Premier Cricket: Fast-bowler Michael Topp departs Ringwood
Ringwood Cricket Club has bid farewell to one of its finest contributors over more than a decade, but a replacement might be closer to home than you think.
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One of Ringwood’s best of the modern era has called time on his career at Jubilee Park.
The club has announced fast-bowler Michael Topp is on the move ahead of the 2020/21 season, after a 12-year stint at the Rams which has seen 137 First XI matches (12th most at the club) for 208 wickets (7th most) and 551 runs in the top-flight.
A decision on a new club is yet to be made.
Ringwood president Mark Freeman paid tribute to the Rams stalwart for his contribution across more than a decade.
Overall, Topp has played a total of 191 games for the Rams, for 283 wickets and 767 runs.
“He’s certainly been a great cricketer on and off the field for us over the last 12 years but we’re certainly sad to see him go,” he said.
“He’s had good success at underage state level as well with Vic under-17s and 19s.”
Despite the loss, Freeman said the club had a number of players ready to make the step-up to fill the void left by Topp.
“We’re in a pretty good position with that – we’ve got plenty of depth in the pace-bowling area,” Freeman said.
“There’s probably a couple of guys that are really knocking on the door that have given us that ability.”
But there’s also plenty of room to move up top, with the Rams stacked with options and versatility in their First XI.
“We’re fortunate enough to have so many all-rounders in that First XI side, that we can actually juggle things around a little bit,” Freeman said.
“If we want to bring another batsman in to replace ‘Toppy’, even though he’s a bowler, we don’t lose out on the bowling side of things, because of the fact that we’ve got the likes of Holland, King, (Jackson) Freeman, there’s three or four genuine all-rounders in the side, so it can go one way or the other.
“Or if they want to bring a spinner in to replace ‘Toppy’, we can do that too.”
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