Premier Cricket preview: A lot to like about last season’s top nine

It’s been a long, cold and lonely winter, but cricket season is finally back. The Victorian Premier Cricket season is kicking off this Saturday with a round of one-day matches. Every team will tell you they’ve had a good off-season, but will it translate to on-field results?

Sports reporters Daniel Paproth and Ewen McRae cast their eyes over the form with a look at the top nine teams from last season. Who do you think has what it takes this time around? Tell us on twitter @StarWeeklySport and Facebook.

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FOOTSCRAY EDGEWATER

Last year: Premier, 14 wins, 4 losses. Won grand final.

Ins: James Crosthwaite (Geelong)

Outs: Shanuka Dissanayaka

Coach: Steve Chapman

Captain: Dean Russ

The reigning premier looks dangerous ahead of season 2014/15. The recruitment of wicketkeeper-batsman James Crosthwaite is huge – he made 811 runs at 45 for Geelong last season, and he will strengthen an already fearsome top order. Fast bowler Brad Robertson made the Premier Team of the Year in 2010-11, Ben Green is a top-order bat who also bowls and Tallan Wright has 42 wickets for the club at 21.6. With a strengthened team, it is hard to see the Bulldogs losing many games this season unless injury or poor form strikes.

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From the club: “There was no extra rest for us [after the premiership], we started back on the first of July. We’re travelling really well. James is a big recruit for us but we’ve also welcomed back three first XI players who were injured the whole previous season in Brad Robertson, Ben Green and Tallan Wright so we’ve got an even stronger team than last season, the strength of the first XI makes the other grades stronger as well. Our team is still fairly young and whilst it was a dominant grand final, we could have played better during the year. There is still improvement to come.” – chairman Geoff Collinson

ESSENDON

Last year: Runners-up, 11 wins, 1 tie, 6 losses. Lost in grand final.

Ins: Aiden Blizzard (TAS), Hamish Moore (Doutta Stars), Jake McKinnon (Warnambool), Jim Damjanovski (Greenvale)

Outs: Solomon Mire

Coach: Brendan Joyce

Captain: Aiden Blizzard

The addition of Aiden Blizzard gives the batting line-up some real power at the top of the order, and with a well-balanced bowling attack expect the Bombers to be around the mark again. Has the target on the back after a stellar 2013/14 season, so will need to up their game again in order to feature in finals, but with plenty of young players that should improve they will give themselves another chance for premiership glory.

From the club: “For us this year we want to consolidate our good work from last year. If we can make the [top] eight that would be a reasonable result, that’s about as far ahead as we want to look. We didn’t start so well last year so we’ve made the shorter forms a bit more of a focus this year. Aaron Ayre’s been a standout over pre-season, he’s enjoying the extra work he’s getting at the Bushrangers, and Matt Doric has been a particularly hard worker. We’ve got a bit more depth around the club this year, we’re looking forward to the summer.” – coach Brendan Joyce

ST KILDA

Last season: 1st, 15 wins, 3 losses. Lost semi final.

Outs: Damon Rowan, Daniel Forbes, Tom Moffat (all work-related)

Ins: Ben Edmunds (Noble Park)

Coach: Adrian Jones

Captain: Rob Quiney

Perennially successful, don’t expect St Kilda to stray too far from the top of the table in season 2014-15. The loss of wicketkeeper-batsman Damon Rowan and batsmen Daniel Forbes and Tom Moffat through work commitments hurts – the trio scored 957 runs between them last year, but the Saints still have arguably the strongest top order in the competition, with Matt Chasemore, Graeme Rummans, Andrew McGuinness as well as Victorian representatives Peter Handscomb and Rob Quiney. St Kilda will also look to players on the fringe of the ones, as well as the lower grades, to put pressure on spots. The bowling stocks remain strong – though they are not likely to see much of rising leggie James Muirhead – and the club’s professionalism and consistency should see it a major finals player again.

From the club: “Everything is going well. I think after 10 weeks of training the players will welcome the day to get out and actually play cricket. We did well to win the club championship last year, and our third XI won the premiership. We weren’t desperately out there recruiting to stock up, we’re in a position now where we will give some boys in the lower grades a chance to step up and see how they handle the tempo. The hardest part will be replacing experience. With Rowan, Forbes and Moffat leaving, that’s nearly 500 games of first XI experience between them. You can’t replace that so we hope other players will bring energy, enthusiasm and hunger.” – Coach Adrian Jones

GEELONG

Last season: 3rd, 9 wins (2 outright), 1 draw, 1 tie, 7 losses. Lost semi final.

