith Club says: “I’m not expecting us to win any grand finals, but in saying that I want the blokes this year to really enjoy themselves. There’s a lot of guys that are older in the team this year and there’ll also be the really young guys in there too,” says captain-coach Toby Smith.
Addy says: Queenscliff will look to blend a group of raw youth and heavily experienced players this season and is set to face disruptions with access to training facilities while new ones are being built. Batsman Baxter Howard is also said to be set for an improved season.
BARRABOOL
Ins: Daniel Mair (Leopold), Jimmy Jirik (Geelong City), Dan Jirik. Outs: Nil Last season: Finished 9th. Won 1, lost 8, drew 1. Captain-coach: Kane Pickering Club says: “We’ll obviously just look to win every game we can and be competitive in most games, which we probably were last year, so hopefully get over the line in a few more and move our way up,” says captain-coach Kane Pickering.
Addy says: Barrabool will be looking for more of its batsmen to capitalise on good starts and provide support for captaincoach Kane Pickering, who scored 460 runs last season. Aaron Pickering and Tom Smith are two who will look for even better seasons with the bat to help propel Barrabool up the ladder.