By Nick Creely
CASEY-South Melbourne fast-bowler Nathan Lambden is one of Victoria’s brightest up-and-coming stars and is setting his sights on cracking into the Victorian Second XI team this season.
Lambden, 23, only recently completed the Futures League Academy for the Victorian Bushrangers, where he was able to gain extensive coaching from some of Australia’s finest cricketing coaches.
The program rewards strong Victorian Premier Cricket performers and potential domestic cricketers who are trying to climb their way up into the ranks of becoming a professional athlete.
In last year’s academy program, two members, Aaron Ayre and Sam Harper both made their first-class debuts for Victoria, while an additional five members were rewarded state contracts with the Bushrangers.
Lambden says the experience was beneficial in his development as a cricketer, citing the improvement in his own game and learning essential expectations of elite athletes as a positive in the program.
“I learnt a lot from all the coaches, whether they were international coaches or state coaches.
“It was just things like preparation going into games, how much work you have to do in terms of your fitness level, your strength, conditioning and diet, these kinds of things were the biggest lesson for me.
“Guys like Mick Lewis (Bushrangers bowling coach) and David Saker(Australia’s new assistant coach) when he was there were really helpful and helped improve my overall game.
“I didn’t have to change too much in terms of my bowling action but the main thing is now I am using my front arm more often and I’m able to generate more pace which is always handy.
“I obviously trained at the MCG which was an amazing experience as well.
“Bowling at guys like Travis Dean before he was called up by Australia A, it was just such a massive step-up and a great experience for me,” Lambden said.
Lambden enjoyed a terrific 2015/’16 season for Casey South-Melbourne, leading the club’s wicket tally with 29 at an average of 20.69, even though he missed a few games with soft-tissue injuries.
His astonishing 7/65 last season in a losing side against Monash Tigers raised eyebrows and from then on has established himself as one of Premier’s finest quicks.
However, these kinds of performances are not surprising when you delve into the young career of the fast-bowler.
The Cranbourne local first drew attention back in early 2013 when he was making his way through the ranks at Premier level for Dandenong. In a game in February 2013 against Ringwood, the young quick, only 20 at this stage and having only featured at First XI level just seven times, tore through the runners-up in a devastating eight over spell of 4/29.
The interesting part of this game is that Dandenong boasted the Pattinson brothers (James and Darren), however it was the fresh-faced young bowler who gave them the frights.
It was then the cricketing world knew that this was a player to watch.
Lambden now sets his sights on the next chapter of his cricketing career, playing for Victoria in the Futures League, but says there is a long road to go.
“This year my goal is to obviously play in the Futures League.
“But there was a lot of impressive bowlers in the academy so I certainly have my work cut out for me.
“Guys like Matt Doric from Essendon and Ben Ashkenazi from Frankston are just some of the very impressive bowlers in the academy,” Lambden stated.
With the Victorian Premier Cricket season just under two weeks away, Lambden is excited to get back into the thick of the action and is confident his club can turn around its fortunes.
“We want to push for finals,” Lambden categorically stated.
“We haven’t lost too many players so that’s not an issue and we are extremely confident we will improve and push for finals, which as a group we believe is really realistic.
Lambden will be hoping for an injury-free and uninterrupted season so he can help climb his club up the ladder.
Casey-South Melbourne had a disappointing 2015/’16 campaign, finishing 15th last season and 17th in the overall Club Championship.
However, they finished last season with some solid wins and a decent platform to launch into another long cricket season.
Their season begins with a massive test against the strong Melbourne Cricket Club at Albert Ground on 30 September.