Ins: Carl Sandri (Greenvale), Jeremy Hart (Melbourne)

Outs: James Crosthwaite (Footscray), Marc Carson (retired)

Coach: Damian Shanahan

Captain: Matthew Harrison

Hard to get a read on the Cats heading into this season. The departure of wicketkeeper-batsman James Crosthwaite – 811 runs at 45 on top of 26 catches and eight stumpings – as well as the retirement of Marc Carson (23 wickets at 22.7), are huge, and the club will be without star strike bowler Jake Reed for the first 4-6 weeks thanks to a torn meniscus. The recruitment of former Greenvale skipper and Italian international Carl Sandri will strengthen the batting while the return of leg-spinner Jeremy Hart is a big plus. Geelong finished the season strongly last year and if the new-look team can gel together quickly they will be a threat. Of biggest concern is Geelong’s T20 form – the Cats lost all four of their 20-over matches last year.

From the club: “We’re prepared as well as we can be for round one. Carson was a terrific player for us and he will be sorely missed, and losing James was a bit of a surprise but we couldn’t compete with Footscray’s offer financially. But it gives an abundance of opportunity to other players, like Josh McDonald, who finished the year well in the twos, as well as players like Corey Ogle who haven’t been able to play much due to injury. This time last year there were predictions we would be in the bottom four and we came so close to playing in a grand final. The departures are spurring the boys on. We’ve got to take care of our first month of ODI cricket, which hurt us last season, and if we can get that right there’s no reason we can’t continue on and try for that elusive flag.” – coach Damian Shanahan

RINGWOOD

Last year: 5th, 11 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses. Lost quarter final.

Ins: Cam Ludowyke (Hawthorn/Monash), Jake Wigney (Hawthorn Monash) Tim Sugumar (Bayswater), Hamish Paterson (Croydon)

Outs: Daniel Rawson, Blair Allan

Coach: Gavin Kellar

Captain: Tom Stray

Runner-up two season ago, and quarter finalists last summer, the Rams can expect to be around the mark again in 2014/15. Stars like Ian Holland, Michael Topp, Tom Stray and David King will again be the main men, but some young players around them are creating plenty of excitement at Jubilee Park, and the establishment of a high performance academy will only help them to flourish. Tough start to the season with St Kilda and then the reigning premiers will tell us plenty about the Rams chances this season.

From the club: “We really feel like the boys are ready to step out and perform this weekend. We’re a very young club so we’ve put a lot of time into developing their skills and leadership and we’ve put a real focus on our fitness and fielding this winter, that can win you games. Ian Holland’s been fantastic, and Michael Topp has performed really well, but we just want our whole group to keep improving. Last year we had some fantastic weeks and others not at the level that we expect so this summer it’s about being as consistent as possible and keeping the guys focussed on the game plan.” – coach Gavin Kellar

MELBOURNE

Last season: 6th, 11 wins, 7 losses. Drew quarter final and eliminated as lower-ranked side.

Outs: Michael Hill (Tasmania)

Ins: Brenton McDonald (Port Adelaide), Chris Tremain (NSW)

Captain/coach: Andrew Kent

Premiers in 2012-13, the Demons tumbled down the ladder in 13-14 after several post-Christmas losses in two-day cricket. Still, they led all-comers in one-day cricket, and were unlucky when their quarter-final clash with Geelong was washed out. The return of leg-spinning all-rounder Brenton McDonald is a big coup: in 12-13 he took 54 wickets at 16 and also carved out 568 runs at 43.7. Paceman Chris Tremain has impressed in pre-season for the Bushrangers and will play when not required by the Vics. Hill is a hefty loss, but there is still plenty of talent; Seb Gotch had an outstanding year with the bat and the fast bowling stocks remain strong. With good depth and competition for spots expect the Demons to be among the main contenders.

