Playing as straight a bat as he does week-in, week-out, Cavaliers skipper Matt Corben says his side will take the 2018-19 Orange District Cricket Association season as it comes, with an eye on the top three rather than grand final redemption as a priority.
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Corben will boast an outfit almost-identical to that which was beaten by Orange City in last summer’s decider, although Chris Brown has moved on and will be replaced by Wagga Wagga’s Mitch Black.
Black was a late call-up to the Wagga Wagga Sloggers’ Plan B Regional Bash finals bid last year, which was ended by the Orana Outlaws at the penultimate hurdle, and as a finger-spinning, middle-order bat he looks a ready-made replacement for Brown.
“We’re go in (with a) pretty similar side (to last season) … Mitch has slotted right in,” Corben said, leading into Saturday’s season-opener against CYMS.
“He played hockey with Bailey Ferguson and a few of the blokes in second grade and he’ll play round one.”
The likes of Ferguson and fellow young guys Hudson Izzard, Hugh Middleton and Cam Laird have all been named for Saturday’s clash, the three latter come into the game after winning selection in Western’s side for the NSW Combined High Schools Championship.
And of course, reigning ODCA player of the year Josh Doherty will return to try and back up his stunning 2017-18 summer, in which he pumped almost 1000 runs overall including three tons.
Doherty landed back in the country on Wednesday, after playing with Bilton in north Yorkshire over the Australian winter.
We'll take the season as it comes, finals is always a great thing to work towards.
- Cavaliers skipper Matt Corben
"I'm not sure how he went over there but I think a lot of fun was had,” Corben said of Doherty.
In the substantially-different English conditions Doherty had a solid season without being outstanding for Bilton, scoring 525 runs between the club’s first and mid-week XIs at a tick over 20 and taking 15 wickets at around 30.
"I haven't seen how he's hitting them but I don't imagine he's lost anything from last season,” Corben added, before explaining the roles he’d like his young brigade to take.
"We've got five blokes under 20 and [Izzard, Middleton and Laird] have been picked in the CHS side so we'll look for them to play a bit more of a role and not just make up the numbers.
"We'll take the season as it comes, finals is always a great thing to work towards."
CYMS’ camp has been largely quiet leading into the season, although it’s confirmed multiple premiership-winning skipper Hamish Finlayson won’t play, but Corben says he’s expecting the green and golds to still boast plenty of firepower.
“I haven’t heard anything about what they’ve been up to, but they’ll have a strong side, their juniors are always pushing through,” Corben said.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
