Sarah Oliver
Melton is gearing up for the upcoming Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association south-west season.
Playing-coach Brad Jones said the club is “very excited” for the weekend, despite a wet weather forecast potentially putting a hold on the game.
Jones said pre-season training has been “really good” with the progression of last year’s young side.
He said the team is keen to use the young players to their advantage after last season which saw them finishing 12th on the ladder.
Jones said they’ve been adapting their game to gear more towards one day cricket because the younger players are “not as used to it”.
The Lions have lost two players who have moved on to other teams.
Most significantly, leading batter Nathan Taylor has moved onto Werribee.
Jones said they’ve also lost all-rounder Jaskirat Singh.
Other than those losses and the progression of the young siders, the Lions are a “fairly similar squad to last year,” Jones said.
Despite COVID, Jones said numbers are looking good across the club, but being so early on in the season and with only about five preseason sessions, Jones is hoping the numbers will grow.
The club is also excited to see their new ground “up and running,” Jones said.
The revamp of the facilities was completed at the start of November and included updated rooms, training nets and an entirely new ground.
Last week, the team were able to head out onto the field for the first time.
“It was exciting to get out and have a good hit on that.
“We’ve got amazing facilities up there now – we’re a bit spoilt,” Jones said.
Jones said the project was able to be completed with help from a mixture of Melton council, Cricket Victoria and the state government.
Tonight the team will have their first selection night dinner of the season after training ahead of Saturday’s match.
Jones said they’ll be thrown “straight in the deep end”.
“We’re looking forward to playing Oakleigh on Saturday,” he said.
