By Nick Creely
Cranbourne Meadows has been busy with the pen over the last few weeks as the Rebels prepare to launch at a successful season in the West Gippsland Cricket Association’s Premier Division.
The Rebels – who finished sixth in 2020/21 – are building nicely under new coach Brent Shaw, bringing in a plethora of new talent as they seek finals cricket.
Kavinda Pulukkuttiarachchi has come across from Mornington Peninsula CA club Heatherhill, where he scored a first XI century last season and will bolster the top-order batting stocks and is handy with the ball. He has previously been a prolific run-scorer with Brighton Union in the SECA competition.
“When I knew he was available he was number one priority for me – I knew he was a quality bat, and someone that’d be invested in the club,” Shaw said of his prized recruit.
“He wants a place to call home, so when I was appointed, he was the number one.
“He’ll bat in the top order, top-four, it’ll depend on the way the season pans out – he’s got a good technique, he’s got gears, so he’ll be steady early and hopefully he’ll get that explosiveness.
“He’ll bowl overs too – he bowls a good pace, so he’ll be first or second change.”
The Rebels have also signed a pair of batsmen from the DDCA, with Harj Sohal joining from Springvale, while Satnam Singh has made the move across from Lyndale, off-spinner Amit Prabhakar joins from the strong North West Cricket Association, while another spinner – talented leggie Zion Pereria from Moorabbin West – has also linked with the Rebels.
Shaw said he was happy with where the list was placed, but admitted he was still hitting the phones hard to continue bolstering the squad.
“I’m comfortable but there’s still a couple of irons in the fire and see if something drops,” he said.
“We’re on the hunt for a new opening bowler.”
The Rebels will be spin heavy with new recruits and existing slower bowlers already at the club, something Shaw believes can work to their advantage this season.
“Yeah there’s talented spinners already at the club, so I think we can build pressure with them, get through the overs quickly,” he said.
“The bowling depth is there from previous years – I just want to nab as many as we can.”
The club has also been busy bolstering its coaching stocks, with Brett Robinson coming across from Moorabbin West to look after the bowlers and serve as an assistant coach under Shaw.
He will play in the lower grades to help bring the next wave of senior cricketers through the grades.
“Brett comes with a lot of experience – he’s a premiership player in SECA, coached in the MPCA for Delacombe Park,” Shaw said.
“He’s been around cricket forever – we’re building a coaching structure at the club – I want it to be skill specific.”
The Rebels were lucky enough to get in a few pre-season sessions before the latest Covid lockdown hit as Shaw seeks to make the club consistent, hard to play against and with an array of depth.
“We’ve trained twice which was good – it was a max of 20 which we filled both nicely, and basically I’ve been touching base with players through Facebook and stay in touch during these long lockdowns,” he said.
“It hasn’t been easy, but my message is to turn up and play when we need to play, and if we can prepare the best.
“I want us to find some middle ground, not bowled out for 80, and be consistent.”
With the WGCA announcing plans to return to a mixture of one-day and two-day cricket, Shaw said everything was still up in the air.
“I’m planning in my head for one-dayers – I know they’ve come out and said they want to go back to seven and seven, but in the current climate I don’t see it happening,” he said.
