Premier Cricket 2019-20: Crosthwaite to lead Saints as Lalor looks for young stars to ‘grow’
The former first-class wicketkeeper-batsman has been a prolific runmaker in Sydney Grade cricket in the past few seasons. St Kilda hopes he can do the same in his return to Premier Cricket.
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In his first hit for St Kilda, new captain Adam Crosthwaite made 70-odd in a practice match against Carlton.
He looked in control.
Club coach Glenn Lalor was happy to see the runs — and happier that the young Saints on the trip saw Crosthwaite make them.
“It was a great experience for them to watch him go about it,’’ Lalor said.
Crosthwaite batted at No 6 but he’ll come in higher during the season, which starts next Saturday.
The 34-year-old is back in Victoria and playing Premier Cricket for the first time since 2008-09, picking up on his 64 matches for Richmond.
Searching for more opportunity with his wicketkeeping, Crosthwaite headed for NSW and then to SA. He finished with 31 first-class matches after starting out with the Vics in 2005. There was also a Big Bash stint with Adelaide Strikers.
Crosthwaite has spent the past few seasons in the Sydney Grade competition, scoring stacks of runs, for Manly-Warringah and North Sydney.
Last season he hammered out 980 at 70, with four centuries (and another ton in the T20 competition). He hasn’tkept wickets for a while (probably because he’s been too busy whacking bowlers around).
Lalor said Crosthwaite had settled in well at the club but was still getting a feel for it.
“He’s finding his feet, getting to know everyone and getting an idea of how they play,’’ he said.
“It’s quite tough coming in to a new club as the captain. You’re trying to work out the top 20 or 30, see where everyone fits in. That’s why he batted lower down (against Carlton), just to have a look.’’
Crosthwaite replaces as captain former Test spinner Michael Beer, who has coaching commitments with the Melbourne Stars (anassistant for the women and development/spin bowling with the men).
Beer is likely to be available for Round 1 but from there he will make occasional appearances.
“He’s put his hand up to do whatever we ask, which is nice,’’ Lalor said.
“It might mean playing in the ones or captaining the twos.’’
Swing bowler Henry Hall will miss the first half of the season due to his work commitments as a stockbroker.
Matthew Hennig is expected to step into the First XI and supply pace alongside Shea Gribbin and Josh Bartlett.
The Saints have high hopes for all-rounder Jon Merlo, offie Todd Murphy, wicketkeeper-batsman Patrick Rowe and middle-order batsman Damon Egan.
“I want all of them to grow another level,’’ Lalor said.
“Those guys are our future, basically. If you add Bartlett and ‘Manno’ (opener Josh Manning), who is coming off 700, 800 runs, and add ‘Crossy’ for three years, we’ve got a really nice core. We’re a lot better placed now than what we were 12 months ago, I think.’’
The Saints finished sixth after the home-and-away rounds and lost to Monash Tigers in an elimination final.
Time will tell whether they can improve on it, but they’ll have a clock in their corner.
Long-time and popular First XI team manager Tim “Clock’’ Loughry is back from Adelaide and Lalor said his influence around the team would be unfailingly positive.