Harper Sercombe
Cricket season is upon us and new Sunshine United coach is ready to take the Tigers back into Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division finals.
Michael Glowacki will lead the club he played his whole career at barring a two year stint with Footscray in Victorian Premier Cricket.
The Tigers finished in sixth last season and are hoping to roar back into the top four.
“I’m very excited, it’s been a good preseason so far,” Glowacki said.
“We’ve had some good numbers and a few new ins to the team, but the boys seem really pumped and keen for the year.
Glowacki said the Tigers have added three gun players to the squad that are sure to bolster on field performances.
“Dilum (Weerarathna) has come over from Craigieburn, he’s really handy with the ball and dangerous with the bat too, he’ll fill a gap for us nicely,” he said.
“Buddhika (Madhushanka) from Mulgrave, he’s an opening bowler and looks really sharp and looks like a bit of a demon quick and has fit in real well.
“We’ve also got Lahiru (Kumara) from Footscray United, he’s come over after winning a couple of premierships with them and he’s a real handy left arm orthodox all rounder.”
Being so close to reaching finals last year has Glowacki’s players extra determined to climb back up the mountain in the 2023-24 season. The Tigers were in finals contention up until the final round.
“That’s been a bit of motivation for us coming through this pre-season,” he said.
“Being so close, but just missing out, but knowing that we’ve filled the gaps and we’re really big on squeezing out the extra 10 per cent of our group from last year to make that jump and really cement ourselves within the finals.”
Other than just reaching finals the Tigers have set themselves other goals and key performance indicators to make sure they are on the right track.
“We’re really big on assessing ourselves as performers, and really using stats,” Glowacki said.
“But I think it’s just really about getting the group together and making sure that we enjoy cricket whilst also balancing that high performance aspect of it.
“We’ve already had a few sessions away from the ground, so we’ve had a bit of fun and it’s been really good buy-in from the boys.
“We want to create a strong culture, not just a winning culture, but a culture of fun and enjoyment.”
The VTCA season is set to get underway on October 7.
