Coach & Selector Robin Beeby announces first team
The South Canterbury Senior Men’s Team to Play Mid Canterbury in Ashburton November 4th.
J Laming, J Geddis, G Drake, N Horsley (Capt), S Carlaw, S Porter, J Naylor, M Woods, C Hinton, S Murphy, N McNichol.
Training 5.30pm Wednesday at GB Centre.
Also in Squad and to be at training;
D Laming, C Davies, D Lees, B Watson, Z Sanders.
Unavailable please contact Robin Beeby 0272529106 or John Davies 027 4693225
Former Northern District’s batsman Nick Horsley will captain the South Canterbury cricket team in its first game of the new season, on Sunday, but it is not likely to be a long-term move.
South Canterbury will travel to Ashburton to play Mid Canterbury in a 50-over preseason game for the Ron Biggar Memorial Trophy.
Coach Robin Beeby and selector John Davies have named a playing XI as well as five other players in a wider training squad.
With the unavailability of two former captains in Dan Laming, who is still weighing up whether he wants to play representative cricket this summer, and Craig Davies, who is overseas this weekend, Beeby said giving Horsley the role was an easy decision.
The 32-year-old played 44 first-class matches, 41 one-dayers and six Twenty20 games for Northern Districts between 2001 and 2008.
“He’s got all the experience under his belt obviously . . . I’d like to have someone [long-term] with more of a knowledge of the local players, though.”
Beeby said he would try “two or three captains” in the three preseason games at his disposal.
Temuka pace bowler Nathan McNicol and Waimate batsman Glen Drake will make their debuts after impressing with their stints in the Canterbury under-20 set-up.
Timaru’s Sam Porter is the real bolter.
The top-order batsman scored a bright and breezy 64 in the opening round of club cricket two weeks ago which Beeby said was the catalyst for his inclusion.
English import Matt Woods has been picked but with his Temuka side only playing one game so far, Beeby said he was picked on reputation. He said it had been “very difficult” to pick a squad after only two weeks of action and he believed the new 20/25-over format made it challenging to assess player ability for the impending 50-over and two-day Hawke Cup formats.
Two Temuka stalwarts, Kevin Teahen and last year’s South Canterbury captain Richie Preston, have been omitted with Beeby wanting to see the duo play at least one game of club cricket.
Former Canterbury Country bowler Simon Murphy has also been included for Sunday’s game, while batsman Johnny Geddis is recalled after returning to South Canterbury.
The status of former South Canterbury representative Ben McCord is in limbo after he was picked by Canterbury for the first- round Plunket Shield game against Otago that finishes today.
Beeby said picking McCord depended on Canterbury.
“We’re keen to have him that’s for sure and at the same time, I hope he does well with Canterbury,” Beeby said. ‘
‘We’ll just keep an eye on his progress because Canterbury still have (a few) Black Caps to come back into the mix.”