Geelong looks for back-to-back titles in Division 1 of Country Week

The best regional cricketers will come together next week for Melbourne Country Week. Check out all of the selected squads.

Geelong won last year's Division 1 country week event. Picture: North Geelong Cricket Club.

The best cricketers of regional Victoria will come together next week to battle to win Melbourne Country Week.

The annual competition returns with Geelong looking to win again after beating 2023 champions Ferntree Gully in the final last year.

Bairnsdale will compete in Division 1 after winning Division 2 with Ballarat claiming Division 3 in 2024.

Bairnsdale makes the move to Division 1 this year after winning Division 2 last year. Picture: Bairnsdale Cricket Association.

Every squad has almost been released ahead of the event on Monday.

See them all below.

Division 1

Warrnambool

Cam Williams, Jack Burnham, Chris Bant, Farooq Qureshi, Jacob Hetherington, Bailey Jenkinson, Todd Lamont, Kal Sineth, Jimmy Elford, Daniel Hawkins, Matt Petherick, Rommel Shahzad, Sanjaya Chathuranga, Mark Murphy, Geoff Williams, Jason Mungean (Coach)

Geelong

Nick Butters (South Barwon), Sam Coutts (Grovedale), Sam Ellis (South Barwon), William Ford (St Peters), Noah Guida (Newtown & Chilwell), Sam Hall (North Geelong)

Harry Hauenstein (South Barwon), Dale Kerr (North Geelong), Alistair McCann (North Geelong), Ronnie Mckenna (Newtown & Chilwell), Rob Smith (Grovedale), James Stokes (St Peters), Lachie Sperling (Newtown & Chilwell). Bailey Sykes (North Geelong), Philip Visser (North Geelong), Gregory Willows (Highton), Brad Hauenstein (South Barwon , coach), Sean O’Neill (East Belmont, assistant coach).

Bendigo

Grant Waldron (Strathdale-Maristians, captain), Liam Smith (Golden Square, vice-captain), Josh Ansell (White Hills), James Marri (Strathdale-Maristians), Taylor Beard (sandhurst), Liam Bowe (Sandhurst), Daniel Clohesy (Strathdale-Maristians), Brent Hamblin (Kangaroo Flat), Kyle Humphrys (Bendigo), Rylea Jones (Sandhurst), Jake Marshall (White Hills), Jack Neylon (Strathdale-Maristians), Kyle Welsh (White Hills), Matt Wilkinson (Strathdale-Maristians)

Casey Cardinia

Callum O’Hare (Tooradin, captain), Yoshan Arumadura (Cardinia), Trishane De Silva (Cardinia), Trevor Bauer (Clyde), Ankush Rana (Clyde), Ben Marsh (Devon Meadows), Lucas Ligt (Devon Meadows), Chris Bright (Koo Wee Rup), Shiran Rathnayake (Koo Wee Rup), Tobias Van Den Heever (Merinda Park), Jason Williams (Pakenham), Raja Sadig (Pakenham Upper), Kasun Balasuriya (Carlisle Park), Ben Parrott (Tooradin), Tyler Evans (Tooradin). Emergencies: Kasun Balasuriya (Carlisle Park), Tom Hussey (Tooradin)

Leongatha

Ron Abeysinghe, Ethan Lamers, Aydan Williams, Joel Brann (vc), Mitchell Clark, Jake Cochrane, Mustafa Nader, Jack Ginnane (c), Jack Butcher, Lachie Wright, George McCausland, Alex Geyer, Dylan Clark, Jack Curtis, Madura Madusanka, Tom Cameron.

Bairnsdale

Ryan Halford, Brodie Anderson, Jayanga Peiris, Jack Timms, Cameron McPhan, Connor Mitchell, Nathan Schoultz, Reagan Kyle-Manager, Samuel Stewart, Isaac Love, Josh Sackfield, Ricky Tatnell, Seth Smith, Scott Dare, Scott Davidson (driver), Pat Halford (scorer).

Ferntree Gully

Nathan Walsh (c), Jake Toohey, Jackson Waters, Patrick Mastertoun, Daniel Cormack, Jack Hammond, James Dekel, Danny O’Shea, Josh Priestley, Zachary Allen, Josh Lindner, Jarrod Butcher, Jake Balfour, Ben Grimshaw, Trent Atkinson, Chandima Abeykoon.

Sale Maffra

Not released yet.

