Ex-Tea Tree Gully paceman Tim Oakley signs with West Torrens for 2019/2020 grade season
Grade cricket’s leading wicket taker has switched clubs following a breakout 2018/19 season which helped him secure a Redbacks rookie contract.
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West Torrens has pulled off an off-season recruiting coup, luring grade cricket’s leading wicket-taker from Tea Tree Gully for the 2019/2020 season.
Tim Oakley, who snared 32 scalps for the Bulls this past season, signed with the Eagles last month.
The 21-year-old paceman, winner of a rookie contract with the Redbacks for the upcoming Sheffield Shield season, said switching clubs was a tough decision.
But he said it was the right move to help him further develop under the guidance of West Torrens coach Mark Harrity, who recorded 84 matches at first-class level in Australia and the UK.
“Getting mentored now and coached by Mark Harrity is a huge plus for me,” Oakley, of Golden Grove, says.
“Spencer Johnson is the other opening bowler at West Torrens who’s played for SA.
“I think that’s two massive pluses for me to help me go to the next level of my career.
“I played at Tea Tree Gully for so long, played all my juniors there so it was a hard decision to let that chapter of my life go and move onto the next chapter, stepping into the unknown.”
Oakley has enjoyed a rapid rise up the cricket ranks.
By his own admission, he once took his cricket too seriously and drifted between the Bulls’ A and B-grade teams for three seasons.
He signed with Port Adelaide’s SANFL reserves team last year and featured in 16 games, playing at either centre-half forward or in defence, before focusing on cricket.
Oakley says earning a Redbacks rookie contract is reward for all his hard work over the past 12 months.
“I was blessed to get the Redbacks contract,” the Bachelor of Human Movement/Master of Teaching student says.
“I think what I did outside of cricket made me so much better and I everything in my power to get there.
“I just need to be a bit more patient when I’m bowling and I want to bowl faster as well – that’s my X-factor.
“If I bowl faster, it will make me even more of a threat.”