Premier Cricket 2018-19: Northcote changes pre-season approach in effort to avoid injuries to its bowling stocks

NORTHCOTE has restructured its pre-season as a result of injuries sustained by its pace battery last season.

Sam Harbinson of Northcote traps James Rosewarne of Greenvale LBW during Premier Cricket: Greenvale Kangaroos v Northcote at Greenvale Reserve on Saturday, November 18, 2017, in Greenvale, Victoria, Australia.Picture: Hamish Blair

NORTHCOTE has restructured its pre-season as a result of injuries sustained by its pace battery last season.

No Dragons bowler sent down 200 overs in Premier Cricket during the 2017-18 campaign as all-rounder Sam Harbinson, captain Steve Taylor and Michael Rogneda’s impacts with the ball were limited by injury.

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In contrast, the competition’s leading wicket-taker Trent Lawford delivered 265.1 overs for Fitzroy-Doncaster, while Essendon’s Matt Doric (234.3 overs) and Dandenong’s James Nanopoulos (254.4) took more than 40 wickets.

Taylor, who has been appointed coach and replaced by Ben Abbataneglo as skipper, said the club would have a “huge focus” on preparing its bowlers for a taxing season.

“You look at the top performing fast bowlers in Premier Cricket and they all bowl upwards of 200 overs a year and take 35 or more wickets,” Taylor said.

“It’s purely a numbers game. The more overs you bowl, the more wickets you are going to get. It’s pretty simple.

“In July, we are really going to focus on our strength and conditioning.

“We’ve implemented an F45 program as a group which we will get stuck into and we will leave the skill based stuff more towards August and pushing to September is where we will sharpen our ball work.”

Sam Harbinson has been restricted by injury in recent seasons. Picture: Hamish Blair.

Taylor was limited to 57.1 overs last summer after bowling 129.1 in 2016-17, while Harbinson managed only 44.4 overs as he was restricted to nine First XI games.

Hamilton and Crispe finished as Northcote’s leading wicket-takers with 21, a figure dwarfed by Lawford’s 62 scalps.

Hamilton returned 34 wickets from 218.5 overs two seasons ago, while Harbinson showcased his potential with 22 wickets from 154 overs in 2015-16 and 19 scalps from just 85.5 overs in an injury-interrupted 2016-17.

“We didn’t bowl enough overs as a unit for a number of reasons, one of them mainly being injury,” Taylor said.

“There’s going to be a huge focus on strength and conditioning and building a base level of fitness for our fast bowling group moving forward. Just to increase our workload.”