Bellbridge is preparing for its big move to the Victorian Turf Cricket Association a year earlier than anticipated.
After years in the Williamstown and District Cricket Association, Bellbridge and a number of their rivals will move to the VTCA next summer.
And the Bridge is excited to have Ron Dawes Medal recipient Jake Styles in tow after the fast bowler capped a remarkable season with the WDCA’s A-turf champion player award.
“It’s the club’s first A-turf competition medallist,” Bellbridge playing president Mark Croswell told Star Weekly.
“It’s only in the last four years that we’ve been around the mark with finals; before that we really struggled to even be competitive.”
Styles barely had a game where he wasn’t effective in some way for Bellbridge last season.
Three five-fors, including a six-wicket haul, were among his 26 wickets for the season and he was economical with an average of 11.
On the rare days when the wickets eluded Styles, he would find a way to get involved in the game, whether it was a crucial knock of 40 against Caroline Springs or impact in the field.
“You’ve got to be doing something every game to put your name up and he had one of those years,” Croswell said.
“That’s the name of the game to win a competition medal.”
Styles’ consistency stems from a growing maturity and a perfect preparation.
He spent the off season playing club cricket in England and hit the ground running for the Australian summer.
“He’s also starting to mature a bit now and knows where to bowl,” Croswell said.
“He’s starting to develop and put the ball in the right areas to take wickets.”
Croswell said the plan all along was for Bellbridge to eventually join the VTCA but he thought it would be at least another year.
It was fast-tracked when several WDCA clubs voted as a collective to join the VTCA.
“It’s a year earlier than we planned but once the vote went through, we’d have been left with a competition that had six sides,” he said.
Bellbridge has the chance to grow exponentially in the VTCA, something most WDCA clubs struggle to do.
The Bridge hopes to attract new players through the move and will get the chance to face new opposition.
But hard work still needs to be done from the ground up for Bellbridge to prosper.
“There are so many senior clubs in the area that it’s spreading players thin,” Croswell said.
“We realise now that we have to get younger players and our junior ranks basically nearly doubled last year.
“That’s going to take a few years to flow on to the seniors, but we’re just working really hard to make sure this junior program we’ve reinvigorated can start to prosper for us.”
