Ultima-TUF will be aiming to break a 14-season finals drought when they begin this season’s campaign this Saturday against reigning premiers St.Mary’s-Tyntynder.
2009-10 was the last time Ultima-TUF saw finals action. None of the current crop of Roodogs has played A grade finals at the club.
They were inside the top four with five rounds to go last season, and appeared destined to play finals cricket.
But they lost their last four matches to finish a game outside the finals.
After two consecutive fifth placings and with a young squad growing hungrier and more determined, 2023-24 shapes as the year the Roodogs take the next step, according to Ultima-TUF captain Kade Benfield.
“We’re ready now, we’re all very young, with the exception of a couple of guys, but hopefully having another year under our belt, we’ll improve naturally and that will be enough to break into the top four,” Benfield said.
“We’ve managed to retain the bulk of last year’s squad, which was the main aim at the end of last season We’ve also recruited young Charlie Kingwill.
“He played a bit of A grade cricket at RSL last year, he’s a young kid and can still play in the under 16s, but he’s in line with our age profile as a club and will fit in with a lot of our younger guys.”
Kingwill is a handy pick-up for the Roodogs and will help bolster their depth with the ball, which is an area of their game they were found lacking at times last season.
“Our fielding and our bowling needs to improve a lot more this year,” Benfield said.
“We’ve proven we can make a good score with the bat and although we still have games where we will get bowled out cheaply as a young team, we’ve also shown we can make scores in excess of 180-200, which is a decent score.
“But we need to back up our batsmen in the field and with the ball and we have to work on our consistency and close the gap between our best and our worst.
“‘Kingy’ (Jordan King) had a good season last year, but was probably a little bit down on output compared to the season before when he won the league bowling, so hopefully we get him back at his best.
“Josh Waldron is another one I’m hoping has a big year with the ball.”
King and Waldron will be supported by Cassidy Sibley, who was a revelation as the competition’s leading spinner last season, and earned a berth in the SHDCA’s team of the year.
While King and Sibley are class bowlers, there is no doubting the Roodogs are light on in the bowling department, meaning if they are to break their finals drought, they will need to perform with the bat.
Making their task harder will be the departure of hard-hitting top order batsman Ben Shepherd, who has returned to RSL.
He only played half of the season last year, along with Benfield, who missed the second half of their campaign with injury.
Benfield will essentially be a new recruit for the Roodogs, and will slot into the middle order alongside Mitch Seton-Stewart, Ayden Symons and Waldron.
The big question is who will partner Kyle Symons at the top of the order, after the veteran batsman had one of his best seasons opening the batting last year.
ULTIMA-TUF FAST FACTS
WORD FROM THE CAPTAIN
KADE BENFIELD
We’re hoping to play finals – that’s our expectations, at least. We’d be hoping to improve on last year and considering we were close last year, we’d hope to break into the top four.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Kyle Symons – Symons will be a key player in the Roodogs’ push for finals this season, with the experienced batsman set to lead the way at the top of the order. Had one of his better seasons last year, scoring over 400 runs across all three formats and finishing as Ultima-TUF’s leading run scorer.
IN’S – Charlie Kingwill (RSL)
OUT’S – Ben Shepherd (RSL)
