By Marcus Uhe
A retired international superstar is set to help Hampton Park emerge from Turf 3 obscurity in the Dandenong District Cricket Association this summer.
Tillakaratne Dilshan has joined the club as a captain-coach, hoping to lift them from the bottom of the table last summer.
The 47-year-old averaged 41 with the bat in 87 Test matches for Sri Lanka across a brilliant career and played more than 400 international limited overs games during his time in national colours.
Many sides have had big off-seasons and with Coomoora moving up the grades on the back of success last summer, there’s a vacancy for supremacy at the peak of the Division.
Here’s how it’s shaping up.
SILVERTON
LAST SEASON: Fifth
COMING: Charith Anthony (St Mary’s/Melbourne Sixers), Dikin Patel (Berwick), Hemal Ratnayake, Harkanwal Singh (Berwick), Harsha Dampahhalage (Melbourne Sixers)
GOING: Rasdev Singh (Clayton), Mandeep Premi, Davandeep Premi
STAYING: Mala Gamage, Dylan Hayes, Robert North, Mathew Wall.
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Hemal Ratnayake, Harkanwal Singh, Mala Gamage
Silverton captain-coach Rob North’s second season at the helm of the Bakers is shaping to be significantly different to his first.
With more than 32 players cycling through the first XI last summer and only a handful reaching double-figure appearances, continuity proved impossible to build and saw Silverton finish fifth, missing finals qualification for a second straight year.
But North is steadfast in his commitment to learn from the issues that plagued the club last summer and has brought players from higher grades of the DDCA to help arrest the issue.
Bowlers, Harkanwal Singh and Dikin Patel come to WJ Turner Reserve from Berwick and Charith Anthony from St Mary’s, both Turf 1 clubs, to offer leadership and seniority to assist North on and off the field.
Batter Hemal Ratnayake returns to the club he made the Turf 3 Team of the Year playing for in the summer of 2022/23 after a season away, and Mathew Wall has committed to a full season as a Baker after only nine last summer.
“We’ll be a lot more settled and have more continuity this year, so that’s what we’re excited about,” North said.
“We’ve got about 14/15 blokes that can play ones, so it’s going to be good competitive cricket for us.
“It was my first dig at it last year as captain-coach (last season) and I kind of just let people do what they wanted to do.
“I’ve set the standard – we’ll all work together but I’m incharge, so we’ve all got to be on the same page.”
LYNBROOK
LAST SEASON: Fourth
COMING: Jacob Stevens (England), Henry Ware (England)
GOING: Taj Power (Frankston Peninsula), Rohith Chapalamadugu (Kingston-Hawthorn)
STAYING: Jay Walia, James Kellett, Jatinder Singh
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Jatinder Singh, Jacob Evans, Jay Walia
Shane D’Razario did not mince his words when asked about Lynbrook’s goals for 2024/25.
“Finals is a must.”
Adamant to build on last season’s fourth-place finish that qualified them for an eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of a rampant Coomoora, the Lakers are looking to youth to carry the club into the next generation.
It’s a move championed by D’Razario with the long-term goal of moving the club up the divisions.
“We need to keep moving this club forward,” he said.
“Ideally we don’t want to be playing Turf 3 forever and a day, so getting up the grades with Lynbrook Cricket Club is something I would love to do.
“Hanging onto kids in this generation is becoming a battle for a lot of cricket clubs and I’m trying to get on the front foot and give the kids a bit more opportunity to play on Turf with senior cricketers.
“When I say young, we’ve got some very talented, not only 16 but 14-year-old kids that are going to push through, start at high synthetic and look to play a lot of Turf sides.”
A pair of promising talents in Taj Power and Rohith Chapalamadugu are big losses, but their two leading all-rounders from last summer, in Jatinder Singh and James Kellett, remain with the Lakers to guide those youngsters forward.
NARRE NORTH
LAST SEASON: Fourth in Turf 4
COMING: Kiruba Sathiyaseelan (Glen Waverley), Dylan Rowney (Tatura)
STAYING: James Webb, Fazmin Mohamed, Joe Connell, Aydin Akin
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Kiruba Sathiyaseelan, Aydin Akin, Fazmin Mohamed
The dissolution of Turf 4 presents an opportunity for Narre North in the DDCA’s third division this summer, and one they’re taking with both hands.
Leading the club as a playing-coach is Kiruba Sathiyaseelan, who comes with Premier Cricket Victoria pedigree from his time at Casey South Melbourne, and most recently at Glen Waverley Hawks in the Box Hill Reporter District Cricket Association.
Despite not playing last summer, Sathiyaseelan will dig the kit out and take on player-coach duties in an attempt to lead Narre North up the grades.
“We don’t want to go into a new season with the mindset of trying to stay in Turf 3, because these guys were in Turf 4 last season and I think because of some reshuffling of other clubs, we got into Turf 3,” Sathiyaseelan said.
“We’re not wanting to just stay in for the sake of it, we want to try to win the flag if we can.
“If it comes off, great, we’ve just got to try and make sure we try to set ourselves up for success not only this year but the following years as well.
“We’re just trying to get the right players at the club with the right intentions, and from there if we can develop the environment and culture at Narre North, that’s what we’re hoping for.”
Aydin Akin and Fazmin Mohamed did the majority of the damage with the ball in Turf 4 last summer, taking 19 wickets apiece, with Akin also second for total runs with 222.
