MARCUS: Well fellas, another somewhat disappointing weekend of cricket as the weather continues to wreak havoc. It’s still raining this morning, but lets plough on with things, as we always do on the sports desk, and begin with best action from the weekend. Dave, you’ve got the new ball.
DAVE: My main mission on Saturday was to go to Tooradin and watch the Gulls play Pakenham, but I thought that on my way, I’d call in to Cardinia, sit in the car, have a bite to eat and watch a bit of Cardinia v Merinda Park.
MARCUS: What were you eating?
DAVE: It was cold, so a nice day for potato cakes, there’s a little shop on the way to the Cardinia Cricket Ground. Beautiful.
JONTY: I’m going to drive home from Pakenham on Cardinia Road today because the potholes on Healesville-Kooweerup Road are ridiculously bad!
DAVE: Thanks for the road report Jonty…now, where was I? There’s a bloke who’s been around the traps for a while, he’s 24/25 I’d guess, Travis Weller. He’s been part of Country Week for a little while, he’s a well-respected cricketer but has a reputation for getting starts and not going on to get big scores. My best action was watching Trav make his hundred on Saturday in the 38th over. He got a full-bunga on his hip and flicked it over square leg for six, to go from 94 to 100. I think that fits best action criteria perfectly. So Trav, congratulations on a well-made ton.
MARCUS: Cricket is a little bit harder than footy for best action, but that hit the nail on the head.
DAVE: The thing with Trav is, they’ve lost Jake Prosser, who was their mainstay with the bat, so there’s more pressure on him this year. This could be the making of him I reckon.
JONTY: Is this his maiden century?
DAVE: It’s his second I think….but there’s plenty more to come.
JONTY: I’m going to go with a 13-year-old who played in the seniors for Fountain Gate. He didn’t pick up a wicket but it was his 1st XI debut for Fountain Gate, and three or four Silverton batters came off the ground talking about how outstanding he was. Stump-to-stump, searingly accurate. His name is Nadim Nazif, he’s an Afghani who’s been here four years.
DAVE: Did you say he’s 13?
JONTY: 13, playing senior cricket against some seriously experienced players. He bowls right-arm and finished with 0/19 off his seven overs, and bowled when there were two set batters at an economy of under three. I thought that was outstanding.
DAVE: What you’ve done there, Jonty, is put your name on his list of supporters. If he does go on to be a very good player, you’ll claim him. I was the first to write about Ashley Chandrasinghe back in the day, when he was 13, but certain journos have tried to claim him since then.
JONTY: Why is Ash not playing for Victoria at the moment? And why is Travis Dean still in the team?
MARCUS: It’s a good question. My best action, and I hope I’ve got the right player because there was a bit of confusion with the scoreboard at Beaconsfield, but I’m going with Elliot Matthews. He was fielding at a catching cover against the Tigers on Sunday. Yohan Arumadura hit a lovely drive on the up that looked like it was going over his head. It was a bit like Ben Stokes in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup. He leaped up, stuck his right hand out there, came down on the turn, and made it look incredibly easy, despite the degree of difficulty with the speed it was travelling.
DAVE (finishes painting on his ears): Do you think the Pakenham Cricket Club could get a fielding session with Yohan? Because their fielding was appalling and cost them any chance of a victory.
MARCUS… Yohan was batting…
DAVE: Oh shit…I meant Matthews, my bad. Pakenham is a very good team but their fielding was atrocious on Saturday. One chance was hot but there was one where a bloke didn’t call another bloke in, another was misjudged, and there was an absolute soda dropped at mid-on. Pakenham had a chance to beat Tooradin but they let it slip through their fingers…quite literally.
JONTY: Now that you mention it, Nadim actually created two chances that were dropped at Fountain Gate’s game.
IMPORTS
MARCUS: The only cricket I was able to see live this week featured a quick bowler who’s come out from the UK by the name of Alex Cruickshank. It was his first game in Australia and he found the right length immediately. He admitted that the conditions were a bit English-like. I think he’s going to have a real impact this season and he’s going to be a bit of a wildcard, given nobody is going to know who he is or what he bowls. Who are some other standout internationals that you guys are keen to watch this season?
JONTY: Chanaka Ted Sampath, he’s a really composed skipper who’s come in with a really young squad at Fountain Gate. He’s spoken to five or six different clubs around the league, he’s close with Nuwan Kulesekara and gotten feedback about what Fountain Gate need to improve. They’ve had the longest preseason out of any club, Fountain Gate, and he’s gone about addressing batting, fielding and fitness, so from a leadership perspective he adds a lot. From a batting and bowling perspective his change ups with the ball are really impressive, he’s got a really handy wrong’un and looked comfortable at the batting crease. He went at a run-a-ball and provided that positive intent that they needed, and grabbed four wickets. He’s a right arm spinner. Fountain Gate, also, are doing a fantasy/Supercoach competition and I heard three people were spewing because they didn’t have Ted in their team.
