STAFF WRITERS
CRICKET
TDCA
AFTER a long and wet winter, the Traralgon District Cricket Association season has finally arrived, scheduled to start this Saturday, October 1.
With forecasters predicting La Nina to hang around for another year, the start of the season may be a difficult one for curators, but as always you can’t predict the weather.
With another full season of one-day matches scheduled this season, here is a look at how clubs are shaping up for TDCA season 2022/23.
Ex Students
Last season: A Grade: premiers; B Grade: third; C Grade: premiers.
Captain: James Pryde.
A NEW regime has taken affect at the Traralgon Recreation Reserve, after Lee Stockdale made the decision to step back after a massive couple of seasons at the helm.
Not too many would want to relinquish the captaincy of such an incredibly well performed team, but after landing his beloved Sharks three A Grade premierships in the past six years, as well as captaining the TDCA representative team to three Grand Finals including a premiership in that time, as well as being vice captain of the Vic Country team, it’s understandable Stockdale now wants a break.
Pryde will now get his opportunity, and although he has been the heir apparent for some time, it’s still going to be interesting to see how he goes in the main chair and what sort of style of captain he will be.
The Sharks are so well drilled and play one day cricket incredibly well, it’s impossible to see how they don’t finish in the top two this season.
They bat so deep and their bowling unit complements each other in a way that is just too hard to find a chink in the armour to exploit.
The use of Duke balls this season may affect how the spin trio of Stockdale, Pryde and Michael Warne operate due to the balls staying harder than the Kookaburras traditionally do, but considering how dynamic this team is, it’s doubtful that will be an issue at all.
In the lower grades, the club is going through a bit of transition, with some younger players to be blooded in B Grade and a few of the older guys going back to C Grade. Keep an eye out for Zachary Bastin and Nathan Thomson to start climbing through the ranks and make an impact at A Grade level, and Kade Duncan to up his workload with the swinging ball as well.
One to watch: Last season it was all about the top order batsmen making big scores, but as mentioned before, the Dukes ball will allow more scoring opportunities down the order this season. What this does it set up the season for Rick Battista to do what he does best and put teams to the sword late in the day. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he finished the season with the TDCA A Grade batting average award either so watch this space.
Prediction: A top two finish is a certainty, but it’s hard to go back-to-back in the TDCA. Ex Students will make the Grand Final again, but after that is anyone’s guess.
Glengarry
Last season: A Grade: runner-up; B Grade sixth; C Grade fifth.
Captain: Nat Freitag.
THE Magpies were wounded last season after losing the premiership on their home track, which will have fuelled the fire for season 2022/23.
Their A Grade team is chock full of talent with both bat and ball, and boasts last season’s LH Cox A Grade Player of the Year opening the batting for them as well in Al Jenkin, who headlines a top order made up of Frank Marks, Nat Freitag and Sam Marks, who all score heavily.
Cam Graham will be licking his lips bowling with the Duke, as will Frank Marks whose outswingers will bend around corners, causing all sorts of issues for batsmen across the
competition.
The clubs lower grades have struggled a little bit in recent years, but with a good crop of eager young players want- ing to prove themselves, they should make a bit more impact on the season this time around.
Some difficult decisions need to be made at some point as well’, with Gareth Waack-Hawkins demanding more overs in A Grade after just missing out on a Grand Final spot last year, topping Glengarry’s B Grade wickets and then claiming six wickets at just 9.33 in A
Grade in the lead up to finals. Glengarry also need another spin option when situations and conditions require.
Sam Marks could fill this space but the rumour mill is suggesting a late signing could also be on the cards.
One to watch: A big season is on the cards for Ben Marks, who will love the hard ball pinging off the bat late in innings. After only five innings in A Grade last season, just watch him launch some big scores in 2022/23.
Prediction: Like Ex Students, a top two finish is a guarantee and they have shown that they step things up at the pointy end of the season and could easily walk away with a flag this year.
Toongabbie
Last season: A Grade: third; B Grade: fifth; C Grade: fourth.
Captain: Keenan Hughes.
THE Rams look set to challenge again this season after a good 2021/22 where they finished third in A Grade.
Toongabbie had seven batsmen all make over 100 runs last season, but none made over 200, so the likes of Rob Wheildon, Kevin Stoddart, Jason Veneman and Tom Shippen need to convert their starts into big scores to make an impact.
James Chalmers was the find of the season for the Rams, and will look to improve on his 195 runs, hopefully anchoring the innings late with his hard, straight hitting.
Keenan Hughes will be deadly with a new Duke, and the guile of Tom Shippen will mean no team can feel safe batting against the Rams.
Toongabbie has a few young players starting to come through the ranks as well, which should mean that the B and C Grades will benefit all season.
With a core group now getting into their mid-30s, it’s crucial that Hughes can make sure the young players are developing and getting a taste of higher level cricket while still using that current core to win games.
One to watch: Matt Barry continues to tick all the boxes of a young developing star. He led the Rams for wickets last season with 17 and is set to now take big bags and not just be a support role for the likes of Hughes, Shippen and Stoddart.
Prediction: With no new additions to the list, Toongabbie will be duking it out between Yarram & District for fourth spot on the ladder.
Yarram & District
Last season: A Grade: 4th; B Grade: third; C Grade: runner-up.
Captain: Anthony Scott
THE Pelicans are building into a powerhouse club, and now that they have a turf wicket on their home ground, the club will enjoy playing A Grade games at home for the first time since forming.
Yarram plays a unique hard-hitting style, which can see them sometimes be all out cheaply, but then also get scores of 250 plus quite easily.
