South East Cricket Association: Top grades reduced to eight teams
There will be a new look to the SECA in 2019-20, with teams in Longmuir, Woolnough and Quiney Shield to play each other twice — in two and one-day games.
Inner South
Don't miss out on the headlines from Inner South. Followed categories will be added to My News.
EIGHT is Enough was a US television comedy-drama.
Eight is also enough when it comes to grades in the South East Cricket Association in 2019-20.
The SECA administration has reduced the number of teams in Longmuir Shield, Woolnough Shield and Quiney Shield from 10 to eight in a move it says will create a better standard of cricket and more playing days.
Teams will play seven two-dayers and seven one-dayers, making for a fairer draw and eliminating any thought of a side making the top-four through good fortune.
It also means First XI teams will fill the top two premier sections.
“Two years ago we went from 12-team grades to 10-team grades but that also reduced the number of our playing days from 19 or 20 to 17,’’ SECA president Phil Cox said.
“We felt it was appropriate to get the number of playing days up again.
“By going to eight-team grades you get 21 playing days over the full season, and we also think we’ll get better and tighter competitions.’’
Reigning Longy premier East Sandringham will again be a force to be reckoned with as it moves into its new clubrooms.
Premiership heroes Guy Martyn and Luke Dallas will likely miss a number of games, as will Mark Devereaux, who broke a leg during the SFNL finals series.
These absences will be offset by the full-time availability of young talents including Matthew Blunden, Ben Pryor, Jack Munnings, Paddy Inglis and Tom Yorgey, as well as last season’s two breakout players Ryan Woodward and Vinod Bhendigiri and the rumoured addition of an exciting spin prospect to cover the absence of Dallas.
East meets Elwood first up and the Beach Boys have added some talent in the off season with the return of attacking batsman Sammy “Herbal” Tee and fast bowler Dom Bulcock. Unfortunately Matty Harris (ACL) is gone for the season and Jamie Howarth is not returning but an instant replacement was found in left-arm tweaker Billy Grummet, who has been lost to the game for the past two seasons after previously turning out for Kingston Hawthorn. Marshall Bunting is captain-coach and will make an impact on and off the field if he can avoid the injury bug that cruelled him last season and the growing club keeps its core intact with seasoned performers Adam Howard, Rob De Haan, Stu Clark, Josh Murphy and Nathan Harris all fully committed.
And expect a breakout season from talented Matt McNaughton and at least two of the young group of Mitch Clarke, Finn Bonighton, Hugo Twigg and Trent Shannon.
Brighton Union almost pulled off the impossible last season, reaching the grand final, and expect the Unionites to be in the mix again.
Top batsman Darian Kuzma remains on-field leader and with Tom Matson, Weerasingha Dilranga, Matt Vorbach and “The Don” Pulukkuttiarachichi and Matt Freeman, the batting looks solid.
They have added hard-hitting middle-order batsman Corbin Sutherland to the roster.
The Hoops also have a pair of fine opening bowlers in Stuart Gara and Rob Blair but will be looking for a third seamer after Michael Caspi departed.
And they may need some more overs out of Pulukkuttiarachichi to add to their array of spin options, although veteran Stuart Bell may have a delayed start to his season.
They meet fellow finalist West Bentleigh in Round 1.
The West have things running brilliantly off the field and again have Ryan Sweeney running their team on it. They have lost their best batsman in James Quarmby and their best bowler and SECA player of the year Nick Huttley (trying his luck at Premier club Casey South Melbourne), so will need the rest of their key men in Vik “Abraca” Dabra, Roshan Livera, Jack McLeod and Tom “Yips” Watson to have big seasons. All-rounder Jayce Morgan appears set for a huge season and he will appreciate the extended playing days.
Bentleigh ANA is always a bit like a box of chocolates — you really never know what you’re going to get.
The batting looks exciting with new captain-coach Clint Tomlinson coming off a huge first SECA season and with Matt Withers, Tim Scott and James White all quality players.
Add Bryce Jansz, who returns from Bentleigh Uniting, and the Natives should make plenty of runs.
