There’s a few departures, a couple of returns and some debutants but the make up of the Newcastle Steel squad remains largely intact for their 2016-2017 season opener.
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The Steel embark on their fourth campaign in the NSW Premier Twenty20 Cup when they take on Sydney Cricket Club at Drummoyne Oval on Sunday and coach Shane Burley said improving upon last year’s maiden finals appearance was the aim.
“We’ve got a good squad there and we’d like to progress a little bit further this year,” Burley said. “That’s the goal but we know that’s not going to be easy.”
The 13-man Steel side was announced during their final training session at Harker Oval on Wednesday afternoon.
Bowlers are the major change with Steel debutants Ray Cooper (Belmont) and Thomas Allen (Wests) to join Daniel Morton (Merewether) with Mitch Claydon (Newcastle City), Daniel McLauchlan (Cardiff-Boolaroo) and Grant Stewart (University) not playing in the district this summer.
However, returning to the fray after a season off from Steel duties are Hamilton-Wickham dangermen Sam Webber and Mark Dries, who has 203 runs and six wickets from his two club appearances this year.
“They [Webber and Dries] are two of the better T20 players around so they’ll certainly add a fair bit to the side,” Burley said.
They team back up with experienced Steel contributors in skipper Mark Littlewood (Belmont) and NSW Country all-rounder Joseph Price (Wests), who smashed a combined 173 runs from 107 balls in crucial back-to-back wins 12 months ago.
Stockton-Raymond Terrace pair Nick Foster and Jeff Goninan go around again along with Belmont wicketkeeper Marcus Hainsworth and former Australian under-19 representative Patrick Darwen (Merewether). Hamwicks captain Josh Trappel and in-form Wests batsman Aaron Wivell are enjoying their maiden run with the Steel. Belmont top order batsman Greg Hunt was not selected.
Next round the Steel host Gordon and North Sydney in a double header at No.1 Sportsground on November 27 before playing St George at Hurstville on December 4.
Meanwhile, in other representative news the Newcastle Blasters will be up against the Central Coast Rush in round two of the Regional Bash at Waratah Oval next Sunday (November 6) with the winner progressing to the semi-finals of the NSW Country knockout T20 semi-finals at the SCG on December 11.
NEWCASTLE STEEL: Mark Littlewood ©, Mark Dries, Marcus Hainsworth, Sam Webber Thomas Allen, Ray Cooper, Patrick Darwen, Nicholas Foster, Jeffrey Goninan, Joseph Price, Joshua Trappel, Aaron Wivell.
