Greenvale Kangaroos coach Sunny Fernando discusses the club’s Premier Cricket season

For the third straight Premier Cricket season, Greenvale Kangaroos took the wooden spoon but several impressive performances, led by Justin Galeotti, has the club confident.

Greenvale Kangaroos batter Will Luxton. Picture: Andrew Batsch

Greenvale Kangaroos coach Sunny Fernando believes the club remains on track as it rebuilds.

The Premier Cricket club has finished last the past three seasons, winning just one game season after none last season and two the year before.

There were positive signs with the bat as the club ranked 14th in runs scored and 12th for wickets lost.

However, its struggles continues with the ball as it took just 70 wickets in 15 matches and ranked 15th in runs against.

Fernando said the club was pleased with the talent coming through, which would improve performances for the future.

Declan Highgate puts his body on the line for Greenvale Kangaroos. Picture: Josh Chadwick

“It’s been a huge improvement, individually, and there’s a lot of youngsters coming through,” he said.

“It’s been a real boost to the club, so I think we’re progressing well.

“(Wins) is the next step, we’re working on it.

“We’ve identified a few areas, consistently is something we lack, so this pre-season we’ll be really focused on those areas to get better.”

Captain Justin Galeotti was a standout at the top of the order.

The Kangaroos opener racked up 714 runs at an average of 59.5, ranked fourth in the competition.

He scored three centuries – all not out – with a high of 161 and another two half-centuries, equating for 25 per cent of the club’s total runs this season.

“Justin had a great year, unbelievable, and captained really well,” Fernando said.

Greenvale Kangaroos captain Justin Galeotti. Picture: Andrew Batsch

“He learnt a lot (last year) and is more focused on his own cricket and duties, which has really helped him.

“His first season he didn’t really know the players, everyone was knew to him, and after the season he and I had a chat and concentrated on areas to focus.

“One major change was being more consistent with our batting line-up, no matter what format we played he could open the batting.”

UK import Will Luxton scored 422 runs at 32.46, while Ryan Stingel finished with 405 at 28.93 to both be ranked in the top-50 run-scorers.

With the ball, import Ben Cliff and Musa Hussain both took 15 wickets to squeeze into the competition’s top-50 wicket-takers.

The Kangaroos hope to have both Luxton and Cliff back next season and will look to the recruiting market to try and bolster their line-up throughout the grades.

“We’re always looking to add talent to the squad,” Fernando said.

“We’re looking for a fast bowler, a top-order batter and a spinner, those are areas we’ve identified.

“We were happy with (Will and Ben’s) work ethic and how they adapted to the conditions.

“Their performances, we expected a bit more, but for their first season in Australia they did well and they will come back.”

Greenvale director of cricket Ash Cavigan has moved on after two seasons rebuilding the club.

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Fernando is excited by what the club can achieve moving forward.

“Ash left a good foundation,” he said.

“It’s an exciting year because we know who we are now, we play our way.

“When Ash and I took over, we didn’t know that, we have an identity now, training standards are really high now and there’s been some really good progress.”