Premier Cricket great Simon Hill is set to join the Subbies ranks in 2021-22
A VSDCA club has secured one of the most prized recruits of the off-season with Premier Cricket great Simon Hill joining the influx of talent in Subbies.
Local Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Sport . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Premier Cricket great Simon Hill is the latest high-profile VSDCA recruit.
The run machine has signed for Brunswick for the Subbies 2021-22 season after a glittering 22-year career for Camberwell Magpies.
Hill finished with 11,256 runs in more than 300 First XI appearances for the Magpies, sixth most in Premier Cricket history.
The star opener scored 16 centuries, with a top score of 208 not out, and was still a force in his final season as he racked up 412 runs at an average of 27.47.
Brunswick captain-coach Liam Murphy revealed travel played a critical role in securing Hill’s signature.
“He lives around the corner, we had a conversation and I think he appreciated the way we go about cricket for those coming out of Premier Cricket,” Murphy said.
“There’s an element of Camberwell connection at the club with Justin Lampard and James Pearson playing with us the last couple of years.
“It’s really exciting, he’s a seriously class cricketer.
“I had the privilege of seeing him smash Prahran all over the park and having one of the best batsman in Premier Cricket for the past 10 years come to your club is pretty exciting.”
Hill will strengthen a Brunswick line-up that finished second in the North-West group home-and-away season before falling to Kew in the preliminary final.
The Wicks were ranked fifth in runs for in 2020-21, led by Murphy’s 568 runs, but the next best batsman was Dom Sullivan on 297 runs.
Murphy said Hill would be a massive addition on and off the field.
“He can bat wherever he wants, quite frankly,” he said.
“One of the things we’re focused on is getting top-end talent and build spots around them for our youngster players to get exposed.
“We did it last year with Dom Sullivan, he came up the order and batted around some senior heads, and Simon coming in allows further education of our players.
“To have someone of his calibre and stature in the playing group – doing what he does with the bat but also showing people how to do it.”
Brunswick fell 24 runs short of Kew but boast one of the most dangerous attacks in the competition.
VSDCA: SUBBIES POWERHOUSE APPOINTS NEW COACH
LEADER: GET YOUR VSDCA CRICKET NEWS HERE
MAGPIES: FORMER SUBBIES COACH TO LEAD CAMBERWELL
With Hill coming on board expectations will be high but Murphy wasn’t buying into any potential pre-season hype.
“We haven’t been involved in a grand final in quite some time, we want to be successful there’s no doubt about that but I think we’ve got to make sure we play consistent cricket first,” he said.
“For mine, talking about grand finals, there’s an element of redundancy about it because we’re in the middle of June.
“For us, the expectations are external and we’re just focused on being the best club we can be and the rest will look after itself.”
Ballarat community mourns ‘amazingly talented’ sports person
Greg Parry is being remembered as someone who was talented in multiple sports, a keen traveller and a hard working volunteer. His family and sporting clubs pay tribute after he died in a tragic accident.
Country footy: GV powerhouse stumbles
Echuca has suffered its first loss since early last season and in a worrying sign the injuries keep mounting.