Even the man at the head of the Keilor Park Cricket Club, president Dale Baldwin, was somewhat surprised to see his club perched on top of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association north division ladder, without a blemish, at the turn of the new year.
The Devils had banked on a bounce-back summer, inspired by new coach Andy Barlow and the brave appointment of young import Robbie Jones as captain – but not to this extent.
Among the stragglers last season, the Devils avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth, a mere 0.40 points to be exact. They were at least competitive last summer, but showed no signs of taking the league by storm this time around, which is exactly what they did before the holiday break.
The Devils claimed six victories on the trot – five on first innings and an outright – to present a genuine premiership threat.
Baldwin told Star Weekly the club had to capitalise on its hot start and maintain its focus of returning to the finals.
“Everything is going very well, a lot better than we expected,” Baldwin said.
“We always wanted to play finals – that’s the goal every year – but based on the last two years, we haven’t gone as well as we wanted and we had a bit of a rebuild and restructure with our senior coach and captain.
“We’ve got some new players as well and thought it would take a little bit longer for it to gel as a group, but it’s come along a lot quicker than we expected,” he said.
“Now we’re in this position, we’ve got to keep pushing forward and keep the standards where they’re at.”
Three months ago, Baldwin might not have been so expectant, but it’s the desire of the players that has seen him come around to believe they can make it a campaign to remember.
The bowling attack, influenced by a cabal of Jarrod Freckleton (16 wickets at 7), Barlow (14 at 8), Jones (10 at 7), Joe Carland (7 at 7) and Jamie Manning (6 at 24), has been extremely tight, conceding a competition-low 814 runs. They’ve also managed to produce an adequate supply of runs, led by Manning (218) and Jones (216), to win matches.
The real highlight for the Devils is their energy in the field. They are nagging at the opposition from ball one and unrelenting until stumps. The lead-by-example Jones is the driving force, with the youthful enthusiasm of a 19 year-old skipper (a former England under-age international at 17s and 19s level and Lancashire second XI player at county level) rubbing off on his teammates.
“You see the guys in the field, every single ball they’re on it; they just don’t stop until the 10 wickets fall,” Baldwin said.
Jones might be young, but he’s no pushover. He, along with Barlow, demand excellence at training and on match day, and with a large percentage of the Devils being home grown, having an outsider provide a bit of spark has been welcomed.
“He’s put a lot of structures in place in relation to training and professionalism and he’s making them a lot more accountable for their role in the team,” Baldwin said.
“Winning games of cricket makes all the difference, too.
“Everyone wants to be a part of it. Nothing beats being part of a winning team.”
The Devils will pay a visit to arch-rivals Keilor for the big local derby in a one-day game on Saturday.
