by Michaela Meade
Laurimar Cricket Club has a big season ahead of it for both its men’s and women’s sides, according to incoming head coach Adam Drinkwell.
Laurimar’s men will compete in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association Mash Shield competition, while the women will defend their premiership in the North Metro Cricket Association Women’s Lorraine Ireland summer competition.
Drinkwell joins from Plenty Valley, where he had led the women’s team for three seasons before taking 2020 for himself.
“I had basically a season off last year, after coaching for 10 years,” Drinkwell said.
“It was just a bit of a chance to just to play a little bit myself… and not do a lot in terms of the coaching space.
“But, I was keen to get back into it for this season, and having moved into the [Doreen] area not long ago, the opportunity came up.
“[I’m] happy to have taken on the role for the next two years and in a way that we can hopefully continue to grow the club.”
Drinkwell will primarily work with the senior men’s, but said “our female teams do train with our male team, so it’s as a whole club anyway”.
He said the development opportunities drew him to Laurimar.
“The club’s a young club,” Drinkwell said.
“It’s only four or five years old and has a real potential to grow and become a real, major player in the [DVCA].
“[I’m] hoping that I can be involved in that process to get the club, over the coming years, through the top shield grades from Mash to Money Shield, where they’ve been really close the last couple of years.
“And then, our overall goal is to get to Barclay Shield, so if I can play my small part in that, in helping the club in that progression, that’s pretty exciting.”
Drinkwell said he hoped to play alongside the boys.
“I’ll make myself available to play,” he said.
“When I accepted the role, earlier in the year, it was sort of purely coaching based.
“But I still think I can provide something on the field as well.
“There’ll be times that I’ll play as well as… combine that with the main coaching duties.”
Drinkwell said a solid coaching panel for the 2021-22 season would give the club firm footing.
“Leigh Donaldson has come across to the club this year,” he said.
“Leigh is well known in the Diamond Valley, having spent many years at Eltham Cricket Club coaching there.
“He spent the last few years out of the DVCA but he comes back in as a senior assistant coach.
“We’ve also got existing players in Rian Boddy and Steven Mitchell.
“Rian sort of was on the coaching panel last year so he continues that.
“They’re both assistant coaches, [and] they also look after our women’s team.
“We’ve also added Matthew Hewat who’s got premier cricket coaching experience as well as with Plenty Valley so he comes on board as one of our assistant coaches.
“We think we’ve got some really good resources for the club and the players to learn from and develop.
“Hopefully the playing group will see a real positive change in the way we can prepare for games through the week.”
Drinkwell said first IX captain Luke Richardson, who scored 196 runs last season, was one to watch this year.
“He’s setting himself up for a big year,” Drinkwell said.
“He is a former Duckworth-[Turner] medalist winner. He’s primed for a really strong year.”
Laurimar will kick off their Mash Shield competition on November 13 against Thomastown.
The Power will face Epping in the first round of the Lorraine Ireland Women’s Shield competition on November 14.
The club will be live streaming matches on their social media pages throughout the season.
