MILDURA East Cricket Club is gearing up for the 2022/23 cricket season, bringing in some new and returning players.
The club recently announced the recruitment of experienced local cricketer Shania McKinnon and returning premiership captain Brad Thomas.
The two players will be bringing their wealth of experience and knowledge to the club.
Thomas, a 240-game player who has coached and captained at the club and previously won an Innes Medal, said he was excited to return to the club.
“I grew up playing for East and still have a lot of really good mates at the club that I wanted to play cricket with again,” he said.
“I played basically my whole life at Mildura East but the last three years I played at Nichols Point, I went out there with one of my good mates, Shaun Mathews, who is currently still at Nichols Point.
“The (Mildura East) club has been awesome in welcoming me back so far and it is good to be back.”
Thomas, who will co-coach with Josh Berry, said he was keen to give Berry a hand.
“Josh has obviously been at the helm now for three years I think, so it will be good to just give him a hand and some fresh ideas,” he said.
“It’ll be good to be working with him.”
Thomas said the men’s team was aiming to play in the finals this year.
“The club has shown some gradual improvement over the three years and we are looking to move up the ladder and play finals definitely in the first division this year,” he said.
“We have got obviously myself returning and we have got an overseas players coming across, as well as our up-and-coming juniors that have got another year under their belt.”
McKinnon, who has been a dominant force in cricket for many years, playing at a high level of cricket and winning multiple premierships in the local competition, said she was also excited to join the club.
“My partner plays (at Mildura East) and he put out there that they are a really good, fun, young group of girls that have a lot of talent and I really want to add and see how far we can get with them,” she said.
“I moved because I felt like I had completed nearly everything at (Mildura) Settlers and I wanted to see if I could help out another club and make a different club come through and really do better at finals.”
McKinnon said she wanted to use her experience to help others improve their cricket skills.
“I am actually pretty keen for it, I think it is going to be a really good season, a lot of new kids and more talent to help them strive further in their goals,” she said.
“That’s what I am looking forward to, giving my experience and helping the girls just really bring their cricket further.”
McKinnon said she hoped see a big community of women in cricket.
“I think the goal is always to get more girls and women in cricket especially to get women more invested in playing,” she said.
“It would be great to see a massive community in that sport of women.
“We had lost a few (women cricketers), but all the younger kids are coming through which is great to see.”
