North Sportsman’s has set the pace in the Mount Gambier and District Cricket Association over the recent years and the experienced team is hunting a three-peat.
The Tigers head into the new season fresh from back-to-back premierships and are keen to continue their dominance into the new decade.
After lifting the Barber Shield in his first year as captain, Nick McInerney remains in charge and has a similar side at his disposal.
He said he had been impressed with how his men were tracking for the opening round. “We have been back for about three or four weeks training twice a week,” McInerney said. “It has been good to see everyone again and we are looking forward to getting back into it.
“We are pretty confident with a similar group to what we had last year and we hope to replicate our efforts.”
McInerney said there had been minimal changes to the premiership-winning team, but question marks remained around some members. “There have been some changes through injury and things like that, but we have a similar group with the core players,” he said.
“Tom Edwards had surgery on his back, so we will miss him for sure, but hopefully we have found a few replacements to fill his role. “We are still waiting to hear back on a couple of the older statesmen including Kieran Ashby.” Although wicket-keeper Edwards is ruled out and uncertainty surrounding some of the experienced heads, teams still have reasons to fear the Tigers.
The destructive bowling attack of McInerney, Tim Young and Declan Kenny is ready to fire once again. The trio was the key part to North’s premiership with 60 wickets as a combination.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for the Tigers and the batsmen will be keen to fill their boots after falling slightly below the team’s high standards.
McInerney highlighted batting as the main area of improvement. “We obviously back our bowlers in to do a job, so it is great to have the same people around the place, but we hope to get a bit more out of the batting group,” he said.
“We had a relatively quiet season last year with the bat, so hopefully many are keen to bounce back from that and we can put some big scores on the board, while the bowlers maintain a solid job.”
North’s players will be led by a new face in the shortest format with Kenny recently announced as the Twenty20 captain. McInerney said Kenny’s appointment followed the club’s philosophy.
“We like to promote different leadership opportunities throughout the club and it is awesome for Declan to take the role,” he said.
“We have had Jake (Schutz) do it for the last few years and he did really good job, but was open to someone else doing it, so Declan stepped up.
“Declan has been a solid player for a number of years and is a really good club person as well, so he will be fine in that role.”
Having won the last two Barber Shields, McInerney is aware his team is the hunted and said the Tigers must continue raising the bar to maintain the high ground.
“There are some teams coming for us and we know if we roll out with the same performances as last year it won’t be enough,” he said. “So we will look to lift especially on the batting side of things, but we think victory is an achievable goal for us that is for sure.”
