Bell Park Dragons set to explore changes to best side despite undefeated start to season

They are the best team in the GCA3 at the moment, but Dragons players are on notice to keep their form up.

Bell Park v St Albans Breakwater at Hamlyn Park. Luke Turner gets runs for Bell Park. Picture: Mike Dugdale

Bell Park coach Shane Murdoch is wary of the shift to red-ball cricket in the second half of the season, but he believes the Dragons can only get better as the year progresses.

The undefeated team has been convincingly the best side all year, with opposition captains and coaches declaring the Dragons the ‘team to beat’ in the GCA3.

Murdoch said the depth of the club was the best it had been in years.

“I’m not too worried about players getting complacent because we’re winning games, we’re obviously playing well and winning games, but we have things we need to work on and improve as the season goes on,” he said.

“We’ve got a really good bunch of guys that are really level headed, everyone knows they’re playing for their spots because we’ve got some really good players in the seconds.

Bell Park v St Albans Breakwater at Hamlyn Park. Shane Lymer batting for Bell Park. Picture: Mike Dugdale

“Those guys are performing at a high level and we can easily chop and change there if we need to, it really shows where we are at the moment.”

The Dragons boast two players within the top three of the league’s run scorers, with Shane Lymer (399 runs at 79.8) and Jarrod Andrews (228 at 76) only separated by Corio’s Anthony Grace (341 at 68.2).

In the seconds, Aaron Blake has scored 174 runs through five innings for the Dragons and sits second in the league leaders, while Kaidyn Henry slots into the top 10 with 124 runs in six innings.

Murdoch said the club was open to changing up the first-choice side.

“There’s a couple of guys in the twos that have been really good in the last few rounds and deserve a chance to prove themselves up a grade,” he said.

“The flip side of that is sometimes you don’t want to change a winning formula, especially as we start to get closer to finals.

“They might get a chance at some stage, availability changes each week for players so there’s always going to be chances for different guys to come in.

Bell Park v St Albans Breakwater at Hamlyn Park. Luke Turner hits four runs batting for Bell Park. Picture: Mike Dugdale

“When they do come up and get their chance, they need to take it and prove they belong.

“The move to the red ball is going to be a bit of a challenge as well, our side will probably change a bit as well because the game is a bit different again.

“We’ll just take it a game at a time and see what changes we’ll need to make with that, but we’re in a pretty good position.”

Originally published as Bell Park Dragons set to explore changes to best side despite undefeated start to season