Rather than dwell on being relegated to A2 Grade, Ocean Grove captain Fletcher Long sees it as an “exciting challenge” ahead of Saturday’s Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association opener against Winchelsea.
The Grubbers were demoted from A1 Grade after finishing bottom last season, but Long believes it will give the club a chance to rebuild.
“We’re seeing it more as an exciting challenge rather than doom and gloom having to go down,” he said.
“I think it’s a chance to rebuild and really create a style of cricket that we want to play and hopefully, even if it’s not this season, in the next coming seasons, build a sustainable brand of cricket that we can go up and stay up.
“We don’t really want to be that team that goes back and forth. We want to build a brand of cricket that’s sustainable in A1 so we can, once we’re up, stay there and compete.”
The good news for Grove is that all-rounder Zac Jones is returning from the UK for his second stint at Ray Menzies Oval.
Top-order bat Campbell Snookes has committed for a full season and Connor Weidemann will add genuine ability with bat and ball while Mitch Vandermeer will provide value with what Long described as “skiddy medium pacers”.
With Jones and Weidemann as new-ball options, Long is hoping his attack can make early inroads into the opposition’s batting this summer.
“I think that was an area that we kind of struggled with last year was taking early wickets,” he said.
“We were always behind the eight ball. Teams would often get off to a pretty good start with the bat and then we relied on (spinner) Alex (Mann) to get us back in the game.
“But I think this year with a few more bowling options at the front, we can hopefully get off to good starts and Alex can be bowling at the batters six, seven, eight rather than relying on him to get the openers or the top three out.”
