The race for Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association finals is over for last season’s semi finalists, Williamstown.
The Seagulls has had an inconsistent season but still managed to head into the final round with an equal win-loss ratio, at seven apiece.
Club secretary Jordan Doyle said the club is disappointed it could not play finals.
“The club aims to make the finals and contend for a premiership every year, so to miss out is not where we want to be at all,” he said before the final round of the season.
“We had a couple of games not go our way which has hurt us, but we’ve put ourselves in this position and that’s the way it’s played out.
“We’ve shown when we’re at our best we can match it with anyone but it’s been a frustrating season.”
Despite the season’s ‘frustrations’ there have been a few players who have been shining lights with coach Sean Sturrock sitting second in the competition’s wicket tally, with 38 wickets at an average of 11.45.
“There’s been some great individual performances this season,” Doyle said.
“His second half of the year has been incredible.”
First-drop batsman Matt Dervan has also been a standout with 554 runs for the season at an average of 61.56.
“He made 102 on the weekend (round 14), he’s got four scores over 50 in a row now so they’ve definitely been the shining lights,” Doyle said.
To finish the season Williamstown are playing local rivals Altona, where the A’s need to win to secure its spot in the finals. Speaking before the game Doyle said this wouldn’t provide any extra motivation for the Seagulls on Saturday.
“We’ve got a good rivalry with Altona, we respect them as a club,” he said. “We look to go out and win every game of cricket, regardless of the opposition.
“Their spot on the ladder will be irrelevant to us, we’ll be looking to go out and get the six points, they’re a good side and we’ve had a lot of good battles over the journey including some close finals. So we’re looking to get the six points like every other week.”
In terms of the playing list for the Seagulls, Doyle said player retention is the club’s first priority. Then they will look to areas of their squad they want to strengthen.
“We want to lock away all of our existing squad which we’re working on at the moment, which we’ll have some announcements for soon,” he said.
“From there we’ll look to add to our squad as well. We’ve also got some really good young players coming through the second XI who have really blossomed since Christmas. So we think we’re going to be able to bat a bit deeper next year.
“We’d love to add to our group another batter and another bowler as well would be ideal, so we’ll see how that plays out over the next month or two.”
