By Luke Voogt
Geelong Cricket Club will take on Essendon in the long-anticipated first round of Victorian Premier Cricket on Saturday.
The Cats had a disappointing 2019/20 season finishing 13th, with five wins, after reaching the grand finals the season before.
Geelong secured premiership-winning coach Nick Speak this April and the Cats hope the 53-year-old’s extensive experience will help the team improve.
The English expat coached Dandenong to the 2017/18 Victorian Premier Cricket premiership, and he played 177 English County games for Lancashire and Durham between 1986 and 2001.
Melbourne Stars listed spinner Tom O’Connell’s arrival at Geelong could also give the Cats a boost in their quest to get back into the finals picture.
The leg spinner took 20 wickets in 12 matches in 2018/19 before missing much of last season with a stress fracture in his back.
Star all-rounder Hayden Butterworth could be crucial to the Cats’ finals hopes, after a standout 2019/20.
Butterworth took 29 wickets and scored 432 runs at an average of 33.32, earning selection into the Victorian Premier Cricket Team of the Year.
The 32-year-old dominated in Geelong’s outright win against Hawthorn-Kingston last December, taking 11 wickets (5/36 and 6/63) and scoring 42 runs.
Geelong will look to skipper and occasional Victorian opener Eamonn Vines for leadership this season.
The 26-year-old had a solid 2019/20 with the bat averaging 37.62.
He played two Sheffield Shield matches and two for Victoria’s second XI last season.
With no second XI state cricket expected this season, he will likely spend more time at Geelong.
Paceman Brody Couch, who played seven matches with Victoria’s second XI last season, is also likely to spend more time with the Cats.
Left-handed batsman and former Victorian and Australian junior rep Liam Blackford and Tom Jackson, who has already made five centuries in his fledgling career, are exciting prospects for the Cats.
Essendon had a disappointing 2019/20 with the bat scoring the second-fewest runs (2647) in Premier Cricket on its way to eighth spot.
But the Bombers bowling was the complete opposite, with the side taking the second-most wickets (149), just one fewer than premiers Melbourne.
The Bombers have a multi-pronged bowling attack with plenty of depth and will be dangerous if their batsman can stand up too.
