WITH the Portland and Hamilton District Cricket Association amalgamation given the green light in the past month, there’s been plenty of discussion around how each Portland club, along with the association as a whole, will be affected by the change.
The Portland Observer contacted each local club to get their views on the upcoming season.

Tyrendarra
The PDCA three-time reigning premiers Tyrendarra have expressed their support for making the move, with incumbent captain Cam Mather saying it was a decision which had to be made “sooner or later.”
“It’s a move that was going to happen, it was just a case of how soon it would be,” Mather said.
“I think people around the club are pretty excited about the change, a lot of the boys are really keen to get stuck in.”
Mather said that while Tyrendarra’s location made it a challenge to recruit outside players, he said he expected the move would help them to keep some of their top-level talent.
“It’s hard for us to recruit players, but I think the opportunity to play on new grounds against some different opposition will help us to retain the core group that we already have,” he said.
With the Darras being the most successful PDCA club in recent years, one would expect them to be prime candidates to push for more success in a new and likely more demanding competition.
But while Mather said he concurred with this assessment; he added that the move would hopefully also provide impetus for his club to make further improvements when it comes to their work during the season.
“I think we’ll be competitive, but it will also push us to play at a higher standard,” he said.
“I think at times our training regime has been lackadaisical, coming in to this competition we know that we’re not going to be able to simply wait to play our best cricket at the right time, it’s going to have to be a season-long commitment.”
As for whether the move opens the door for the club to get involved in the junior competition (Tyrendarra currently does not have a junior side), Mather said the conversations within the club were ongoing but that prior efforts had proved largely fruitless.
“We’ve had meetings between ourselves and with the league where this issue was touched on… ultimately we don’t get much support from Cricket Victoria when it comes to promoting juniors,” Mather said.
“We’ve approached both Narrawong and Bolwarra primary schools about enticing kids that way… there’s just so many sports on offer with basketball, footy etc that it’s tough to find room for cricket for many of them.”

Portland Tigers
Portland Tigers were a key player in the PDCA’s decision to consider the move, as they approached Hamilton about the possibility of the leagues combining, or alternatively joining the HDCA as a solo club.
Their A grade captain Will Oakley said this was the “best-case scenario” they could’ve hoped for.
“This is the outcome we wanted… as a club we didn’t want to go (to Hamilton) as a solo team,” Oakley said.
“The scenario that we’ve worked through and agreed to is the best possible one.
“There may have been a perception going around that we were trying to force the change… I guess if we just suggested it as an interesting idea and maybe had some discussions, nothing would’ve happened.
“I think it was clear that something needed to happen, and I think most people would agree with that.
“But from our point of view we’re stoked that it’s going ahead, we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
He added that the decision to keep the B grade competition in Portland was the right one from his club’s perspective as it would help retain players for whom travel could be an issue.
“To be honest, the demographic of our club right now is ideal for going to Hamilton… we’ve got a lot of young guys and for them cricket on a Saturday is a pretty high priority,” Oakley said.
“Keeping the B grade in Portland was the right move… it gives the people who want to play for a bit of fun and aren’t keen on travelling an opportunity to keep playing… it’s important that we keep those people in the game.”
As for the possibility that the Hamilton competition might be much too strong for Portland to keep up with, Oakley said it will be “interesting” to see how that plays out but said the facts don’t seem to highlight a massive discrepancy.
“When we’ve played their representative team in Country Week, it’s been a pretty competitive battle,” he said.
“I think you can put some of it down to the grounds the associations play on, Portland grounds and pitches tend to be bowler friendly, whereas Hamilton is more batsman friendly, so you’re more likely to get those higher scores over there than you do here.”

Portland Colts
Portland Colts is a club which has enjoyed its fair share of success in recent times across A grade and especially B grade, but their A grade skipper Luke Evans conceded there were some initial concerns about how the travel could affect their crop of senior players.
“A few were a bit worried about it… but after a couple meetings we probably realised there was no other choice,” Evans said.
“Something had to change, it might take a little bit to get used to for a lot of people who haven’t had to travel for cricket before.
“We were in Warrnambool for a while there and were pretty successful, we’ve got some blokes here that are used to doing it.
“It will be good for our younger blokes as well to play on some grounds with better outfields and against some new competition.”
Evans said Colts are confident of being able to retain, if not enhance, their stock of players ahead of the season.
“I think B grade staying in Portland helps our cause, we’ve got an older group of players in that side who probably aren’t too keen on travelling,” he said.
“But then you’ve got a good group of people that do want to travel and play, I think we’ll be able to bring in some recruits to add depth to the group.
“I think some people will be keener on coming back now that we know we’re not going to be playing against the same blokes every week.
“The travel has maybe put a few people off, but on the whole, I think it’s been a net positive in terms of the interest level.”
As for how he thinks Colts will stack up against the rest of the competition in Hamilton, he said there’s no reason why they can’t be competing for finals success.
“I definitely think we can compete; we’ve got a very experienced group,” he said.
“Experienced players who have played in Warrnambool or in higher-grades… they’ll hold us in good stead.
“The youngsters who are coming through are ready for the challenge, we can be competitive from the start as far as I’m concerned.”

