Premier Cricket preview 2020-21: Footscray recruit Jackson Coleman sidelined

Premier Cricket flag contender Footscray will have its bowling depth tested in the early stages of the new summer.

Dylan Brasher is one of Footscray’s emerging batsmen. Picture:Andy Brownbill

Footscray coach Allan Wise says his bowling attack is capable of standing tall in the absence of the club’s two strike weapons ahead of the opening-round of the Premier Cricket season on Saturday.

The Dogs are set to be without headline recruit Jackson Coleman until the second half of the campaign as he recovers from a hamstring injury before the Melbourne Stars’ Big Bash League campaign, while Jake Reed will be sidelined for the summer because of a knee reconstruction.

On the plus side, Jordan Buckingham is coming off a career-best season during which he claimed 26 wickets at 22.31 apiece and was rewarded with a spot in Cricket Victoria’s 14-player Emerging Performance Squad.

Pacemen Hamish Winter-Irving and Jonah Koch will also be hungry, while spinners Siddhesh Dixit, James Muirhead and Dean Russ will also play key roles in a season of one-day fixtures.

Wise said Footscray’s bowling depth was tested last season as it battled a long injury list.

Despite the outs, the Dogs finished the home-and-away rounds in second position after tumbling to 16th in 2018-19.

“With one-day cricket, you can’t be carrying anyone,” Wise said.

“You’ve got to bowl your five bowlers plus, and if one or two bowlers are off you’re probably going to lose games.

“That, along with our fielding, has been a really strong focus.

“We think we’ve got a good blend of bowlers and a varied attack.

“We’ve certainly got the cattle there and will welcome back ‘Jacko’ when we can.”

Footscray recruit Jackson Coleman bends his back for Melbourne last season. Picture: Mark Dadswell

Coleman looms as a major addition after snaring 16 wickets at 19.4 from eight matches for Melbourne in 2019-20.

He also played five games for Victoria in last year’s domestic one-day competition, collecting nine wickets, including a haul of 4.46 against Tasmania, while he returned 3-16 in his only BBL outing for the Stars.

While it will be several weeks before he takes the new ball for his new club, the left-arm quick will be available when it matters most.

“We recruited him long before we knew the season was going to be structured this way, but he’s a pretty formidable white-ball bowler, so we’ll welcome him back,” Wise said of Coleman.

“He adds that point of difference and experience we need.

“We’re unlikely to see him until the second part of the year, but of course that’s the time when you want players playing for you and playing well.

“He’s going to be a really good addition.”

The Dogs have also recruited another left-arm paceman in 20-year-old Fraser Hay.

Hay collected 21 wickets at 16.3 for Williamstown in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association last season.

While the newcomer will start in the lower grades, Hay has impressed and rated a bright prospect capable of pushing into the First XI.

“He’s got really good attributes with his size and he’s extremely fit,” Wise said.

“He’s got a great willingness to learn and he’s had a couple of good years in Sub-District.

“He’s got to make that transition to Premier Cricket and it’s a steep learning curve … but he’s coming along very nicely.”

Promising batsman Stephen Mihelakos-James has arrived from Essendon.

The Dogs also have a powerful batting line-up, including skipper and gloveman Dylan Kight, Russ, Dan Sartori and Victoria squad member Travis Dean.

Footscray skipper Dylan Knight on the attack. Picture:Andy Brownbill

Dean punched out 570 runs at 43.85 last season, while Sartori logged 558 runs at 37.20.

They will be supported young guns Matthew Underwood and Dylan Brasher and destructive lower-order hitter Muirhead.

“I hope if our batting order clicks, there’s going to be some days where we hopefully bat the opposition out of it and can score 250-plus, which we didn’t do last season because we probably didn’t have that one really strong partnership you need in order to achieve that,” Wise said.

“Those guys having that singular focus on one-day cricket … I’d like to hope there’s going to be some strong batting performances over the course of the year.”

Footscray is also developing fierce competition for spots, with the likes of Jordan Kight, Nathan Caulfield, Ben Rosenboom, Max Birthisel and state under-19 squad representative Angus Price among those hoping to push for spots in the top side.

Wise said the club had “15-plus guys we can turn to and believe they can do a pretty solid job for us”.

The Dogs will open their campaign away to Greenvale Kangaroos this weekend.

“We were pretty strong in both forms of the game last season, and now we can have a primary focus on one-day cricket,” Wise said.

“We expect to give a pretty good account of ourselves and I think we’ve got a pretty good blend between some young emerging players, some old hands and some guys hopefully entering their peak years.”