Division 2

Kingston Hawthorn

Herbie Fischbacher, Hamish McKenzie, Luke Ajani, Redwan Garcia, Noah McCullough, Lucas Kennedy, Nic Tindall, Adi Chowdry, Brad Stow, Shaurya Shukla, Avneet Ghuman, Jack Weintraub, Ishtpreet Kairon, Jamie Moraitis, Cory Cater, Roman Walker, Aidan Sheffield

Mornington Peninsula

Kierran Voelkl (captain, Dromana), Aiden McKenna (vc, Long Island), Hayden Cummings (Mornington), Sam Field (Flinders), Sam Fowler (Dromana), Lachlan Hose (Tyabb), Billy Humphrey (Pines), Dilasri Lokubandara (Boneo), Cameron Moon (Mornington), Ash Nagel (Rosebud), Harley Peace-Stirling (Pines), Matt Prosser (Langwarrin), Andrew Smith (Langwarrin), Samson Storey (Boneo). Emergencies: Jack Gorbert (Baden Powell), Sam Holland-Burch (Long Island), James Spencer (Heatherhill), Jean Luc-Talbot (Mt Eliza)

South West Cricket

Johno Benallack (captain), Lachie Boyle, Matt Boyle, Harry Carter, Louis Darcy, Jamie Dwell, Lachie Green, Hamish Huffadine, matty Kemp, Charlie Lucas, Eddie Lucas, Max Moor, James O’Neil, Henry Stevens, Paul Vogels.

Bellarine

Billy Gravett (Wallington), Dane Wise Graham (Wallington), Matthew Sampson Barnes (Wallington), Simon Umbers (Anglesea), Zac Jones (Ocean Grove), Will Liddle (Surf Coast), Hayden Illingworth (Queenscliff), Archer Jacques (Barrabool), James Fisher (Barrabool), Shane Murdoch (Winchelsea), Daniel Maclean (Armstrong Creek, captain),

Ben Norgrove (Armstrong Creek), Lachlan Mulgrew (Armstrong Creek), Ben Robertson (Armstrong Creek), Matt Kennedy (Armstrong Creek), Clay Mulgrew (Armstrong Creek).

Ballarat

Matt Aikman (Ballarat Redan), Fraser Hunt (Brown Hill), Akila Lakshan (Brown Hill), Viraj Pushpakumara (Brown Hill), Sajith Dissanayaka (Darley), Josh Brown (East Ballarat), Harry Ganley (East Ballarat), Rory Low (East Ballarat), Josh Pegg (Golden Point), Akshay Ballal (Mount Clear), Tom Le Lievre (Mount Clear), Harry Pierson (Napoleons Sebastopol), Cole Roscholler (Wendouree), Heath Pyke (Wendouree, captain)

Hamilton

Hamish Withers (c), Ben Holmes (vc), Paul Procter (vc), Jack Austin, Ben Hanrahan, Jordy Anthony, Shanaka Silva, Tom Roberts, Jak Hotchkiss, Caleb Millard, Jacob Edwards, Carey Megaw, Mitch Arnold.

Maryborough

Sam Bartlett, Lachlan Oddie, Joel Pymer, Jayden Scotland, Tom Alexander, Dan Romeo, Zac Graham, Alex Cook, Kamaljot Romana, Regan Goundry, Max Jackson, Dean Nalder, Liam Hurse, Tom Hannett, Joe Lovell, Jude Mcguire.

Wangaratta

Jack Ryan (Beechworth), Matt Ryan (Beechworth), Matt Lister (City Colts), Josh Nanson (City Colts), Tyler Nanson (City Colts), Dylan Bursill (Ovens Valley), Gregor Fraser (Ovens Valley), Cooper Thomason (Ovens Valley), Ryan Collier (Rovers United), Paddy McNamara (Rovers United, captain), Charith Perera (Rovers United), Matt Whitten (Rovers United), Cooper Matheson (Wangaratta), Jimmy Thewlis (Wangaratta).

Sunraysia

Adam Thomson, Thanura Rajapaske, Joshua Andrews, Liam Naylor, Jayden Hunt, Jason Morrison, Luke Stanbrook, Shaun Mathews, Riley Jobson, Jasper Presswell, Musa Ilyas, Anthony Morrish.

Gisborne and District

Matthew Barake, Alex Browne, Chris Burkett, Damien Edwards, Nathan Fower, Louis Moor, Aaron Paterson, Gareth Sharp, Harrison Sheehan, Taylor Stevenson, Marcus Stewart, Xav Tadd, JArryd Vernon, Riley Vernon, Ben Way, Josh Wills.

Originally published as Geelong looks for back-to-back titles in Division 1 of Country Week