Kingston Hawthorn forging links with southern bayside clubs
The Hawks are setting out the welcome mat to clubs and players from the South East Cricket Association and Cricket Southern Bayside as they look to build long-term success.
Local Sport
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When Peter Marshall joined Kingston Hawthorn in a development role, he was quick to say he would be trying to “open a few doors’’ in the bayside cricket scene.
Marshall figured that for the Hawks to set up long-term success in Premier Cricket, they needed to forge stronger ties with the South East Cricket Association and Cricket Southern Bayside.
A few weeks on, and now the club’s caretaker senior coach, he’s made good progress.
The Hawks have held talks with SECA great Kim Pitt and will be supplying coaches for the association’s junior representative Under 16 team.
And clubs from both competitions will be invited to send their promising players to Kingston Hawthorn training.
“What we’ll do on each Tuesday night during the season is have two or three young cricketers from a club come down and join in training,’’ Marshall said.
“They might come from Parkdale, might come from Bonbeach, might come from Brighton Union, might come from West Bentleigh, from any of those bayside clubs, Beaumaris, McKinnon.
“We want to open up that avenue, have them train on turf and see what a Premier club looks like and what the expectation is for players if they want to come and join us.’’
In another positive, Brighton Union batsman Matthew Vorbach has joined Kingston Hawthorn to try his luck in Premier Cricket.
Vorbach is one of the best young players in SECA, catching attention two years ago with an innings of 113 not out in a Longmuir Shield preliminary final against West Bentleigh.
He followed up by making 581 runs at 44.7 last season, including another century, 102 not out against Bentleigh ANA.
Vorbach also bowls handy off-spin.
“I know him from when I was a development coach at McKinnon, he umpired for us (in the Southern league) and I know his dad, Neil, who is a bit of a local legend,’’ Marshall said.
“His brother (Jack) plays footy at Parkdale Vultures in the amateurs, so he’s a true bayside boy and he’s the sort of kid we want to bring into the fold and give that opportunity to play Premier Cricket.’’
The Hawks also expect to lock in a well-regarded pathways player next week and to recruit other local youngsters keen to try their hand at Premier level.
They have secured Moorabbin Sub-District batsman Romain Grenville and fast bowler Damsara Menuwara, and Box Hill all-rounder Ashish Matthew.
The club had a players’ information night set down for July 27 but the meeting and training are on hold because of the coronavirus crisis.
“It’s a shame, because things are jumping,’’ Marshall said.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve got the Hawks flying but we’re almost in take off.’’
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