South Portland
South Portland’s secretary Jamie Ross said the club is prepared to head into the future with this new structure, saying it’s a move they “have to make.”
“We’ll have to wait and see if it’s the right move… we think that travel could be an issue in terms of the number of players available,” he said.

Ross said that while keeping B grade within Portland could help alleviate those concerns for some portion of the playing contingent, it wasn’t going to totally put the issue to bed.
“It does (reduce the concern) for the B graders, but we still have to put an A grade team on the field which may prove difficult,” he said.
“It’s a possibility that we’ll be able look at (bringing in some recruits), it’s something that we’re actively engaged in doing right now.
“Sometimes it’s not until your club is over that white line for the first game of the season that you know what you’ve got… but we’re hoping to be a lot more successful this season especially with the new format.”

Gorae-Portland
Gorae-Portland captain-coach Nick Wills said his club is very excited about the prospect of playing a higher standard of cricket.
Wills is back in the A grade captaincy role after Zac Duncan led the side in 2022-23.
“We’re aiming for finals, last season was a bit of a struggle in some respects, but we’re on the hunt for some new talent to bring into the side,” he said.
“It presents an opportunity for guys who want to compete at a higher level to do that, which is what the association needed.
“There’s a bit of extra travel involved, but I think once people get their head around that it can be a really good step.”
Go-Ports had an arduous 2022-23 season in both senior grades, finishing bottom of the ladder in B grade and missing out on finals in A grade, but Wills said he sees no reason why they can’t be highly competitive in the new-look competition.
“We had to forfeit a few B grade games last year, but we’re on the hunt for some new recruits who can lift us up to that higher standard,” he said.
Wills is no stranger to being at the helm at Go-Ports, as while he did not captain the side last season, he has filled the same position he’ll be taking on this year within the past few seasons.
“I was sort of the coach last season… I had a lot of other commitments going on last season, but coming into this year I was keen to take on both roles (again),” he said.
“Being able to coach and captain in the same style between training and the game… I think it works quite well.
“I’ll be able to bring the experience I had in prior stints in the role into this season… we were able to get really good alignment between how we were training and how we were playing.”
Wills said this season is going to be instrumental in terms of plotting the path that Go-Ports will head down in the years ahead.
“It’s a massive season for us… last season was really tough, especially being away from our home ground… that definitely brought a lot of challenges,” he said.
“The move obviously creates a whole new set of challenges… but we’re ready to take those on.”

Drumborg-Heywood
As the only PDCA club which solely fields a B grade side, Drumborg-Heywood is set to be the club least affected by the amalgamation, as they’ll continue to only play against the five other PDCA clubs during the home and away season.
Nonetheless, they’ve thrown their support behind the move, with club member Phil Holmes saying the only downside from their perspective is it didn’t go further.
“For the longevity of our club, combining the B grade competitions would’ve been best, but we’re happy that this step has been taken,” Holmes said.
“I think a struggle that the PDCA had has been with the admin side of things… Lloyd (Ilett, the HDCA president) lives and breathes this stuff, I know he’ll find a way to make it work.”
Holmes was a driving force behind Drumborg-Heywood getting back into the mix in the PDCA’s junior competition.
He said keeping juniors in Portland was going to be the right move for them.
“It would’ve been very hard to do juniors in Hamilton, even on the away games in Portland we’re getting to the ground 10 minutes before the game starts and we don’t get back to Heywood until 8:30pm,” Holmes said.
“We’ve introduced 15 new kids to the club, four or five of which have helped us in the senior side, we want to keep as many of them engaged as possible.”
With the reinvigorated A grade competition on offer, Holmes said getting themselves back into A grade “has to be the focus.”
“As it stands right now, we only have a few players who are really super keen about their cricket, hopefully over time those juniors can filter through and bring us up to a better standard.
“I’ve got my own connections to Hamilton, so perhaps there’s an opportunity to bring some players in that way to help give us a boost.
“Hamilton cricket is pretty good, and we want to be a part of it… whether there’s an opportunity to get into one of their lower grades (Hamilton also has a C and D grade competition), we can explore that as well.”