The Brigade hosts Echuca South in the opening one-day round of Goulburn Murray Cricket’s John McMahon Shield season on Saturday and is expected to get the positive start to the season it wants.
The Flames have added West Indian fast bowler import Chare Smith to this season’s line-up along with premier batsman Paul Newman, who is returning to the club after two years with Kyabram in the Cricket Shepparton competition.
Smith, who arrived in Australia on Sunday night, has spent the past six years in England playing for the Frenchay Cricket Club in Winterbourne, Bristol.
Club legend and premiership captain Danny Kent has stepped back into the captaincy role and its last premiership coach Peter Learmonth will again lead the club.
Major losses from last season’s side are accomplished young batsman Anthony Depasquale, who will play football in Darwin this summer, and off-spinner Scott Morrison, who is returning to Nathalia.
But Kent, along with Newman and premiership captain Brenton Campbell, will provide plenty of potential run-making at the top of the Brigade’s batting list.
— Cooma Cricket Club will field a very inexperienced side this season in which it celebrates an incredible 125 years of existence.
Skipper Jake Kelly won’t be available until late November and young all-rounder Ethan Palma-Ludeman will lead the side until he returns.
Young opener Mason Scopiletti will also miss early season games.
Cooma has a tough first-up assignment against Moama at Moama and its main aim is to try and be competitive.
Opening round John McMahon Shield games: Ky Fire Brigade v Echuca South, Moama v Cooma, Rochester v Nondies Cohuna, Bamawm Lockington United v Echuca, Leitchville-Gunbower bye
— Star batsman Kyle Mueller will lead Kyabram in the opening round of the 2022-23 Cricket Shepparton season on Saturday despite suffering a horror run of injuries in the football season.
Kyabram meets Central Park-St Brendan’s at Shepparton East’s Central Park.
Mueller made an appearance in only three games of the GVL season due to broken bones in his foot and ankle, but believes he can manage himself to start the cricket season.
‘‘I can jog, so I don’t think there will be any dramas,’’ he said confidently.
Mueller was the top run maker in the Cricket Shepparton’s Haisman Shield last season and is regarded as the premier batsman in the competition.
But Mueller’s talented batsman brother Cade will miss most of, if not all of, the season after going under knee surgery last week.
Cade was also a footy accident victim and there were more complications than first thought, so he will require more surgery on the knee in the future.
Kyabram has also lost another of its batting guns in Paul Newman, who has returned to his home club Kyabram Fire Brigade in the Goulburn Murray competition to finish his illustrious career.
But on the credit side, Kyabram has picked up experienced Tongala pair Adam Nunn and Jayden Tucker, who have made the switch as Tongala hasn’t a side competing in the top tier of Goulburn Murray Cricket.
They have joined former Tongala teammate Darin Ohlsen at the Redbacks and will be crucial players in Kyabram’s bid to try and go one better than last season when it went down by four runs in its first appearance in a season decider in the Shepparton competition.
The Redbacks have been preparing for the start of the season under re-appointed coach Jackson McLay at the Tongala and Girgarre training nets because work on new nets being constructed by Campaspe Shire Council at Kyabram Recreation Reserve is running behind time but hopefully will be completed next week.
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