A new horizon brings a new challenge.
The second flight of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association has a fresh looking landscape but the hunt for the ultimate goal remains the same.
Cranbourne Meadows and Lang Lang have dropped out and in comes five second XIs to bring the competition to an even 10 teams.
Pakenham Upper-Toomuc is the team to beat after coming up short in last season’s District grand final in a brave effort against the heavily-favoured Officer.
The fire in the belly of the Yabbies has never been stronger with the club hopeful to pinch its first first XI flag in seven years.
Merinda Park is the relegated side from Premier and will be imposing after being relatively competitive in the top flight last season.
Carlisle Park will also eye the silverware as a lot of the Vikings’ core will return including the Balasuriya brothers and Ethan Davies, who is proving to be one of the brightest upcoming young talents in the CCCA.
But Pakenham Upper-Toomuc is determined under new skipper Lucas Plozza and there’s one clear message echoing around Harry Blackman Oval.
“A pass mark for us is winning the flag this year, it’s not getting there again,” he said.
“Getting there and missing out has only made us hungrier.
“Last year we had a great season and played some really positive cricket but fell over at the end which hurts a little bit more than if you go out earlier.
“The hunger’s flat out and the new guys that have jumped on board are keen for it too, that’s the dream we’ve sold to them.”
Chris Ryan is a new recruit that will slide into the top of the order and be electric with the bat.
The Yabbies also put pen to paper with Lachlan de Zilwa to aid the depth and bolster the middle order.
With the new recruits alongside the dangerous pace lineup of Ben McLeod, Raja Sohail and John Langley, there’s one style that Plozza hopes to implement all season.
“Really positive cricket is our goal, we can bat fast and take wickets pretty quickly,” he said.
“We’ve got some really high intensity type players with Sohail and Ryan who have been around for a long time but we added Chris Ryan too who’s going to add a lot of firepower and fast batting to the top of the order.
“We’re much of the same, there’s not too much difference in our bowling attack.
Last season’s captain Brian Kulasena is back but without a leadership role this time.
Plozza is excited to see what he’ll bring with the sole focus on his performance.
“Brian without the captaincy is going to be super damaging,” Plozza said.
“Not just with the bat but he’ll bowl a lot more.
“He’s a really good off spinner, I reckon he’ll have a really good year with the bat and ball.
“Chris Ryan as well is going to have some games where he really tears it apart off five or 10 overs as a hard-hitting bat that’s played a lot of high end cricket.
“He hits the ball really hard especially at Pakky Upper where it’s a little bit smaller, I reckon he’ll make some really big scores in not many overs.”
It’s an exciting time for the Yabbies with plenty of emerging talents starting to blossom.
Addison Tucker, Alfie Howatt and Ryan Yeates are some young players that look to level up this summer.
“I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of growth,” Plozza said about the club.
“We’ve got a really good core of juniors coming through and also guys in their second and third years of senior cricket.
“A few of them will feature in our first XI and some of them are pushing through our other sides to start to play some good cricket, I’m really looking forward to those guys taking that next step.”
LADDER PREDICTION
1. Merinda Park
2. Pakenham Upper-Toomuc
3. Tooradin 2nd XI
4. Carlisle Park
5. Emerald
6. Cardinia 2nd XI
7. Kooweerup 2nd XI
8. Pakenham 2nd XI
9. Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll
10. Clyde 2nd XI
