Glen Drake – New Waimate Senior Captain
Waimate’s new senior cricket captain Glen Drake does not plan to do anything by halves when the South Canterbury season gets under way today.
At just 17, the talented top order batsman is planning on being a mainstay at the top of the order and offer his team variety with his spin bowling.
A confident Drake said he was excited by the challenges of the new season after a tough past 12 months as a player.
He battled shoulder niggles and confidence issues last season which saw him make himself unavailable for the South Canterbury Hawke Cup side when many had tipped him to be in the mix for a debut.
“That was a case of me being over it before the season started, ” Drake said. “With the captaincy now, I’ll be looking to take a nice and relaxed approach to it.”
Late last season he was picked for a tour of Sri Lanka with Canterbury’s Willows Cricket Club and he is now part of the Canterbury under-20 set-up along with Temuka paceman Nathan McNicol.
Drake has been handed the captaincy with previous captain Jason Sew Hoy and other senior players like Alan Reid and Nathan Sew Hoy still in the team.
“Many of the experienced guys have said this could be their last season, so they wanted to support me in the role for this year instead of leaving me with it when they’re gone.
Drake said his team was excited by the new formats and he was keen to try his on-field captaincy during the new 20/25 over games.
“With the new 20/25 over format, it should mean I get a chance to test out some strategies as a captain nice and early.
Waimate’s major acquisition is former Canterbury Country all- rounder Simon Murphy who should bolster both the batting and bowling stocks.
Temuka will welcome back top order batsman Johnny Geddis from a stint in Perth.
They have a high number of fast bowlers including English import Matthew Woods.
Former Northern Knights batsman Nick Horsley is also back for the Magpies.
Celtic have lost three South Canterbury batsmen in Jeremy Liddy, Willie Wright and Mark Tutton, but they will be the team to beat under the guidance of captain Craig Davies.
They have secured the services of former Roncalli captain Tom Pavletich and South Canterbury quick Ben Watson.
Star have a new captain in Jeremy Lane and a desire to erase memories of a disastrous last season with the bat.
Their squad has remained settled despite the retirement of former South Canterbury captain Todd Elliotte.
Timaru’s new leader is South Canterbury representative allrounder Zane Sanders.
Young batsman Josh Dick could be one to watch.
The season gets under way with Celtic hosting Star at the Celtic Sports Grounds. Temuka hosts Waimate at the Temuka Oval in a 20/25 over round of matches.
Senior squads for South Canterbury club cricket 2012/2013
Celtic: Craig Davies c, Glenn Mathews, Dan Laming, James Laming, Sam Carlaw, Jacob Naylor, Tom Pavletich, Jarrod Wooffindin, Grant Watt, Ben Watson, Nick Cahill, Ants de Joux, James Blackstock, Shane Richardson, Willy Scott, Andy Scott.
Star: Jeremy Lane c, Craig Hinton, Danny Campbell, Tyler Cox, Glen Paul, Phil McGregor, Tyson Hamilton, Henry Race, Alex McDuff, Les Richards, Mark East, Matt Heywood, Harry Ford, Paul Arkinstall, Andrew McRae, Logan Hay, Adam Fahey, Hamish Dickson, Matt Barnes.
Timaru: Zane Sanders c, Josh Smallridge, Srinivas KS, Gerald Piddock, Josh Dick, Sam Porter, Hayden Butler, Jamie Wood, Brad Leonard, Abhishek Baadkar, Hayden Leonard, Hami Goldsmith, Brendan Ridden, Nick Galwey, Logan Taylor, Scott Johnston, Najaf Shah, Sam Wilson.
Temuka: Hayden Broker c, Willy Stone, Kevin Teahen, Johnny Geddis, Rory Lorimer, Nick Horsley, Vaughan Tarrant, Adrian Cunningham, Kevin Kerfe, Tom McKnight, Les Humphris, Matthew Woods, Nathan McNicol, Dylan Lees, Che Latta, Cameron Lundy.
Waimate: Glen Drake c, Alan Reid, Connor Farrell, Nathan Sew Hoy, Matthew Sew Hoy, Scott Willoughby, Lachie Robertson, Simon Murphy, Hayden Matthews, Murray Prattley.