Greenvale Kangaroos raise expectations after winless 2023-24 season

After a winless 2023-24, Greenvale Kangaroos are confident they can snare a number of wins this season and jump up the Premier Cricket ladder.

Haseeb Qureshi in action for Greenvale Kangaroos. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The only way is up for Greenvale Kangaroos.

And the club is confident it can jump up the Victorian Premier Cricket ladder this season.

After a winless 2023-24, the Kangaroos will look to break their losing streak, which currently stands at 13, their last win coming in the final round of the 2022-23 season.

Ryan Stingel (Footscray), Visura Fernando (Kingston Hawthorn) and former Essendon quick Musa Hussain have come on board.

County cricket imports Ben Cliff and Will Luxton from Yorkshire will arrive in time for Round 3.

Greenvale Kangaroos captain Justin Galeotti. Picture: Andy Brownbill

After a whole club reset last season, Greenvale coach Sunny Fernando said there were bigger expectations in 2024-25.

“We’ll put a strong side on the field, we’re confident and looking forward to getting a few wins for the club,” Fernando said.

“That’s the expectation, I’m 100 per cent confident this year we can bring quite a few wins to Greenvale.

“The batting is getting stronger, one of the English boys is a top order batter and we’ve got Visura Fernando and Ryan Stingel into the squad.

“Musa adds to the bowling group, which is really good as well.”

The major departures are leading wicket-taker Praveen Dilanka (Port Fairy) and Damith Perera (Hallam Kalora Park).

Captain Justin Galeotti topped the club’s run-scoring charts in his first season, making 436 runs at 29.07.

Bernard Kelly was next best with 308.

Dilanka snared 23 scalps last season to lead the club, while young gun Ivan Zmak finished with 16.

Having seen the likes of Zmak, Conroy Burton and Declan Highgate cement themselves in the First XI last season, Fernando was confident the club could unearth more young talent.

“There’s a few youngsters that have been very impressive,” he said.

“We had a practice match in Cohuna against Fitzroy and a few young boys were really good.

“It was a really good weekend for the club, we worked out a lot of things and there were a lot of positives.”

Logan Collins and Max Thompson are both in the Vic Country Under-17s squad.

PREMIER: CAN NEW, OLD RECRUITS LEAD FOOTSCRAY TO FINALS?

LEADER: GET YOUR PREMIER CRICKET NEWS HERE

GDCA: BROADFORD READY FOR McINTYRE CUP DEBUT

Meanwhile, Greenvale’s UK imports have enjoyed strong finishes to the English summer.

Having cemented his place in Yorkshire’s First XI, Luxton scored 49 against Northants in the final game of the Division 2 season, finishing with 195 runs at 27.85 in six First Class matches.

Cliff’s last appearance for Yorkshire’s Second XI saw him smash 52 not out and take 3-51 against Durham, while he took 3-37 against Glamorgan in his last First XI appearance.

Greenvale will host Geelong at Greenvale Reserve in a season-opening one-dayer on Saturday, while the club’s first two-dayer of the season will be against Kingston Hawthorn in Round 2.