There is a genuine sense of optimism at Wallington this season.
With a host of new recruits and their juniors and women’s programs thriving, the Wallabies are approaching season 2023-24 with excitement.
Wallington’s A2 Grade side will look a lot different to the team that lost a semi-final to eventual premiers Barwon Heads in March.
“With so many new players, you never quite know how long it’s going to take for them to adjust,” coach Matt Sampson-Barnes said.
“But on paper, we are much stronger. I want to play finals. Once you get to finals, it’s only a few individual performances that can get you over the line.”
Sampson-Barnes said his side would be a better fielding outfit and that competition for spots would be healthy.
Jeewantha Ranasinghe, Taylor Cameron, keeper-batsman Dan Williams and Henry McIntosh headline the impressive list of off-season recruits.
Top-order bat Sven Burluraux and stalwart allrounder Dane Wise-Graham are saddling up again and even Sampson-Barnes is almost a new recruit, having missed a lot of cricket last season through illness and his top-order runs will be invaluable.
“Putting seven players into A Grade also strengthens the other grades,” he said.
“We are fielding two D Grade sides this year. I think I have 71 players on the books to choose from.”
Although Wallington’s round one clash will be at Wallington Recreation Reserve, the club will request for its home A Grade game to be played at Oakdene rather than the traditional home base, which for years, has frustrated batters due to the painfully slow surface.
“We want to play entertaining cricket and we think that with the type of players we have, it will encourage better strokeplay and the outfield is lightning quick,” he said.
“It will obviously benefit some of the opposition sides as well, but we just feel it (Oakdene) will bring out the best standard of cricket.”
Sampson-Barnes said the club was in superb shape off the field and now he hopes to have the pieces to put together sustained success on the field.
“We just want to repay the committee and the people behind the scenes who have done such a terrific job,” he said.
Wallington’s round one match is against St Leonards at Wallington Recreation Reserve starting at 1pm.
