Kate Withers
CRICKET
The Yallourn North Cricket Club has been a hive of activity in the lead-up to the 2018/19 season and for “the first time in a long time” looks set to field sides across all three grades.
A number of high-profile signings have topped up playing stocks at the Rock as part of a targeted recruitment strategy to “get the club back to where it should be”, according to newly-appointed president Will Lawrey.
The 30-year-old said the prospect of being involved with the inaugural season of the Latrobe Valley Cricket Association acted as a drawcard for attracting new talent and injected “lots of excitement” in the club’s pre-existing member base.
“We’ve used the LVCA to get people interested. It’s a new concept that we’ve suggested is something pretty exciting and we’ll be a part of the first Yallourn North side to play in the LVCA,” he said.
Lawrey, who has played at Yallourn North since he was 10, takes over from outgoing president Stuart Anderson and admitted he “lost a bit of interest in cricket” but said “now it’s back”.
“I’ve never had an executive role. I’ve been curator at the club for over 10 years and it was either step away or put my hand up and get the club back to where it should be,” he said.
“At our annual general meeting we highlighted a few things we wanted to do and we wanted to be back in A grade but we want to do it at a competitive level,” Lawrey said.
“One thing we did was set about putting together a recruitment panel and they rang every person under the sun. A lot said no and others have said yes.”
The recruitment panel, headed by Nick Gooden, Evan Sheekey and Glen Sheekey, set their sights on some impressive talent and landed their first signing – all-rounder Chris Perry – in May.
Perry has bagged close to 300 wickets for Western Park in the Western District Cricket Association and boasts best bowling figures of 13/36.
“We identified Chris as a player that will help bolster the bowling stocks but also help out the young guys as well, and he’s a great family man that will fit into the culture of the club,” recruitment panellist Nick Gooden said.
Curtis Howell, who also signed with the club in May, is perhaps the biggest coup for Yallourn North.
At just 22, Howell is an opening bowler and top/middle-order batsman and plays for Findon in the Sussex Premier League in England where he also serves as vice-captain.
“We got onto Curtis via a player agent, so we explored that to try and bolster our stocks a bit and get a different level of experience into the club,” Gooden said.
“He’s a level two qualified English Cricket Board coach, so will be able to provide young guys with training ideas and regimes that we don’t normally undertake.”
Batsman Matt Brewer also joins the club from Latrobe where he amassed more than 500 runs in the 2014/15 season, as does wicket keeper and Western Park product and premiership coach Stephen Boltong and returning clubman Evan Sheekey.
On paper the Yallourn North A grade side is impressive, but Gooden said “there is lots of hard work to do between now and round one”.
“We just want to be competitive. We haven’t set our aspirations too high but we’re such a great club that we should be playing A grade,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of good people at the club and around the club like outgoing president Stu Anderson, Callum Polo and Gil Julin put in a lot of work … and deserve to see some on-field success for the hard work over the last 30 years.
“Hopefully we can win more games than we lose, but it’s just good to see Yallourn North back having a red hot dip.”
