South East Cricket Association season preview: how the clubs are shaping up for 2021-22

Chris Diggle has taken over the captaincy of last season’s premier as it looks to stay on top in the SECA. Here’s a snapshot of the Longmuir Shield clubs.

East Sandringham shows off the 2020-21 Longmuir Shield.

Game on.

The South East Cricket Association kicks off this weekend again after a delayed start caused by Covid.

The season will take on the same format as 2020-21, with Shield grades playing 14 one-day, 40-over-per-team matches and meeting all opposition teams twice in the home-and-away rounds.

East Sandringham still looms as the measuring stick with its exciting home-grown talent.

Chris Diggle takes over the captaincy from Guy Martyn but the batting core of Matt Harris, Diggle, Matthew Blunden, Jack Munnings and Ben Pryor remains formidable and last season’s surprise packet Tim Edwards heads the bowling with Paddy Inglis, Vinay Bhendigiri and Munnings lending support.

The next wave is also on the horizon with Zac Fulecky and James Keys likely to be given an early opportunity to cement their spots.

Billy Phelan will have a late start to the season and Martyn is likely to only make spasmodic appearances after taking on extra responsibilities off the field but a full season from a fully-fit Mark Devereaux should plug any gaps.

Their season starts with a grand final replay against Bentleigh Uniting, which also looks in good shape to threaten for the title again.

Luke Russell returns to lead the club on and off the ground and the line-up looks strong with Trent Cody, Tom Backman, Craig Short and Josh Bregazzi heading the batting card.

Tim Brisbane returns to add further depth.

Afan Sherriff will head the bowling attack, as he did so adeptly last season, with spin twins Malin Silva and Buddika De Alwis certain to cause plenty of headaches. They could become a trio if joined by promising leggie Lochie Still.

The great Guy Martyn has stood down as captain of East Sandy.

Hugo Ferdinand will be absent and veteran paceman Brad Dolman will miss some games so the time is right for the returning Nick Halliday and Liam Manakis to take the next step.

West Bentleigh returns to Longmuir Shield following its Woolnough Shield premiership win and while the West looked to add to their list in the off-season they were unable to land what they were looking for.

But there is still plenty of optimism at Victory Park. Their revitalised senior squad remains intact with all-rounder Jayce Morgan the cornerstone of their team.

Skipper Tom Watson is a shrewd on-field leader and a quality opening batsman and experienced Chris Fidler complements him nicely.

Jack McLeod remains a vital cog and there are up-and-comers in medium pacer Josh Mackie, who impressed throughout last season, and middle-order bat Luke Healy, whose improvement should continue.

The Bulldogs have shown they are adept at the limited-overs format and while facing stiffer competition this season, they will give a yelp or two.

Their first challenge will be Kingston Heath, which showed plenty of promise last season without quite threatening the upper echelon.

The Heath have lost opening bat Luke Schwarz to retirement but will get a full season out of Matt Cefala and expect plenty of runs out him along with Andrew Birt, Anthony Reid and Tom Morecroft.

Adam Bailes and Hemantha Alles were the best new-ball pair in the competition last year but lacked second-tier support and the Kookaburras will be hoping Tom Grech and Morecroft can step up this season.

Harrison Murie and Aaron Gribbin provide variation, and young southpaw Liam Burn might be a name to watch.

Elwood and Brighton Union met in last season’s first semi-final and also get a rematch in Round 1.

The Beach Boys should be right in the mix although they will have to play their games on the secondary oval at Wattie Watson Reserve with the main ground being resurfaced.

They reboot with most of their playing list intact and a nice blend of youth and experience, but can they take the next step and seriously threaten the top couple?

Marshall Bunting leads from the front and he has great lieutenants in Rob De Haan, Nathan Harris, Stuart Clark and Adam Howard.

Trent Fitzgerald had a breakout previous season and thrives in the limited-overs format and with Clark, Bunting, Howard and the Harris trio of brothers there is good depth in the batting. They relied heavily on De Haan and Mitch Clarke to pin opposition teams down last season and will be looking for their young crop of pacemen to develop.

They have a wealth of all-rounders in their squad and are one of the best fielding teams in the competition so anything less than a top-four spot would be a disappointment.

Union have the mercurial Darian Kuzma at the helm again and Tom Matson and Phil Falvo are steady players but the loss of opener Weerasingha Dilranga hurts, as does the departure of Matt Freeman, who has crossed to Hampton United.

Dashing Aaron Gregory and steady Stuart Bell will also miss chunks of the season but they are hoping a fully-fit Stuart Gara and Rob Blair will stiffen the bowling attack, which will also include up-and-comers Luke Vorbach and John Donohoe.

Bentleigh ANA had some good moments last season but got exposed by its thin bowling attack.

ANA have addressed this issue by adding seasoned James McKay from Inverloch and Sam Boontjes from their first-round opponent Le Page Park.

They have also regained Brad Lovell and will regain some quality with James White available after he missed last season with injury.

Spinning all-rounder Dulaj Abeykoon was great last season and will be looking to build on that while their batting is always capable with dashing Tim Scott, Bill Biggs and Bryce Jansz all topliners and Jacob Curry and Luke Domaschenz appearing to be stars on the rise.

Jack O’Toole departs after taking up a coaching role at St. Kilda.

The Panthers have a new on-field leader in prolific batsman Pete Mentiplay with Steve McConchie taking over as coach after the retirement of Jarrad Bradley.

Oshan De Silva will hope to bounce back with a big season and Nick Huttley will be fully-fit and there are plenty of other good cogs in their engine with Roshan Perera, Joel Melnjak, Tate Grammaconi, Chandika Ranathunga and Simon Lindsay-White.

There will be more focus on the Le Page Park youth with tweaker Tom Carroll expected to become a permanent fixture and his brother Lachie taking over the gloves from Mentiplay, which will free the skipper up to return to the bowling crease.

While the weather already looks dubious and could play a hand this weekend there is sure to be some exciting cricket played in Longmuir Shield this season, with the limited overs format a spectator’s delight.