VSDCA 2022-23: Premier quick Harrison Goad joins Balwyn

The Tigers’ latest addition is set to provide plenty in the bowling attack, while the coach has put it to his batsmen to lift this season.

BALWYN’s latest addition is set to significantly boost the Subbies club’s bowling attack but coach Clinton Kennon will look to the existing crew for improvement.

The Tigers recently signed Premier Cricket paceman Harrison Goad after three seasons with Fitzroy Doncaster following stints with Kingston Hawthorn and Camberwell Magpies.

He’s set to combine with opener Harry Dixon, filling the void of outgoing young bowler Jack Lyndon who has departed for the Magpies in the top-flight.

Goad, a close friend of Tigers gun Adi Narayana, topped Kingston Hawthorn’s wicket count in 2018-19 before returns of five (2021-22) and 12 (2020-21) scalps in the firsts across the past two seasons.

Harrison Goad bowling for Fitzroy Doncaster. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“After a bit of analysis of where we were at with batting and bowling, when Harrison came on, we chased pretty hard,” Kennon said.

“We’re really happy to get him on board and complements who we’ve already got in our team, he’ll open the bowling well with Harry Dixon.”

Kennon has put it to the batting order to help lift the First XI from a win-loss record of 8-7 which saw the eighth-placed Tigers miss the finals by three points last season.

“When we did that analysis, we felt like we were about 250 runs short, so a few people at the club thought we’d target a batter,” he said.

“But as we’ve lost nobody except for Jack (I said) each bat’s got to make an extra 30 to 40 runs for the year – that’s the target.

“Harrison brings in what we need from a bowling perspective, I think our line-up’s pretty good now with himself, ‘Dicko’, Lachie (Fitzpatrick), Dom Greene, Vihaan and Adi (Narayana).

“A lot of these guys are now into their third or fourth season of First XI cricket … they need to start making those improvements and we’ll put that on the guys.”

While the Tigers’ coach hasn’t ruled out further marquee recruiting ahead of the 2022-23 season, he’s more than happy to back his existing stocks.

“If others want to come along and play, we definitely won’t say no,” Kennon said.

“But we’re really comfortable with what we’ve got and we’ve invested in our program for a good three to five years now.

“These guys are getting to the point in their careers where they’re 21-22 years of age, ready to take the next step.

“It’s the natural progressions of all those guys, it’s only putting 30 to 40 extra runs on their seasons and if that’s across the board for six or seven of them then that’s our 250 runs that we know we need to get to win more games of cricket.”