IT WILL be a very different-looking Nyah District outfit that takes to the field against Barham-Koondrook as several off-season departures are set to test the Demons’ depth in 2023-24.
Toby O’Grady and Jake Haynes are confirmed departures for the Demons while question marks surround the availability of Josh Domaille, Dean Harrop and Drew Lloyd through the early stages of the season.
Perhaps the biggest name that is in doubt, however, is star all-rounder Joel Walsh who looks set for a late start after suffering a hamstring injury playing football this season, although he will return to the line-up when fully fit.
Nyah District will instead look to continue their well-worn path of development from within to replenish their playing list, with their captain Ben Shadbolt already identifying where his team’s improvement is likely to come from.
“Max Thompson will play a lot more A grade cricket this year,” Shadbolt said.
“He’s a kid with incredible talent and will get plenty of opportunities to showcase that.
“Charlie (Boulton) is another year older and will only improve off the back of what was a pretty good season at the top of the order last year.
“Those two, I think, will only get better this season.”
Also set to make a big impact in the red and blue in 2023-24 is English import Alex Wilson, the tall all-rounder having impressed in pre-season training.
“He’s (Wilson) is a big tall lad, has a really nice action and will be a very handy bowler,” Shadbolt said.
“He looks like he’ll be a damaging middle-order bat as well who can hit a long ball with his long levers.
“He’s certainly a very exciting prospect for our club and at only 20 years old we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do.”
Having won their first McDonald’s T20 title last year, the Demons shaped as one of the main challengers for last year’s premiership before Christmas only to suffer a dip in form in the second half of the season and crash out of the finals race at the hands of Wandella in the semi-finals.
It was an exit that was most unlike the Nyah District teams of previous years, and Shadbolt is confident his team can bounce back in 2023-24.
“Realistically, the way things finished last year was pretty disappointing, especially since we were playing some pretty good cricket,” Shadbolt said.
“We fell in a bit of a hole at the end last season but we’ll reload and go again this year and blood a few more young blokes.
“I can’t see why we can’t have a repeat of 2021-22 when we won the premiership with a very young side.”
With Wilson and Shadbolt set to take the new ball, along with Boulton, Walsh and underrated off-spinner Cooper Andrews, the Demons’ big strength would appear to be their bowling depth.
The challenge for Nyah District will be in posting defendable scores and avoiding the middle-order collapses that have consistently plagued them for several seasons.
“I’d like to think we’d be pretty strong in both disciplines,” Shadbolt said.
“Over the last few years, we’ve managed to win games from not having very high scores on the board so I’d say our bowling is our big strength and I’d expect that to once again be the case this year.
“That said, we do have enough firepower with the bat to put some pretty big scores on the board.
“We just need to work on our consistency a bit more, however.”
NYAH DISTRICT FAST FACTS
WORD FROM THE CAPTAIN
BEN SHADBOLT
“We’ll have a bit more youth running through our side this season. It will be pretty similar to most years for us, although we’ll be playing the kids a bit more because we have some pretty talented juniors and they need the opportunity to develop.”
PLAYER TO WATCH
Joel Walsh – Last year’s league best and fairest will have a slow start to 2023-24, having suffered a hamstring strain during football season. But while the Demons would love to have their star all-rounder on the park in round 1, the extra break could well do the game-changing batsman the world of good. Walsh hits the ball as hard as anyone and is the one batsman in Nyah District’s line-up that the opposition must get out early.
IN – Alex Wilson (Twyford House CC)
OUT – Toby O’Grady, Jake Haynes
