BUILDING blocks are being put in place for Merbein Cricket Club’s future.
President Carlo Longeri says he is well aware there may be some short-term pain for the Magpies’ First Division unit, but he is bullish about the young talent being nurtured at the club.
Teenagers Dillon Furze, Kurtis Fitzpatrick and Angus Smith have all had top-grade exposure in 2022, twins Riley and Cody Clifford have taken the step up to be first grade bowlers, and Josh Stanley has plenty of all-round talent.
The Magpies have the chance to end the calendar year on a high by defeating second-placed Irymple at Henshilwood Oval.
“We’re feeling pretty positive. We had just about every grade inside the top four until last week,” Longeri said.
“We’ve had some major issues with unavailabilities in recent rounds but I think that’s also been across the board with other clubs, too.
“Last round we had a big score to chase down which was always going to be tough and we were missing a couple of our better batters, so we set ourselves the task of batting all day which we were able to do.
“Young Angus in his debut against Gol Gol looked good probably could have gone on to make 50 but he picked out a fielder with a really well struck shot (on 16).
“It’s been a big workload for some of these kids but we’re really positive about the direction we’re going. Hopefully in another 18 months, they will be able to take the lead.”
The Magpies have been short on wickets to start the season, taking just 30 in total so far, although that total does include two washed out games.
“We’ve put a lot into our younger guys with the ball and we’d obviously like to be able to take more wickets, but we also haven’t helped ourselves in the field at times,” Longeri said.
“In the last game, we had a few mistakes in the field which in the end cost us about 150 runs as Wade (Hancock) and Shac (Thomas) went on to make centuries.
“We believe we’ve got the cattle to do it, it’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
One player who has been in solid form for Merbein is explosive middle order batsman Hamim Miah, who has three half centuries in his past four First Division innings.
Longeri said he pushed his mate a bit before the season trying to get the best out of him.
“While other teams were out recruiting, I didn’t see us needing someone else if he could get back to the form he showed when he first joined the club,” he said.
“He’s in a rich vein of form and it’s only a little bit of application needed and I can see him turning these 50s into really big scores. There’s been a few of us at the top of the order getting starts and not going on with it, so that’s probably put extra pressure on his shoulders, but he’s handled it really well.”
Saturday also marks the first time the renamed Merbein Cricket Club have been able to wear their new black and white kit across all grades, following some issues with ordering and shipping.
