By Marcus Uhe
CRANBOURNE
LAST SEASON: Fourth
COMING: Mohit Bisht, Harrison Carlyon (Jersey)
GOING: Jakeb Thomas, Sajana De Silva, Chenutha Wickramasinghe, Harry Singh (Lyndale)
STAYING: Martin Kelly, Alex Hollingsworth, Harsaroup Singh, Clinton Ayres, Cameron Kelly, Dean McDonell
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Harrison Carlyon, Harsaroup Singh, Martin Kelly
Cranbourne Cricket Club is looking to build on last season’s fourth-place finish through the acquirement of an international star on the rise.
Jersey’s Harrison Carlyon has been plucked from the Northern Hemisphere to lead the Eagles as their senior coach this summer, joining the club through the Cricketer Exchange platform.
The 23-year-old has worn his national colours in 44 internationals so far, excelling in T20s with a batting strike rate of 121 and bowling economy of 5.86.
A power hitter, vice-president Alex Hollingsworth and the club is hoping he can re-shape their fortunes in the shorter formats of the game.
“He’s a teammate of Jonty Jenner who played at Narre South in the last couple of years and was looking for a chance to get his name out overseas,” Hollingsworth said.
“Harrison coming in is a nice big power hitter to start in white ball cricket and the depth to bat to the tail in red ball cricket.”
Carlyon is expected to open the batting with Martin Kelly, seeing Dean McConnell slide down the batting card as a result and join Harsaroup Singh in the middle order.
His batting will be vital in Cranbourne are to reach the finals once again, with three of the Eagles’ top five run scorers from last season all flying the nest, in Sajana De Silva, Chenutha Wickramasinghe and Jakeb Thomas.
Thomas and De Silva both excelled in all-rounder roles, taking 20 and 17 wickets respectively to go with 200 runs each.
Cranbourne recorded impressive wins against Parkfield and Dandenong West last summer but was troubled by inconsistency was ultimately thrashed by the Bulls in the first week of the finals.
Despite scoring more runs than any other side, Hollingsworth felt the batting was where they came up short on a number of occasions.
“We failed to capitalise on some really good bowling performances at times and I feel the way our batting line up will structure this year will enable us to possibly put on a couple of bigger scores to give us a better target to bowl at,” he said.
“I know there were times last year where we probably didn’t get to a number we thought would be defendable.
“With the way our line up should be this year, we’ll be quite flexible for both red and white (ball).
“We’ve got plenty of bowling stock and plenty of batting depth now.
“With what we have at the club, I’d like to think we’ll be competitive in every game we play this year.”
