Can the Bulls breathe fire this summer? Blair Burns runs his eye over Dandenong West ahead of the 2025/26 DDCA Turf 1 season.
DANDENONG WEST
Coach: Anthony Brannan
Captain: Riley Siwes
Last year’s finish: Fifth
Most Runs: Venuk Hemachandra (376 runs)
Most Wickets: (Dinesh) Nuwan Kulasekara (28 wickets)
Brand of cricket: Looking to continually improve off a positive first year in Turf 1 last season. Going to be a younger side this year, which is exciting and the direction we want to go in the future. Expect our cricket to be fun to watch, more enjoyable as a team, and always playing the overs, staying in games up until the final wicket/run.
Key player to watch: Joel Zietsman – his first full cricket pre-season in a long time. He is a natural leader and winner, a fresh start at the West will bring out the best in him. A competitive beast who will have a fantastic year with the new ball.
Surprise packet to watch: Don Kavi Pulukkuttiarachchi – Kavi really came out of his shell after Christmas last season and made some classy runs in that time. Hits the ball super hard and has been the hardest worker this off-season. He will make some big scores this year.
Ins: Joel Zietsman (opening bowler – Narre South), Madushanka Perera (wicketkeeper/batsman – Dromana), Nipunka Fonseka (batsman – Sri Lankan student), Brad Sheehan (bowler – back from injury), Jayden Camilleri (medium pacer – Springvale South).
Outs: Adam Reid (Officer), Venuk Hemachandra (Dandenong Premier), Amrith Sri Mahan (Main Ridge).
Comment:
Riley Siwes will take the sole captaincy for the first time in a bid to push Dandenong West into finals contention with some important recruits. After winning the Turf 2 premiership back in 2023-24, the Bulls pushed into the top grade and did well to finish fifth, but the gap between fourth and fifth was significant, trailing Springvale South by 22 points on the ladder – they will need to win more than four games to call this season a success. The side started last season beautifully, chasing down 201 against Berwick to start the season one from one. But a big loss the following game against now-relegated North Dandenong wasn’t the way they hoped to back up the impressive start. Football teammate of Siwes at Narre Warren, Joel Zietsman has come across from Narre South and will look to set the tone with the new ball, expect to see him taking some poles this year.
LADDER PREDICTION
1. Hallam Kalora Park
2. Buckley Ridges
3. Berwick
4. Springvale South
5. Beaconsfield
6. Dandenong West
7. Narre South
8. Parkmore
TURF 1 FIXTURE
Round 1 (Two-day): Berwick v Narre South at Arch Brown Reserve, Dandenong West v Parkmore at Greaves Reserve 1, Springvale South v Hallam Kalora Park at Alex Nelson Reserve, Beaconsfield v Buckley Ridges at Perc Allison Oval – all matches to start at 12.30pm.
