SWAN HILL CRICKET CLUB – 2021-22 SEASON PREVIEW
SHDCA FAST FACTS
PRESIDENT – Alan Hatcher
A GRADE CAPTAIN – TBD
SENIOR COACH – Andrew Clark
LAST A-GRADE PREMIERSHIP – 2013-142020-21
FINISH – Sixth
LEADING RUN SCORER – Lachie Edwards – 249 runs @ 20.75
LEADING WICKET TAKER – Lachie Edwards – 20 wickets @ 14.55
AFTER finishing last season with just two wins from twelve games, Swan Hill will be coming from a long way back when the 2021-22 SHDCA season kicks off in the coming weeks.
The Swans enter the new season with their backs against the wall, having yet to lock in a captain and with their A Grade the only senior team entered for this year.
In addition to this, the Under 11’s are their only stand-alone junior side.
With that said, Swan Hill are still well and truly capable of causing an upset, as evidenced by wins over eventual premiers Woorinen in the McDonald’s T20 competition, and also St.Mary’s-Tyntynder prior to the Christmas break.
The biggest inclusion for the Swans will undoubtedly be Callan Noonan, who has transferred over from Sea Lake-Woomelang for his first full season of A Grade cricket.
Noonan will most likely bat in the top four and open the bowling with his pace – and the speed with which he adjusts to playing in the highest standard of cricket in our region may well go a long way to deciding Swan Hill’s fate this year.
Sebastian Linssen will be another handy recruit, with the hard-hitting all rounder coming across from rivals RSL – and should slot into the middle order, where he will be a handful in the shorter formats of the game.
Lachie Edwards is coming off a strong season with both bat and ball, and without the burden of captaincy, may well take his batting game to another level.
Improvement could also be expected of youngster Jacob Hatcher, who has spent a few years now plying his trade, opening the A Grade batting, and he could well be set for a breakout season.
With the ball, Noonan and coach Andrew Clark will likely take the new rock, with support expected to come from Edwards, Ian Schodde and the ageless Alan Hatcher.
Bu it’s not with the ball that Swan Hill’s improvement will need to come, but with the bat.
While they have been able to hold teams at bay with their bowling, last season they would often collapse when it comes to batting.
Swan Hill president Alan Hatcher told The Guardian this week that despite their drop down the ladder twelve months ago, the club and players are still very confident of a strong showing in 2021-22.
“If everyone plays to their potential, then I genuinely believe we will have a chance of making finals,” Hatcher said.
“Obviously with a new team in Wandella that are pretty strong as well, it’s a bit more of an unknown, but I’d like to think that we can go close (to finals).
“We’ll be a little bit older this year, with a bit more experience, which is a big positive and we’ve added some good depth with both bat and ball.
“Obviously adding Cal (Noonan) helps in that department too, as he’s just a very classy all-round player for us.”
While a less than ideal situation having just one senior side entered for the season, which will make picking in form players difficult to say the least, Hatcher was still relatively upbeat, saying the Swans would still have plenty of potential A Grade cricketers to pick from each week.
“We’ve only got an A Grade this year – we were looking to put an A and B Grade in, but it just didn’t quite work out so we are only going with an A Grade side,” Hatcher said.
“We’d love to have two senior teams obviously, because it just adds a bit of depth to your club, but it just isn’t to be this year for us unfortunately – regardless, we still feel we will be putting a more than competitive side on the park this season.”
WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT ALAN HATCHER
“Obviously, after finishing on the bottom of the ladder last year, we’ll be just looking to improve. If everything comes together, I believe we’ve got a team that’s good enough to push for finals.”
PLAYER TO WATCH
Lachie Edwards – Having handed over the captaincy, Edwards could well be primed to become one of the competitions leading batsmen.
Led Swan Hill’s batting and bowling aggregates last season, as well as being a very fine gloveman behind the stumps, the Swans will be needing Edwards to fire for them to improve.
IN’S – Callan Noonan (Sea Lake-Woomelang), Sebastian Linssen (RSL)
OUT’S – Ammar Khalid (RSL), Mitchell Seton-Stewart (Ultima-TUF)
UP NEXT – ULTIMA-TUF CRICKET CLUB (FRIDAY)
