Premier Cricket: Captain Dylan Kight discusses Footscray’s tough season

Captain Dylan Kight says Footscray will chase an experienced player over the off-season after a forgettable Premier Cricket campaign.

Footscray skipper Dylan Kight goes on the attack.

Footscray will chase an experienced player over the off-season after a forgettable Premier Cricket campaign.

The Dogs finished in 16th position with four wins — a far cry from their semi-final appearance the previous summer.

The departures of Tim Buszard, Ben Green, Hayden Butterworth and Guy Walker last off-season hurt, while opening batsman Greg Munro was limited to three First XI matches because of work commitments.

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“We’re always looking to improve and I think adding one more experienced player to the group would help,” Footscray skipper Dylan Kight said.

“I daresay we’ll look into that a bit further.

“We’ve got a good core group and the young players coming through are very promising.

“There’s not a whole lot we need to add.”

Kight said he would be “pretty surprised” if the Dogs lost any players of significance.

While they experienced a frustrating season, the likes of century-makers Jordan Kight and Ash Armstrong displayed their unquestionable talent, while left-arm orthodox spinner Siddhesh Dixit and young batsman Dylan Brasher are also players to watch.

Ashley Armstrong of Footscray batting during Premier Cricket: Footscray v Greenvale Kangaroos on Saturday, March 2, 2019, in Footscray, Victoria, Australia. Picture: Hamish Blair

Dixit grabbed his maiden First XI five-wicket haul in just his ninth match in January, while Brasher made scores of 41 and 40.

“It’s a disappointing year to not challenge to play finals and take it at least into the last round and go anywhere near where we went last year,” Kight said.

“It’s disappointing as a whole, but the positive is we’ve had four or five new young fellas come in, and they’ve all done well.

“We’ve had a few debutants makes hundreds this year, so that’s handy. And we’ve had young Sid come in and take his first five-for.

“It’s provided good opportunity for a lot of kids and even blokes who have been at the club for a while and haven’t got the opportunity.

“No doubt this year will help our depth moving forward.”

Prolific batsman Dean Russ hit three centuries for the season, returning 802 runs at 53.47, while Kight was the next best with 507 runs at 36.21.

Paceman Lucas Dredge led the way with the ball, collecting 29 wickets at 20.52 apiece.

“He was unbelievable,” Kight said of Russ.

“He just keeps getting better and better.

“There’s not too much more you can really say. It was just a phenomenal year, especially for how we went around him as well. He just stood out every game.”