Jansz should add some handy overs as well, which will help offset the likely loss of Jamie Bennell, as will the full-time arrival of paceman Rohit Chhabra, who impressed in a couple of games last season. But they will still require loads of output from Scott, spinner Dulaj Abeykoon and Brody Lawford, who provides a bit of all-round X-Factor.
Their Round 1 opponent is traditional rival Mackie, which has appointed experienced and well travelled SECA coach Leroy De Alwis as coach.
Waqas Hussain returns, as does Roshan Lakmal, and the duo are two of the best performers going around.
But the Machine will need major support from the Suppree brothers and the reliable Park brothers. Batsman James Cooke is a welcome return and the Machine will also be hoping handy all-rounder Christopher Pearson plays most of the season. They will be looking for express improvement from their younger players with senior experience.
Le Page Park and Bentleigh Uniting could be two of the most interesting teams in the competition.
Le Page will rely heavily on its core group consisting of new skipper Roshan Perera, Steve McConchie, Pete Mentiplay, Jarrod Bradley and Oshan De Silva for most of its batting and bowling, although young guns Andrew Trease and Joel Melnjak have plenty to offer.
The Panthers’ bowling, previously heavily pace based, will have more options this season with returning off-spinner Kasun Weerasinghe and new addition Chandika Ranathunga, who bowls left-arm wrist spin.
Uniting have had significant personnel changes and will likely have the youngest squad in Longmuir Shield.
Coach Jason McNally and his assistant Max Howells depart and Jansz returns to ANA plus Cal Cathcart won’t be around. But there is plenty of young talent to work with for new leader keeper/batsman Craig Short, who adjusted well to SECA cricket last season.
Hugo Ferdinand was brilliant at times last season and will be looking for consistency while Josh Bregazzi, Pat Franklin and Liam Manakis all showed really promising signs. Max Millwood and Rory Drummond returning to the fray is a bonus, Harry Zaia has had a strong pre-season and Trent Cody will be hoping to repeat his brilliant efforts of last season.
But the big talk at The Den is the arrival of their two Sri Lankan imports Malin Silva and Buddhika de Alwis.
Both should supply useful runs but it is with the ball that the spin twins are hoping to cause mayhem.
Washington Park and Carnegie South were the two teams to drop down to Woolnough Shield and while they will both be hoping for a quick return to the top grade, they will have plenty of opposition from Woolnough Shield premier Omega, runner-up Kingston Heath and Cluden, CHAG, Moorabbin West and Melbourne Hellenic will all have some aspirations of their own as the gap between the teams narrows significantly.
EAST SANDY DEFEAT BRIGHTON UNION IN GRAND FINAL
LUKE DALLAS THE MR MEDALS OF LOCAL CRICKET
SECA CLEARANCES
Bryce Jansz: Bentleigh Uniting to Bentleigh ANA
Daniel Tinginis: Mackie to Bentleigh ANA
Max Howells: Bentleigh Uniting to Bentleigh
Charlie Davidson: Aspendale to Bentleigh Uniting
Jessica Hendricks: Bentleigh ANA to Bentleigh Uniting
Dean Farrington: Bentleigh to Bentleigh Uniting
Sam Haywood: Mackie to Bentleigh Uniting
Rohit Chouhan: Monash University to Bentleigh Uniting
Muhammad Ghaffar: Bombers to Brighton Union
Corbin Sutherland: Devon to Brighton Union
Mitch Goldenberg: Maccabi AJAX to Brighton Union
