Tara Murray
Laurimar has taken a lot out of the first part of the Diamond Valley Cricket Association Mash Shield season.
After a couple of tough seasons, the Power has started the season strongly with four wins and just one loss so far.
Coach Luke Richardson said the season so far had been really good.
“We’ve got a new structure this season,” he said. “We’ve got a lot more youth coming through and a good coaching staff on board.
“There’s some plans the executive committee has put in place as well.”
Richardson returned to the Power this season and took on the coaching role.
He said the idea of coaching was only something that he recently wanted to get involved in.
“I played a year and a half at Plenty,” he said. “I didn’t play until the back end of last year after Christmas.
“I hadn’t thought about it and the job at Laurimar came up and I had a think about it and spoke with the president and vice-president.
“I put my hat in the ring and it happened quickly. I went from not playing cricket to wanting to coach in the space of a month.”
Richardson said the coaching side does have its challenges especially at a club the size of Laurimar but said he was enjoying it.”
On field, Richardson said they were pretty happy with how things were playing out.
The club’s only loss in the Mash Shield has come to Rivergum, which is undefeated, and Richardson’s believes is the premiership favourite.
“We learned a lot from that game especially,” he said. “We had a 15-year-old, 16-year-old and 19-year old in that game.
“It is awesome that our 15-year-old Harley Boland is opening the batting and Noah Key , the 16-year-old, is a key in the middle order.
“One of our bowlers is the 19-year-old.”
“There’s more junior players throughout the grades more than there ever has been.”
On Saturday, Laurimar got the win against Thomastown.
Thomastown made 8-166 from its overs Ibtasam Aamir Bhutta top scored with 50.
Travis Baker took two wickets for the Power.
The Power got the runs in 37 overs, finishing 4-167. Richardson top scored with 46 not out.
It was a special day for the Power as the two clubs joined together to raise awareness of domestic violence. The Power had a special uniform for the day.
“We had a minute silence and the president made a speech,” he said. “We wanted to get it out there and make it known that we stand against this.
“Other clubs do different things… We wanted to get right behind it.”
Richardson said they hadn’t put any expectations on this season and were hoping to continue their strong form before Christmas to put themselves in a good spot.
In other results, Thomastown United beat Hurstbridge, Rivergum was too strong for Mill Park, South Morang beat Panton Hill and Mernda got the win against Dennis.
