Premier Cricket 2018-19: Leader scribes select their Premier Cricket team of the year
Premier Cricket finals kick off today and there’s no doubt it’ll be a season finale to remember. It’s a Premier XI loaded with runmakers and wicket-takers and to celebrate, our reporters have put together their Team of the Year for 2018-19. See who made the list.
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By title and on talent, it’s a Premier XI, loaded with runmakers and wicket-takers.
Leader reporters have assembled their Premier Cricket team of the year, starting with a trusty man at the top, Panther Brett Forsyth, and finishing with a consistent paceman in Steven Reid.
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Brett Forsyth (Dandenong): the right-hander has had some bumper seasons in Premier Cricket, but 2018-19 has been a thumper. Three unbeaten centuries, including a matchwinning and finals-clinching 168 not out against Footscray in Round 14, and six half-centuries lifted him to the top of the run charts with 962 at 80.2 (if Super Slam runs are added it’s 1275 at 55.4). He’ll be in the official team of the year — and he may well become Dandenong’s first Ryder Medal champion.
Luke Wells (Casey South Melbourne): there was a buzz about the Englishman as soon as he took his first net at Casey Fields, and he pinged 51 against Prahran in his first outing. Many more runs followed from the Swans captain and left-hander, including tons against Fitzroy-Doncaster (121), Dandenong (154), Greenvale Kangaroos (111no), and, signing off for the season, 197 not out against Essendon. With Super Slam runs tacked on he finished with 1063 at 59.1. They were made stylishly and authoritatively to help lift Casey South Melbourne up the ladder. The bad news for bowlers? Wells is expected back next season.
Aaron Ayre (Essendon): twice capped by Victoria, the left-hander has made a strong case to state selectors for another opportunity with 930 runs at 62 this summer. He’s got 1140 at 54 when you include the Vic Super Slam and has scored them at close to a-run-a-ball in most innings. The highlight was his matchwinning 173 against Casey-South Melbourne when the Bombers reeled in 4-396. He’s gone past 50 runs this season and broken his own record for Essendon’s aggregate runs in a campaign.
James Seymour (Essendon):despite a couple of low scores in the last two rounds of the campaign, Seymour’s purple patch in rounds 12 and 13 propelled him to be one of the leading run-scorers of the season. He twice scored a career-best 161 — against Ringwood in Round 8 and Northcote in Round 13. He’s made a habit of getting Essendon off to a blazing start alongside Ayre and has clubbed 777 runs for the summer. Throw in 22 wickets (29 including the Super Slam) and he’s enjoyed a career-best campaign.
Dean Russ (Footscray):Russ became the highest run scorer in Footscray’s history this summer, amassing 802 runs at 53.5 in a season where he performed an opening role and slotted into the middle-order. The classy left-hander started 2018-19 with knocks of 91, 105 and 117 in his first five innings and book ended the campaign in similar fashion; in his last six innings he produced scores of 107, 85, 91 and 77. Russ’s run tally was his best since 2013-14, when he made 831 as the Dogs claimed the Premier Cricket title.
Ian Holland (Ringwood, captain): the Rams captain picks himself in the side and as skipper after cracking 680 runs and taking 20 wickets. Provided one of the highlights of the season when he blitzed 199 not out off 157 deliveries in a one-dayer against Frankston-Peninsula — and then slipped in with 3-16. Missed some matches after he bizarrely suffered a punctured lung while receiving a massage. It was the only thing that could stop him in another stellar summer for Ringwood.
Brayden Stepien (Carlton):the Blues wicketkeeper-batsman is a player on the rise in Premier Cricket. Opening the batting, his idea of taking the shine off the new ball is to bang it all around the ground. Hit 614 runs at 55.8, had 26 dismissals behind the sticks and was part of Carlton’s National Twenty20 championship team. He’s a buccaneering cricketer; little wonder the great Keith Stackpole loves him.
Brenton McDonald (Geelong): the Cats all-rounder had another productive season, despite making less runs than he would have liked. Was the best-performed slow bowler in the competition with 35 wickets at 20.51 and nosed out emerging Carlton tweaker Eddy O’Sullivan (31 wickets) for the spinning role.
Trent Lawford (Fitzroy-Doncaster):this bear of a man whose head spins to “Thumper’’ looks like he’s better equipped to be a pub bouncer than a fine cricketer. But he continues to be a wonderful player for the Lions, this season snaring 36 wickets at 19.22 and hitting 247 runs at 22.5. Had less success with the ball than last season, when remarkably he scalped 62 batsmen, but among top-order batsmen the law is you must get through Lawford.
Matt Doric (Essendon):another sterling season from the Bombers spearhead, collecting 35 wickets to finish as the third most-prolific quick behind Steven Reid and Trent Lawford. Doric snared 10 wickets for the first time in a First XI match in Round 5 against Kingston Hawthorn, helping Essendon clinch an outright victory that was ultimately vital to its first club championship since 1968. He also managed 5-85 against Northcote and only went wicketless in one game. His consistency in the past five seasons has made him one of Premier Cricket’s most lethal bowlers.
Steven Reid (Melbourne Uni):the leading paceman of the summer with 38 wickets. Reid’s best bowling figures of the campaign were 4-23, underlining his consistency. The Students’ Round 13 fixture against Camberwell Magpies has the only game where he failed to take a wicket and he picked up at least three scalps in eight games. Reid’s career-best haul this summer has taken him to 193 wickets in six seasons at Melbourne Uni and he’ll be primed to crack the 200-wicket milestone early in 2019-20.
Sunam Gautam (Greenvale Kangaroos):hard to go past dynamic fielder Gautam if you’re picking a genuine 12th man. The spin-bowling all-rounder has threatened a breakout summer in recent years and finally delivered. There have been calls from Greenvale Reserve for him to receive a Big Bash League call-up he finished with 644 runs and 38 wickets for the season when you include the Vic Super Slam. Gautam made history in Round 5 when he became the first Nepalese cricketer to score a Premier First XI hundred.
STIFF TO MISS OUT
Mark Phelan (Northcote): 743 runs at 49.53
Josh Manning (St Kilda): 715 runs at 55
Michael Hill (Essendon): 650 runs at 65
Adam Bull (Prahran): 616 runs 38.50
Will Walker (Camberwell Magpies): 32 wickets at 21.16
Eddy O’Sullivan (Carlton): 31 wickets at 19.42