Darley is looking to take the positives out of a tough Ballarat Cricket Association season.
The Lions started slowly but appeared to have found their groove in the lead-up to the Christmas break, winning three games in a row.
But things came unstuck in the second half of the season, with the first XI struggling with both bat and ball and hampered by a number of injuries to key players.
Darley president Marcus Ingvorsen said the testing times had given the club a chance to promote its youth.
“It has been good in the sense that those kids now know what it takes to play at that level and they know they are capable of playing at that level,” he said.
“We’re talking about guys ranging from 17 to 22. In a lot of cases, they make up more than half the team.”
Ingvorsen highlighted young off-spinner Corey Beaton and all-rounder Drew Locke as two of the standout young players at the club.
Playing predominantly in the seconds, Beaton has taken seven wickets for the season at an average of 15.4 while Locke has held his own as a bowler as well as making handy lower-order runs.
Of the senior first XI players, Matthew Cape was a standout, scoring 335 runs and taking 18 wickets.
To help fast-track the development of the club’s young players, Ingvorsen said the Lions would be targeting a specific type of recruit in the off-season.
“You’re always looking to recruit,” he said.
“I think now it is more about recruiting the right people rather than recruiting the right cricketers.
“It is about a whole package when it comes to recruitment … not just how well they play cricket, even though that’s a very important factor. It needs to be about the person and their ability to train, teach and coach those around them and be a leader for the club as well”
While the first XI’s season has come to an end, Darley’s second XI is gearing up for finals after qualifying with a final-round smashing of Brown Hill.
“They’ll go into it certainly expecting to be going past the first week of finals,” Ingvorsen said. “If the weather had gone their way a bit more, with a couple of outrights and that sort of thing, we’d be fairly well clear on top. We’re not far off.”
Darley’s under 16 side has also qualified for finals.
