VTCA Cricket: Yarraville Club sticking with what works in Senior Division
LITTLE has changed at Yarraville Club during the off-season. And why would it, given the powerhouse has claimed eight VTCA Senior Division premierships in the past decade?
North West
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LITTLE has changed at Yarraville Club during the off-season.
And why would it, given the powerhouse has claimed eight VTCA Senior Division premierships in the past decade?
Paceman Hussain Hanif, who has taken over as coach at Epping, is the only departure and the Clubbers — at this stage — have no recruits of note.
“We don’t know if we’re going to recruit a replacement or just go with what we’ve got,” Yarraville Club skipper Andy Cullen said.
“We’ve got plenty of youth coming through the junior development program and we had a few of them play last year. There are a fair few young guys who could step up and I think they’ll get a good go this year.”
Allister Powell, who was 12th man in last season’s grand final, Aaron Cheesley, Kethpriya Peiris and Shaun Weise are among those who will push for more First XI opportunities.
But the Clubbers have retained their blue-chip talent, including premiership hero Will Sheridan, who thumped a matchwinning 112 not out in the decider against Doutta Stars to lift his team to a four-wicket triumph.
Konrad Kurta (636 runs), Sheridan (490) and Joseph Blake (412) all shone with the bat in 2017-18, while Emmett Bronca (30 wickets) and James Damjanovski (27 wickets) starred with the ball.
Cullen tipped Johnathon and Joseph Blake to go to a new level this season.
“Johnny is on the verge of just clicking I think,” he said.
“He’s in his late 20s now and looks like he’s going to get there.
“Joey looks like he’s improved in leaps and bounds and he’s starting to understand he’s got quite a lot of talent and he’s actually applying it.
“He had a really good year last year and I think he’s going to back it up this year.”
The Clubbers have started pre-season training and will have a camp in Cobram next month, where they will tackle Bentleigh.
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