From the club: “We weren’t satisfied with last season. None of our sides progressed past the semis so we are certainly very motivated. We started pre-season earlier to get fit. We had some natural attrition with about 20 players moving on for different reasons, and we’ve brought in about eight new players, which gives more opportunity for our younger players. Hilly is a big loss, but we get Brenton McDonald back and Chris Tremain will play with us. Last season we were a good white-ball team but we really need to improve our red-ball cricket.” – captain/coach Andrew Kent

CARLTON

Last season: 7th, 11 wins, 1 tie, 6 losses. Lost quarter final.

Ins: – Nil notable

Outs: – Nil notable

Captain/coach: Tim Welsford

Watershed year for Carlton, with the club celebrating its 150th year. While little has changed on field, the off-field addition of Premier Cricket legend Warren Ayres to the coaching ranks will only strengthen a Blues outfit hoping to make more of an impact in 2014-15. Long-time wicketkeeper Nathan Pilon will pass the gloves to young Jayden Borg, freeing the prolific run-scorer to focus on his batting. Holding onto momentum will be the key for the Blues – after a brilliant start to the season they won only one of their last six games, and were rolled three times for under 120 in two-day clashes. Have the talent to be in the mix.

From the club: “I think it has been an excellent and thorough pre-season. We’ve been out on the turf when it’s been wet, probably not too many others would have done that. Having Warren Ayres on board as our batting coach has been great, he has been passing on some tips about building an innings, which is where we have been a bit poor in recent years, particularly in finals when we haven’t made enough runs. We’ve really had no ins or outs and we think we’ve got a list of promising young players with quite a bit of first XI experience as well as another seven or eight who are up to a first XI level.” – administrator John McConville

PRAHRAN

Last year: 8th, 11 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses. Lost quarter final.

Ins: Steve Seymour (UK), David Hemp (UK), Sam Jones (Oakleigh), Jeremy Devlin (Oakleigh), Rhys Adams (injury)

Outs: Jack Taylor, Neil Schlittler, Liam Murphy

Coach: Peter Di Venuto

Captain: Sam Coates

A change of coach in the offseason, and an influx of new and returning players makes the True Blues a curious case this season. Have been perennial finalists in recent years without taking the ultimate prize, so definitely have the talent to be in the mix for finals again. The return of gun all rounder Steve Seymour from England to partner James Miller with the ball gives them a fearsome look, and look out if Rhys Adams returns to his 2012/13 form after coming back from a knee reconstruction. He was the best new ball bowler in the competition that year. Finals as a minimum for the True Blues.

From the club: “We’ve done things a bit differently this year, the intensity at training has been up and we’ve got 21 new players on the list so we’re just looking to get into the games now. The feedback to the coaching staff on the changes has been great, we’ve had two trips away to Kilmore and Tasmania and they both went really well and gave players some good game time. We need to improve on all facets of the club. We’ve made a start in improving pre-season and now it’s what happens on a week to week basis and our expectations will take care of themselves.” – coach Peter Di Venuto

FITZROY DONCASTER

Last year: 9th, 9 wins (2 outright), 9 losses

Ins: Andrew Perrin (Casey/South Melbourne), Matthew Frith (St Kilda), Max Tomkinson (Melbourne), Lee Stockdale (Traralgon)

Outs: Lloyd Mash, Jon Fagg, Scott Huntley

Coach: Michael O’Sullivan

Captain: Peter Dickson

The losses of experienced stalwarts Lloyd Mash and Jon Fagg gives the Lions a new look for this summer, but don’t be surprised to see them around the mark for finals once again. The injection of veteran coach Michael O’Sullivan will give the side a stronger edge, and with young stars like Liam Banthorpe and Ejaaz Alavi continuing their development it should be a strong season for the side. Andrew Perrin gives Steven Duckworth and Peter Dickson some much needed support with the ball, which was their biggest weakness last summer.

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From the club: “It’s been a really enjoyable pre-season. We’ve trained most Saturday mornings, done a training camp down to Torquay, and the boys have been extraordinary. They’ve worked hard, terrific attendance and consistency, and it’s been really refreshing to see the players take charge. We’ll see some new players get opportunities in higher grades in the early rounds, and after been around the mark for a while we expect to play finals this year. It’s about attitude and accountability and I haven’t seen a group prepare as well as this one. They’re pretty hungry for some success.” – coach Michael O’Sullivan