DOVETON
LAST SEASON: Seventh
COMING: Hassan Ali (North Dandenong)
STAYING: Hamed Azadzoi, Farhad Azad, Naser Azadzoi
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Hamed Azadzoi, Hassan Ali, Naser Azadzoi
Winds of change sweeping through Doveton is opening the door for new opportunities this summer.
Keen to avoid missing the finals once again, a strong recruiting effort has seen 40 new players register for a huge summer at Eumemmerring Park.
Naser Azadzoi has risen the ranks to take the reigns as captain this summer and a new management team is looking forward to a potentially bright future for the club.
“Last year we finished bottom of the ladder so our aim is to make the top four,” Azadzoi said.
“We have got some new players from different clubs and we’ve got some players to play for Doveton.
“They’re very excited.
“This year will be a tough competition but we’re ready for it.”
FOUNTAIN GATE
LAST SEASON: Third
COMING: Surya Pratap (Canterbury)
GOING: Rodni Kumara, Ted Khandawala, Ray Pal (injury)
STAYING: John Mirranay, Karan Singh
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Karan Singh, John Mirranay, Surya Pratap
Fountain Gate is embarking on the first of a three-year plan under new coach Ray Pal, with a promise to play an exciting and entertaining brand of cricket this summer.
Pal replaces Ted Khandawala who, along with veteran Rodni Kumara, both departed the club over the winter months.
Pal, who will spend the majority of the summer on the sidelines recovering from injuries, is looking to implement building blocks for sustained success at the Gators this summer, with the end goal of not only climbing the grades, but maintaining their place.
“We’d like to go up, but we want to ensure that when we do go up, we do have a solid base of players that can, one, keep us up there and two, be very competitive once we go up a division,” Pal said.
“It’s not all about winning games, it’s more about everyone buying into the club philosophy and vision.
“If we can get early success, that would be amazing, but the type of cricket and the club philosophy on and off-field is really important to us.”
Karan Singh will captain the side and under his and Pal’s stewardship, there’s ambitions to play some eye-catching cricket in Turf 3, with a particular focus on improving their fielding.
“This season we’re bringing a bit of flair into the squad and eccentricity,” he said.
“Traditionally we’re quite poor in the one-day games and we’ve recruited to be exciting.
“I think we’re going to be one of the fun teams to watch, the way we play our cricket, and that’s exciting.”
BERWICK SPRINGS
LAST SEASON: runner up
COMING: Josh Amsterdam, Hamit Sohota
GOING: Scott Lindsay (personal)
STAYING: Braydon Hillman, Steve Lawrie, Jackson Marie, Riley Hillman, Ethan Marinic, Radomir Badzoka, Harry Fernando, Shalika Karunanayake
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Jackson Marie, Harry Fernando, Riley Hillman
Falling 120 runs shy of Coomoora in the grand final was a disappointing way for Berwick Springs’ season to end, but one that will set the benchmark for summers to come – starting in 2024/25.
Captain Braydon Hillman is under no illusions that his side comes into this summer with a target on their back, after a brilliant run to the grand final back in March.
But with success comes high expectations, and Hillman is adamant that the last day of the year is where they want to be again – just with a different result.
“We’ll be pretty flat if we’re not playing in a grand final again,” he said.
“That’s where we all want to be as a club, that’s where we all expect ourselves to be and if we’re not there, it’s probably a failure.”
Key to reaching the final day will be sourcing runs and wickets from a wider array of contributors on a consistent basis.
Jackson Marie took the competition by storm last summer with 737 runs and three hundreds, nearly 200 more than the second-best batter in the competition and close to 350 more than the Titans’ next highest run scorer in Riley Hillman.
But as good as he is, Berwick Springs doesn’t want to rely on him to bail them out of trouble when the going gets tough.
Depth at the club is strong, with many players from last season’s grand final run returning for another shot at glory, and with consecutive Turf 3 Reserves premierships under their belt, Hillman is confident they have enough weapons in the arsenal.
“As a batting group, we need more people to contribute and bat around Jack,” he said.
“Whether Jack scores 700, 900 or 300 runs for the year, we’re pretty confident that we’ve got the team that can go out and get it done.
“We’ve got six of the best batters in the competition up there and on any day, anyone can bat us to victory.”
KEYSBOROUGH
LAST SEASON: relegated from Turf 2
COMING: Jack O’Brien
GOING: Shanaka Perumpuli
STAYING: Christo Otto, Ashan Fernando, Tobey Harkin, Jonathan Mohamed, Nanumeeya Perera, James Wright
PLAYERS TO WATCH: Christo Otto, Ashan Fernando, Jack O’Brien
Keysborough has no intention of staying in Turf 3 for longer than one summer.
Along with Berwick Springs, Lynbrook and Fountain Gate, they enter this summer as one of the teams to beat in Turf 3, with many players remaining from last season’s Turf 2 team.
Keysborough didn’t secure a win until after the Christmas break, putting themselves on the back foot immediately, with wins in the back half of the year against Cranbourne and Parkmore not enough to spare them from slipping down the grades.
Christo Otto, who topped the runs scorers list and took the third-most wickets for the club last summer, is back for another season as captain, but Shanaka Perumpuli, the only other player to eclipse 200 runs, has departed.
Otto says closing the gap between their best and worst will be the key to winning their way back to Turf 2.
“(Getting back to Turf 2) is obviously the main goal, but just being competitive and playing finals this year will be one of the main goals, being more consistent,” Otto said.
“We had a lot of games last year where we either batted well or bowled well, we didn’t do both very well.
“In those games, if we batted well, we bowled really badly, and if we bowled well, we batted really badly.
“Finals is the first goal, and getting back to Turf 2 is the main goal.”
