Michael Nalesnyik ended a 16-year Premier Cricket career last summer to go in search of an exciting new venture with Wyndham Vale in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association.
Nalesnyik is 32 and with the upstart young players of the premier club competition getting even younger, fitter and more ambitious by the season, he felt the time was right to head back to local level.
“I had a fair go at Premier Cricket, so it was time to take a step back,” he told Star Weekly.
“There are quite a few people at the club I knew already and had grown up with, so it’s been really good to play cricket with them before we all get too old.”
A step down in class it may be, but a move back to local cricket is never easy for Premier-standard cricketers.
At Premier level, you have young, hungry and supremely talented players wanting to take the cricket world by storm, so it can be a dog-eat-dog existence where you have to perform continually to keep your place.
At local level, it’s a different kind of challenge; you come face to face with battle-hardened veterans and you don’t get the same pristine conditions you once had at perfectly manicured Premier level grounds.
“There may not be the young talent in this league, but there’s a lot of experience and that makes up the difference,” Nalesnyik said.
“You have the challenges in that way, coming up against guys who have been around for a long time who know how to play in this league and in these conditions. It’s a good league and a good challenge.”
After a shaky start with the bat, Nalesnyik has turned it all around in his past four innings.
The Werribee Juniors product has made 287 runs at 47.8 for the season, but 221 of those have come in his past four digs, including an unbeaten century against Royal Park-Brunswick and 50s against Newport-Digman and Footscray United.
“I’m starting to make a few more,” Nalesnyik said. “At the start of the season, it wasn’t too easy getting used to the league and the conditions and how cricket is played in the league.”
Nalesnyik has also taken a solid, but not spectacular, 10 wickets at 23 with his off-spin.
It’s an area he needs to lift if the Falcons are to reach the finals and go deep into March.
“I suppose it’s a par at best but it could be a lot better,” the Werribee resident said.
“Being an all-rounder, at least my batting is going OK at the moment, but the bowling is just taking a bit of a back seat.
“Hopefully in the next few games I help win some games with the ball as well to make sure we’re in the top four.”
Nalesnyik is relishing playing alongside long-time mates Lee Veal and Luke Dennerley.
It has also given the former Footscray Edgewater, Casey South Melbourne and Melbourne University player the opportunity to link up with Falcons captain-coach Andrew Ford, who he played alongside for one summer at Widnes in England.
“They’re good leaders, they lead by example,” Nalesnyik said.
Nalesnyik is hopeful the Falcons will figure in the finals. They are third from bottom on the ladder, although only a half-game outside the top four, so cannot put a foot wrong over the final three home-and-away rounds.
“We slipped from third to eighth after the last game,” he said.
“I’m confident we have the line-up to get back in the mix and go deep into the finals.”
