Melbourne Country Week cricket snippets

A cricket association has been forced to change captains on the eve of Country Week, while a star is padding up 20 years after playing in a provincial division premiership. Here are the latest snippets.

Prolific batsman Steven Spoljaric will bolster the Sale-Maffra side.

Rotten luck for Wangaratta and District captain Kent Braden.

He tore a calf muscle while playing for City Colts last weekend and has had to withdraw from this year’s Melbourne Country Week carnival, which starts on Monday.

Pranav Menon, the Wangaratta Magpies star, will now captain Wangaratta, with Paddy McNamara his vice-captain.

Menon knows the Melbourne conditions well, having spent three seasons with Prahran in Premier Cricket.

“Like most associations you can never get your best team out there, but it should be competitive enough,” Wangaratta and District team manager Stephen Hicks said.

“We’ve played against Hamilton and Portland at Bendigo country week in the past and we’ve competed really well with those sides.”

Adrian Burgiel (right) with his brother Hayden. Picture: Colleen Petch.

Burgiel set to blast off

Twenty years ago, Adrian Burgiel opened the batting for Sale-Maffra in the Country Week final against Geelong at the Albert Ground.

He blasted 60 in his side’s rousing title triumph.

Two decades on, Burgiel, 42, is heading back to Country Week, still a vital member of the Sale-Maffra line-up.

“He is still a pretty important wicket,” Sale-Maffra manager John Mayman, who also played in the 2003 flag win, said.

“He’s not as prolific as he was but he tends to get going when the big games are on.”

Burgiel has been in good form for his club, Collegians in the SMCA.

Last week Collegians were skittled for 79 and Burgiel made 47 of them.

“He gets in there, marks centre and then just starts teeing off pretty much,” Mayman said.

“Not much has changed.”

20 years on...

Still on that Country Week final 20 years ago, and the Sale-Maffra side was captained by champion Ian Wrigglesworth.

He led his team to victory, scoring 42, taking five wickets and earning the man-of-the-match award — just days after attending the birth of his third child, Haylee Rose.

Flinders young gun Sam Gove. Picture: Clint Munday

Sam’s star on the rise

Mornington Peninsula will have its youngest player in 84 years at next week’s carnival.

Flinders gun bat Sam Gove, at 16 and 10 months, will only be marginally older than the association’s youngest-ever Country Week player, Lewin Cubitt in 1939.

And look for Sam to excel; he’s been in sizzling form for his club, peeling off 105no, 108 and 93 this season.

Rubbing shoulders with the best

Mornington Peninsula has a couple of players who have experienced the top level.

Justin Grant played a first-class game in 2013 for Victorian XI against England Lions, which included Ben Stokes and James Vince.

And leg-spinner Yohan Maddege was called into the Hobart Hurricanes’ Big Bash squad last month.

Justin Grant.

Rhys Elmi.

Worth the wait

Talk about doing an apprenticeship...

Rhys Elmi will make his long-awaited Country Week debut for Mornington Peninsula after churning out more than 7000 runs for his club Baden Powell in the past 15 years.

Spolly’s record hard to beat

Who’s the best cricketer at this year’s carnival?

It’s debatable because there are some genuine champions — Brayden Stepien, Bobby Wilson and Nathan Walsh among them.

But when it comes to career achievements, Sale-Maffra’s Steve Spoljaric is hard to beat.

The all-rounder won a Ryder Medal in Victorian Premier Cricket, and won six Wookey Medals as the best and fairest player in DDCA Turf 1, blazing 19 centuries and carrying Parkfield and Cranbourne to premierships.

Just last week, Spolly peeled off an unbeaten 119 for his club Bundalaguah.

Whisper: two of the best players at the Melbourne Country Week will only be available for a couple of games.