Anthony Scott is obviously their most dangerous bat, but while he’s going at one end there needs to be a more level head up the other end.
The loss of Brett Pedlow will hurt the club, but Daniel O’Keefe will step up and take over from him, while young gun Matthew Garland should see himself in A Grade all season and have a big impact.
The Pelicans’ swing bowlers are an honest bunch and always challenge the stumps of the opposition, and hopefully Jeremy Babb can play a full season in the As as he is class.
The Pelicans boast real depth in their whole club, with their B and C Grades always strong. It won’t be a shock if all three grades feature heavily in the finals this season.
One to watch: Kelly Griffiths is a talented young bowler who missed out on the club bowling aggregate in 2021/22 by just one wicket.
Prediction: As mentioned previously, it’s Yarram and District versus Toongabbie for the final spot in the finals. Yarram can mix it with the big boys, but have also shown they can have off days and drop unexpected games, so if the Pelicans find a little more consistency this season then they should just make the top four.
Gormandale
Last season: A Grade: fifth; B Grade: runner-up; C Grade: seventh.
Captain: Adam Brady.
GORMANDALE fell just short of making the top four last season, after missing out by a single point as Yarram & District jumped them after a washout in the last round of 2021/22.
New skipper Adam Brady heads into this season knowing that some great foundation work was done last season as outgoing captain Luke Henderson was able to get some games into the younger players at the club, which will be a good building block for this season.
Gormandale know they underperformed in 2021/22 and should bounce back.
Matt Hibbs had a down campaign after making close to 500 runs in 2020/21, but with Yohan Soyza returning to the club, he will get plenty of support with the top order strengthening.
Gormandale’s bowling has taken a recent hit, with young Campbell Peavey heading to Dandenong to try his luck in Premier Cricket, but it gives an opportunity to the likes of Ethan Jarvis and Hibbs to show how good they can be with the ball.
The Gormandale B Grade team were nearly the fairytale story of season 2021/22, playing B Grade finals for the first time in 15 years and knocking off the reigning premiers in the semi, only to fall short against a good Rovers side.
The Tigers C Grade will hope they don’t set any more records this season and need to improve on some efforts from 2021/22.
One to watch: The return of Yohan Soyza has buoyed the club, and he will provide some excellent all-round talent and show some of these younger players just how to approach each match.
Prediction: Gormandale has a good mixture of young and old players, but will need some luck along the way to play finals. It’s not completely out of the realms of possibility, but with other clubs around the competition improving they are going to just miss out on finals
again this season.
Rovers
Last season: A Grade: sixth; B Grade: premiers; C Grade: sixth.
Captain: Dougal Williams.
ROVERS got busy after an unlucky season.
Having added their first piece of silverware to the cabinet for the first time in 30 years, Rovers not only celebrated it hard but were left wanting more.
This desire has led to the club getting back big quick Mitch Floyd, who they missed drastically last season as he not only provides some aggressive pace bowling but also a hunger to win and a real hard edge as well.
Add Justin Little to the team, as well as a fully fit Dougal Williams, who was having a great season before getting injured last year, and Rovers are ready to play finals again.
Ewan Williams’ input was down last season so he’ll almost be like having a new player, because players of his ilk don’t have two bad seasons in a row.
It would be great to see a Conner Little or Kade Marsh really commit to a full season, as either of those two players would certainly sure up the middle order, and if Simon Duff can set himself a task of averaging 20 batting in the lower order, Rovers have the team to push every club in the association.
One to watch: Another club with an import, Rovers has enlisted the help of hard-hitting top order batsman Olly Mason from the Redditch Cricket Club to take it up to the opening bowlers around the league. Mason had an incredible strike rate of 111.26 from his 24 matches in the UK, so bowlers will need to be aware of the hard-hitting Englishman’s talent.
Prediction: Boys will become men this year at DCP, with Rovers to be the big mover and finish third on the ladder.
Imperials
Last season: A Grade: sixth; B Grade: seventh; C Grade: third.
Captain: Ryan Morley.
IT was all doom and gloom this time last year, but Imperials surprised a few people early, notching up good wins against Rovers and Gormandale, before fading out late in the season.
It was a real ‘club first’ effort last season, with many players playing across all three grades to make sure the club was ticking along and building a strong culture.
Ross Williams was superb with the ball, taking out the league bowling aggregate from the last placed team in what was an amazing achievement, but with Brad Sizeland not expecting to return from injury until late this
season, he will need to again be the super dependable player Imps need.
With Sizeland out, it does leave young Lachlan Rickwood with an opportunity to fast track his spinners, and hopefully Ryan Bosch can shoot his shot with the new ball as well.
Batting was a concern last season for Imps, and availability of players may again mean this is an issue in 2022/23 as well.
After coming off an 800-run season in the UK, Ryan Morley is primed and ready to go for a big season.
Imps’ B Grade can continue to blood the young players, while their C Grade are a walk up start to be back in the finals
One to watch: Imports are back in the TDCA and Imperials have a good one. Keep an eye on Tom Starkey this season, who Ryan Morley is bringing back from the UK to take the field at Catterick Crescent. Starkey made 646 runs and claimed 38 wickets with the new ball for the Olicanian Cricket Club.
If he can replicate these sorts of stats for Imperials, they will not be taken lightly at all this season.
Prediction: Finals are still a few years away for Imperials, but they have been busy adding to the club with plenty of new players signing on. Their depth may be challenged but their fight is never an issue and for a club who play their home ground so well, don’t think they won’t upset a few along the way this season.
