Sean Ayres has been lured out of retirement to be captain-coach of NMCA club Preston Baseballers

The lure of coaching the next generation of cricketers has enticed suburban cricket legend Sean Ayres out of retirement with NMCA club Preston Baseballers over the moon to secure the all-rounder.

The lure of coaching the next generation of cricketers has enticed suburban cricket legend Sean Ayres out of retirement.

The 46-year-old will captain-coach Preston Baseballers in the NMCA Jika Shield in 2019-20 after a distinguished career in Premier and Subbies cricket.

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Ayres announced he was hanging up the boots just two months ago after a knee injury cut his season short and robbed him of a premiership send off as Plenty Valley claimed the VSDCA North-East First XI title.

Baseballers president Ray Walker said Ayres needed a little convincing but the chance to mentor young players was a key selling point.

“I thought he’d have a lot of people chasing him and at our meeting the other night he said within the first two days he had eight clubs ring him,” he said.

Sean Ayres in action for Plenty Valley in VSDCA last year.

“I waited a couple of weeks and when I rang him, I rang him about coaching, which he hadn’t been asked about.

“We’re a young club and I said it him it would be the perfect opportunity for you to mentor our younger cricketers and leave a legacy in coaching.

“I said to him ‘it feels like Christmas, I was up at 4am this morning’ and he had a giggle and said ‘let’s do it’.

“It’s massive, if you go through his history, we’re quite excited to land him.”

Ayres was one of the premier all-rounders in Subbies cricket, amassing more than 7000 runs and close to 600 wickets in more than 300 games.

After a stint with Collingwood in Premier Cricket, Ayres crossed to Ivanhoe, then Malvern, and settled at Plenty Valley in the 2007-08 season.

Baseballers narrowly missed out on Jika Shield finals this season, finishing fifth, and will look to return to finals with Ayres at the helm.

Andrew Boughton and Michael Sortino were Preston’s leading run scorers last year, averaging 35 and 31 respectively, while Cale and Tate Volitakis were leading wicket-takers with 28 and 26 apiece.