WANDELLA CRICKET CLUB – 2022-23 SEASON PREVIEW
SHDCA FAST FACTS
PRESIDENT – Luke Murray
A GRADE CAPTAIN – Greg Dickson
COACH – Greg Dickson
LAST A-GRADE PREMIERSHIP – 2014-15 (Northern District CA)
2021-22 FINISH – Semi Finalist
LEADING RUN SCORER – Greg Dickson – 212 runs @ 35.33
LEADING WICKET TAKER – Ryan Barnes – 21 wickets @ 11.38
SEASON PREVIEW
Wandella will enter their second season in the Swan Hill & District Cricket Association full of confidence after proving they are more than capable of competing with the best the competition has to offer.
The Bombers finished the home-and-away season third on the ladder – but fell short against Woorinen in the semi final to fall at their first finals hurdle by 53 runs after a middle order batting collapse.
While that afternoon came as a crushing blow to the league newcomers, it should also prove to be a source of motivation for the upcoming season.
Wandella will have a very similar line-up to last year, with Greg Dickson again leading the Bombers.
The bulk of their 2021-22 squad also remains, however they have added both Kaine O’Connell and Alex Lloyd to their roster to help add further depth to their A Grade team.
O’Connell is no stranger to the SHDCA, having spent a number of seasons at Ultima-TUF as a hard hitting top order batsman, while Lloyd will venture across from Kerang-Fairley Town and take over the gloves from Ashley McKnight.
While the new additions will no doubt make a big difference to the Bombers’ chances this season, it will once again be the strength of their bowling attack that will be the difference in whether they are successful or not this season, according to their skipper Dickson.
“I think our bowling has been our strength over the last couple of years – in the final last year against Woorinen we had two of our best bowlers out injured in Ryan Barnes and Rohan Oliver,” Dickson said.
“They still beat us on the day, but our bowling has been our biggest strength and I think it will be again this season.
“Ryan Barnes made the team of the year last year and is probably the key to our attack – in terms of taking wickets, he’s probably our number one key player and if he has a big season we should go really well.
“We also have young Bohden McKnight who opened the bowling at stages last year as well as a 16-17-year-old who’s coming on as well and he’ll be better for last season.
“We’re blessed in terms of having some many options that come the end of the year, we have a few blokes who are probably a bit disappointed that they don’t always get a bowl.”
While there are no concerns with the ball for Wandella, the same can’t be said for their time with the willow – with the Bombers at times last season vulnerable to costly batting collapses.
When looking at their line-up however, the Bombers are blessed with a number of extremely capable batsmen, including Dickson, Laine Gibbons, Luke Murray and Toby Gray – all of whom are more than capable of posting a big score when needed.
While the talent is there, it’s all about his team being able to put it together on the same day for Dickson – who also singled out an up and coming junior as one he hopes takes the next step as a senior cricketer this season.
“We won the Under 16s premiership last year and hopefully a number of those kids step up into A Grade this year,” Dickson said.
“Patrick Oliver is one I’m hoping takes his game to another level – we’re crying out for batsmen and ‘Patty’ is a young batter, so hopefully he can take the step up.
“But there’s quite a few other kids there who are certainly good enough to play A Grade cricket and they’ll all be getting an opportunity at some point this season.”
WORD FROM THE CAPTAINGREG DICKSON
“This time last year I said we aspired to play finals in our first year in the competition and we achieved that, to be competitive last year and to play finals was a big thing for us. I suppose this year will be the same in that we want to play finals cricket – we’ll be looking to make the top four and then just see how we go from there.”
PLAYER TO WATCH
Ryan Barnes – Came into his first season in the SHDCA last year with massive wraps on him and more than lived up to those expectations. Was one of the leading bowlers in the competition, finishing just two wickets short of taking the most wickets for the season. Missed the Bombers Semi Final loss to Woorinen with injury – with that game sure to be one of the driving forces behind Wandella’s 2022-23 season.
INS AND OUTS
INS – Kaine O’Connell (Murrabit), Alex Lloyd (Kerang-Fairley Town)
OUTS – Nil