DAVE: There’s actually not a lot of internationals that have come into the CCCA this year. Clubs have got a problem with getting visas with the visa rule changing, which has changed things a bit. But, I’m treating Devon Meadows as a team of imports coming into Premier Division from District, and I think Lucas Ligt, that has to have some European heritage doesn’t it? Dutch, maybe Danish?
JONTY: I’m going Danish.
DAVE: Settled. The Great Dane, Lucas Ligt, has had two hits in Premier division; 50 in round one, and a ton in round two. You might look at the District figures and say ‘it’s not the top flight so how good is this bloke?’, but I think he’s going to take the Premier division by the scruff of the neck and have a huge year with 7/800 runs.
JONTY: The Great Dane as the big dog…I like it!
STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
MARCUS: Well boys, Outer East has released their structural review recently, and this recommendation caught my eye. “Promotion and relegation going forward will be subject to club composition. The model to be used in 2024 will be advised to clubs prior to the start of the 2024 season.” It goes on to say that a bench-marking exercise will be implemented to guide decision making relating to promotion and relegation, with considerations including club finances and structure, facilities, geography, women’s football teams and more. With all that being said, I think that raises concerns around the integrity of the competition being dictated by the strength of clubs, rather than having wins and losses dictate the divisions. How does that sit with you guys when you first hear it?
JONTY: The Southern league had a bit of movement that went above and beyond simply the promotion for premiers and relegation for wooden spooners. I’m not as concerned about it as what you seem to be Marcus, on the basis that, if you don’t have a lot of those things, you’re probably just going to bounce between divisions anyway.
MARCUS: My concern stems from the perspective of, Officer missed finals in Division One but have been promoted.
JONTY: Now that you say that, I can see your concerns regarding integrity.
DAVE: In a competition with promotion and relegation with 20 to 30 teams in it, some teams have a financial boom and then all of a sudden, for some reason, they’re broke, and the next year they’re stuck in Premier division. I had a thought, and I’m not sure how practical it is, that if you have promotion and relegation, you get clubs to submit their financial reports and all the other stuff, then maybe you can have teams float between divisions. Set the parameters of what the salary cap expenditure is going to be for each division, and then the clubs can have a say in what competition they want to compete in. I haven’t put a huge amount of thought into it, but some clubs that have got no money stay in a completion and feel like they need to compete, so they go out and spend beyond their means just to compete. I don’t think that’s a good thing long-term. Competitive balance is probably the most important thing, but these days no one knows better about the financial status of the clubs than the League. If Leagues can see that the clubs are struggling to pay their fees and bills, they can manipulate things to make that club competitive for next year instead of trying to keep them in a competition that’s out of their range. So I’m all for it if the option is there. That is alarming though, that Officer finished fifth and is going up.
JONTY: Does anything about Officer suggest that they’re going to dominate if they stay where they are next year?
MARCUS: Not necessarily. They got within a few kicks of Emerald, and Berwick Springs a couple of times, as the two benchmarks of the competition, but you wouldn’t suggest that they would dominate Division One, particularly with Anthony Bernardo going out.
DAVE: Outer East has brought it down to two divisions because they’re worried about clubs like Pakenham and Narre Warren leaving, and they’re safe-guarding against the competition turning into nothing, aren’t they? I would hate to be in Outer East’s position with all that stuff going on, and not knowing if a club is going to be with you in two years time or not.
MARCUS: There is a note about providing teams with surety in the competition structure and minimising disruption, should clubs choose to move competitions.
TRADE PERIOD
MARCUS: The footy season may have come to an end, but as we know, footy in general never really stops, and we’re feeling that at the moment with the trade period at the moment hogging the headlines. Jonty, you and I can be a touch addicted to Twitter at times, and this period can be an absolute frenzy for speculation on social media. Why do you think it is that trade period is so fascinating and arguably generates more interest than the footy itself?
JONTY: I think it’s an easy way for a reporter to claim an exclusive if they catch wind of a potential move, but I think the coverage has gone too far. The saturation is really frustrating. Some of the content they discuss on trade programs is ridiculous. I saw one about ‘The 10 best physical specimens in the AFL’ the other day. I think it’s gone too far and it stems from the AFL’s desire to dominate the market year round, but I think it would be great if some of the time and resources could be put towards AFLW.
DAVE: I’m not aware of the social media stuff and don’t watch too much TV. From a supporter’s point of view, it’s an opportunity to instantly rejuvenate a list without needing a long-term plan. Look at Sydney, Essendon, they’ve recruited players that can instantly get supporters optimistic, thinking they might be a better team next year, before you get to a draft.
JONTY: There’s too much chat about no-name players though, and that’s where I think it goes too far.
MARCUS: I suppose it’s not always the big names that make the biggest impact, you just have to look at Bobby Hill. Does winning a premiership mean you take less of an interest in the trade period, as a fan?
DAVE: Jonty, we both looked at each other and smiled as Marcus was asking that question…
MARCUS: THAT WILL DO US FOR ANOTHER WEEK!
