Caroline Springs is hoping to fire at the right time of the year in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Roy Picone Shield season.
The Falcons have been among the pacesetters the past two seasons before falling short in the semi finals.
With a strong squad again, coach Ian Shattock believes they can be among the contenders.
He said things were looking good across the whole club early on.
“It’s looking good apart from the weather,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of new players and got a few new players across the board.
“It’s the best numbers we’ve had in the last few years.
“There’s a lot of numbers through the lower grades with people coming back into cricket and some come from other clubs but live locally.”
Shattock said they had kept most of its first XI side together.
He said the group wanted to build on what they had done last season.
“We’re looking strong again and hopefully we’ll have another good season,” he said.
“It didn’t go our way last year and we’re determined to take the next step this year.
“We’ve got a new bowler and a new batter, who has a good ability to make runs.”
Shattock said they had lost Jermaine Levy ??, but felt they had enough depth to cover the loss.
The Falcons have a number of younger players who had had big pre-seasons who they’re hoping will also step up.
Jack Herring who was best on ground in the under-18 grand final a couple of years ago is hoping to play a few more games in the seniors this season.
Aaryan Kadam played in the second XI last season and has been training the house down, while Mohammad Mehdi, who played in the semi final last season opening the batting has improved as well.
“There’s a few Caroline Springs juniors and it’ll be good to see them along with the likes of Braedon [Mulheran] and Flynn [Rice] who came through last year.
Shattock said having come so close last season, the whole group was determined this season not to suffer the same devastation.
“Hopefully we can go the whole way,” he said. “We’ve got the talent there, we need to take our opportunities this year.”
The opening round of the VTCA season on Saturday was postponed with not enough grounds ready for play.
Caroline Springs is due to face Pascoe Vale Hadfield in round two.