Jack Vorbach: Mackie to Brighton Union
Donnelly Mandizha: Panton Hill to Brighton Union
Amit Prabhakar: Red Daredevils to Brighton Union
Fintan Brazil: Airport West St Christophers to Carnegie South
Nick Brazil: Airport West St Christophers to Carnegie South
Tiron Warnakulasuriya: Chelsea to Carnegie United
Theekshana Hettiarachchi: Lions Sports Club to Carnegie United
Vivek Patel: Melbourne Strikers to Carnegie United
Pervez Rahman: Melbourne Strikers to Carnegie United
Kumar Prathap: Melbourne Strikers to Carnegie United
Ajay Mada: North Dandenong to Carnegie United
Tom Greenwood: Wickliffe/Lake Bolac to Carnegie United
Joel Hanson: Bonbeach to Chelsea Heights-Aspendale Gardens
Adrian Jones: Mentone to Chelsea Heights-Aspendale Gardens
Lachlan Dinger: Doveton North to Cheltenham
Carin Eastburn: Dandenong to Cheltenham Park
Robert Eastburn: Endeavour Hills to Cheltenham Park
Ben Edmondson: Hampton to Cluden
Lachlan McCluskey: Hampton to Cluden
Andrew Hibbert: Mackie to Cluden
Sam Merrick: Bayside to East Sandringham
Owen Smith: Hampton Central to East Sandringham
Lachlan Butlin: Hampton to East Sandringham
Charlie Clarkson: Highett West to East Sandringham
Sam Clements: Mackie to East Sandringham
Cameron Jaggs: Bentleigh ANA to Hampton Central
Adam Tillcock: Croydon to Hampton Central
Ryan Handley: Ferntree Gully and District to Hampton Central
Matthew Fong: Hampton Central to Hampton United
Georgia Rowe: Aspendale to Kingston Heath
Michael Fountain: Le Page Park to Kingston Heath
Liam Burn: Mordialloc to Kingston Heath
Tom Murphy: Bayside to Le Page Park
Will McKean: Cheltenham to Le Page Park
Toby East: Cheltenham Park to Le Page Park
Caleb Smith: Bentleigh Uniting to Mackie
Noah Green: Bentleigh Uniting to Mackie
Peter Papos: Melbourne Hellenic to Mackie
Terry Balderanos: Surrey Hills to Mackie
Yuvaan Girotra: Washington Park to Mackie
Gavin McCallum: Aberfeldie to Melbourne Hellenic
Corey Tanner: Huntly North Epsom to Melbourne Hellenic
Ross Barlas: Mackie to Melbourne Hellenic
Peter Magafas: Sydenham/Hillside to Melbourne Hellenic
Andrea Fera: Toorak-Prahran to Melbourne Hellenic
Shaun Leong: Toorak-Prahran to Melbourne Hellenic
William Regan: Toorak-Prahran to Melbourne Hellenic
Manni Juricic: Toorak-Prahran to Melbourne Hellenic
Roko Juricic: Toorak-Prahran to Melbourne Hellenic
Jasper Dalitz: Toorak-Prahran to Melbourne Hellenic
Anhtony Liakakos: Toorak-Prahran to Melbourne Hellenic
Nathan Donohue: Skye to Melbourne Wanderers
Pradyuth Kancherla: Victorian Sunday Cricket Association to Melbourne Wanderers
Nishanth Veemarasan: Moorabbin to Moorabbin West
Bijith Balakrishnan: Moorabbin to Moorabbin West
Dhanuska Ranaweera: Moorabbin to Moorabbin West
Gautham Parameswaran: Moorabbin to Moorabbin West
George Ambooken: Silverton to Moorabbin West
Dinesh Submerainium: South Camberwell to Moorabbin West
Dinesh Reddy: St Andrews Gardiner to Moorabbin West
Zac Barrett: Moorabbin to Oakleigh District Footballers
Joseph Martino: Warranwood to Oakleigh District Footballers
Vivek Kumaresan: HSD to Old Mentonians
Vishant Singh: Narre South to Old Mentonians
Tim Holland: Port Melbourne to Omega
Steffan Jordanidis: East Coburg to Washington Park
Joshua Street: Melton Centrals to Washington Park
Darcy Jaks-Adams: Brighton Union to West Bentleigh
Thomas Antonis: Brighton Union to West Bentleigh
Joshua Taylor: Brighton Union to West Bentleigh
Armin Gill: Carnegie to West Bentleigh
George Brayshaw: Red Hill to West Bentleigh