Premier Cricket: top Gippsland player joins Casey South Melbourne

The Swans have brought into their squad a player who gave 1000 runs a nudge in country cricket last season.

Casey South Melbourne signing Jordan Gilmore.

Coming off a bumper 2020-21 season, one of the Gippsland region’s leading batsmen has joined Casey South Melbourne.

Jordan Gilmore will play for the Swans and is expected to slot into the top-order of a team that was looking for fresh faces for the First XI.

Gilmore, 27, hit 804 runs at 80.4 last season for Ex Students in the Traralgon and District association A grade competition.

When representative cricket is included he had 926 runs.

His tally for Ex Students included scores of 169, 129, 112, 98 and 91.

He also blitzed 72 retired off 59 balls in the VCCL East versus West match.

Jordan Gilmore played for Casey South Melbourne playing three seasons from 2009-10.

A regular Country Week player, Gilmore tried out for Casey South Melbourne when he was a teenager, playing three seasons from 2009-10.

He had some good scores in the thirds and fourths, including a century, and reached the seconds.

Gilmore said today he was ready for another dash at Premier Cricket.

“I had a good season at my local club last year and the coaches thought I should give it a crack,’’ he said.

“About two weeks after I had that thought Casey actually gave me a phone call and said they’d like to me join their club.’’

Gilmore was 15 when he first joined the Swans.

He said he was better equipped and prepared to play for them now.

“Definitely. My local club is really behind me in getting back up to Melbourne and I think it’s a great opportunity for me,’’ Gilmore, who lives and works in Traralgon, said.

Swans president Shaun Petrie said: “It’s really encouraging that someone of Jordy’s obvious cricket ability is keen to have another crack at the highest level.

“Especially considering he’s from Gippsland, traditionally one of our catchment areas for talented players … it goes to show that if your keen enough to commit to premier cricket, there’s opportunities.

“You certainly don’t have to be identified by Cricket Victoria Pathway programs to have a crack at Premier cricket. If you’ve got the talent, don’t mind the hard work and your determined, there’s opportunities. We’re sure Jordy will do well and he’ll get all the coaching support needed to succeed.’’

The Swans’ other recruits include left-arm spinner Luke Shelton, who was in the Sydney Grade team of the year last season, and leg-spinning all-rounder Ruwantha Kellepotha, who was the 2020-21 Wookey Medal champion playing for Berwick lin the Dandenong District association.