Cricket North Coast Premier League 2022-23 season preview
After three years disrupted by fires, floods and Covid, the North Coast is ready for cricket again. We rate the clubs and name the stars poised to light up the summer.
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After three years of summers stymied by fires, floods and Covid-19, cricket’s North Coast Premier League is back and bigger than ever.
The season is set to start on October 15, and clubs up and down the coast have been busy recruiting for what is shaping up as a season that will mark a rebirth for the sport in the region.
Powerhouse Northern Districts is looking to go back-to-back this year - and prove that their premiership credentials wasn’t a rain-affected fluke.
Here’s a look at some of the new and returning players who are set to light up the 2022-23 Premier League.
Brodie Bartlett - Valleys
Brodie Bartlett topped the competition’s run scoring charts last season, with daylight between him and second place.
With 383 runs at an average of 76, Bartlett is an irresistible force.
The powerful left hander struck at 117 last season, with a top score of 111 not out.
Described by friends as a cross-sporting talent who’s “good at everything he does, whether it’s soccer or rugby league or cricket”, Bartlett will be key to Valleys’ finals hopes this year.
Josh Bartlett - Valleys
The Bartletts come in pairs at Valleys, and brother Josh Bartlett returns to the side from Queensland Premier side South Brisbane, where he played second grade.
Bartlett the Elder is described as a “rapid” right-arm quick who will “certainly be the x-factor of the club this season”, according to sibling Brodie.
“He’ll certainly bring a significant element to our strike attack this year,” Brodie said.
Josh brought home a return of 20 wickets at 31 last season in the Queensland Premier competition, with a highlight of 5/43 in third grade against Valley.
Luke Cox - Northern Districts
Luke Cox will captain Northern Districts this year, and leads a team looking for a twopeat.
With 313 runs in all formats at 35, Cox is a lock of a strong Northern Districts side that is chasing balance.
“Our batting hasn’t been as consistent as we’d like,” said first-change medium-pacer Taj Dosanjh.
Cox’s challenge will be to lead a batting unit overshadowed by bowling brilliance last year, while also replenishing the ranks.
Precocious 17-year-old leg spinner Lachlan Carlyle has departed for the bright lights of Sydney grade cricket, representing Northern District of Waitara rather than Woolgoolga.
Taj Dosanjh - Northern Districts
Taj Dosanjh doubles as the president of Northern Districts, and while the wily medium-pacer says the body’s starting to slow down, he’s no shrinking violet as Northern Districts look to - as good batsmen are said to do - go twice.
Dosanjh plans to pair up with his nominated player of promise, Anu Grewal, for breakthroughs.
Grewal and Dosanjh were responsible for almost half of the Rebels’ wickets in the Premier League last season, with 39 between them in all forms.
While they are both medium pace bowlers, Grewal is rumoured to be branching out into both offspin and leg spin, reminiscent of Tasmania’s Nivethan Radhakrishnan.
Richie Gallichan - Sawtell
Richie Gallichan is a stalwart of North Coast cricket, and with batting numbers like his, it’s easy to see why.
4306 career runs at an average of 37, and that’s only the runs dating back to electronic records.
Hand-eye coordination is no struggle for a man who stands as the core of Sawtell’s rebuild, with Gallichan also a former professional tour golfer.
With 166 runs at 33 last season, Gallichan will be the rock of a batting line-up that saw only one batter reach triple figures in a rain-hampered competition.
Hayden McMahon - Harwood
The McMahons are part of the furniture - not just at Harwood, but for North Coast cricket.
Hayden McMahon takes on the presidency at Harwood this year from father Tim, and captains the side, playing alongside brothers Jacob and Ben.
Both Hayden and Ben have storied representative careers, and Harwood will rely on them to drag the juggernaught club back to the Premier League pinnacle.
Hayden averaged 33.4 last season, placing him second in the competition behind Brodie Bartlett.
The mainstay has been in imperious pre-season form.
Tyh Murphy - Sawtell
Sawtell lose young gun, Country NSW representatives Jack Horseman (Randwick-Petersham), and Charlie Howard (Sydney), to higher honours in Sydney, and Howard’s late-order hitting will be particularly missed.
Tyh Murphy has been tipped to fill the void, with the top-order batter and handy fielder coming off two half-centuries with the white ball last season.
A swashbuckling 77 not out against Diggers in the Coffs Harbour Hundred competition dragged Sawtell to victory at Richardson Park last year, and Murphy will be looking for more of the same.
Daany Saeed - Harwood
Daany Saeed joins Harwood as a recruit from perennial Big Smoke grade cricket strongarms Sydney University.
The stylish opener is coming off a rain-affected season to forget, with only 160 runs at 14.55.
But his wealth of experience across the country will help Harwood, who have recruited heavily as they gun to improve from their fourth place finish last season.
The athletic right-hander is known for his safe hands, sitting at the top of the fielding leaderboards in Sydney’s Metropolitan Cup for the past three years.
Aiden Statham - Valleys
Aiden Statham leads a Valleys attack alongside former ACT/Country NSW representative Jared Baldwin.
Statham will be itching for a chance to showcase his abilities after joining Valleys in the Covid-affected 2020/21 season.
The powerful all-rounder will need brothers-in-arms though, with Valleys conceding the second-most runs in the competition last season.
Statham shapes as an x-factor for Valleys if they want to make finals this year.
Coby Tabor - Harwood
Coby Tabor joins Harwood as a local recruit, looking to prove himself in the top grade after a highly disrupted 2021/22 in his final junior adventure.
Tabor made the Coffs Chargers side in the Plan B Regional Bash, and will be looking to go again, despite an ankle injury limiting the young pace bowler to gentle offspin in preseason.
The former Country NSW representative hasn’t let that hold him back however, with his powerful striking surely to be showcased in Harwood’s upcoming T20 fixtures.
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