2022-23 club-by-club BDCA season preview: EAGLEHAWK

Preliminary finalists in 2020-21 and semi-finalists in 2021-22, the Hawks look well-placed to challenge for the premiership again.

Their recruiting campaign is headlined by some familiar faces at Canterbury Park.

After one season with Rochester, Cory Jacobs and Richard Tibbett are back at the Borough, with Jacobs returning as club coach.

Jacobs and Tibbett brought talented keeper/batsman Daniel Major with them from Rochester.

Major opened the batting with Rochester, but can bat anywhere in the top six.

All-rounder Cam McGlashan is back in Bendigo after a stint overseas and he adds some class and depth to the Hawks' batting and bowling attacks.

The other key addition for Eaglehawk is left-arm spinner Nathan Walsh, who joins the club from BDCA rival Sandhurst.

Walsh will carry a big load with the ball after the Borough lost spinners Russell Stockdale (Moama) and Nash Viney (university in Geelong).

Stockdale also leaves a hole in the Borough's batting line-up after he had a career-best season last summer that culminated in third place in the BDCA Cricketer of the Year award.

"We've got a few players in that we think will provide a good mix with the young players,'' Jacobs said.

"Tibbett, Major and McGlashan have played a lot of cricket and Nathan walsh takes over the spin role.

"We're very happy with what we've got."

Depth had been an issue for the Hawks at times in recent seasons, but not anymore.

Jacobs, McGlashan and Major, in combination with young guns Angus Chisholm and Ben Williams, Josh Williams and veterans Jeremy Brown and Anthony West, give the Borough a potent batting line-up that's suited to the long and short formats of the game.

Chisholm and Ben Williams are two of the most talented young players in the competition and their development has the Hawks' hierarchy excited.

With the ball, Tibbett, Jacobs and McGlashan give the Hawks pace support for skipper Nick Farley, veteran Aaron Monro, Chisholm and Josh Williams.

If Walsh can produce a solid season with his left-arm spinners, the Hawks will be hard to score big totals against.

After two seasons of one-day cricket, Jacobs said the Hawks were elated to return to two-day games this season.

"Our young batters up the top - Angus Chisholm and Ben Williams - it will suit them down to the ground,'' Jacobs said.

"Two-day cricket will be good for all of us. It was hard last year to back-up week after week to bowl and bat, it was too much cricket at times it seemed.

"Two-day cricket is what it's all about."

Jacobs has captained the Borough in the past, but he was happy for Farley to continue in that role after the paceman/hard-hitting lower-order batter earned plenty of respect for the way he led the last last season.

"Nick did a great job last year and he has a very good cricket brain,'' Jacobs said.

"From the outside he probably looks like a relaxed character, but he thinks about his cricket a lot and he's turned into a very good cricketer since he came to Eaglehawk."

Reigning premiers Strathdale-Maristians enter the summer as favourites again, while last season's runner-up Strathfieldsaye and third placegetter Bendigo United are expected to be there when the whips are cracking.

Kangaroo Flat and Sandhurst have left no stone unturned in their bid to jump up the ladder and another non-finals appearance for both clubs would be seen as a big failure.

So where does that leave Eaglehawk?

The four scheduled one-day matches in January will be crucial for the Borough.

They face a tough draw with one-day games against Bendigo, Bendigo United, Sandhurst and Strathdale-Maristians.

The only positive is three out of the four games are at home at Canterbury Park.

The Hawks could easily have a 0-4 or 1-3 split in the one-day games if they're not at their best.

On the flipside, a strong month would have them well-placed for another top-four finish and a tilt at the premiership.

"The last two years we've made the finals and our expectation this year is exactly the same," Jacobs said.

"We're confident, with the group we have, that we'll be very competitive."

ROUND 1

October 8-15

v Bendigo United (a)

Match abandoned

............................................

ROUND 2

October 22-29

v Bendigo (a)

............................................

ROUND 3

November 5-12

v Sandhurst (h)

............................................

ROUND 4

November 19-26

v Huntly North (h)

............................................

ROUND 5

December 3-4

v Kangaroo Flat (h)

............................................

ROUND 6

December 10-17

v Golden Square (a)

............................................

ROUND 7

January 7

v Bendigo (h)

............................................

ROUND 8

January 14

v Bendigo United (h)

............................................

ROUND 9

January 21

v Sandhurst (a)

............................................

ROUND 10

January 28

v Strathdale-Maristians (h)

............................................

ROUND 11

February 4-5

v Strathdale-Maristians (a)

............................................

ROUND 12

February 11-18

v Strathfieldsaye (h)

............................................

ROUND 13

February 25-26

v White Hills (a)

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Golden Square

Huntly North

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