Playing his cricket without the burden of captaincy has restored Werribee batsman Shaun Dean to his former glory.
Dean is back to his best for the Tigers with three centuries to his name over the past 12 months, including 102 in the win over Noble Park at Pat Wright Snr Oval last start.
He amassed 706 runs at a jaw-dropping 88.25 last season and already this year has 205 at 51.25 and is trending upwards.
Compare his past 14 months to the 2014-15 season when he was captain; then he made just 248 runs at 24.80. That’s all the data you need to see how much of a weight has been lifted from his shoulders since dropping the official leadership role.
Dean is focusing more on his own game and less on problem-solving for others, which undoubtedly is in the best interests of the team with the gun run-maker again featuring in the nightmares of bowlers across sub-district cricket.
“The captaincy was a very big responsibility,” Dean said.
“It’s not just the firsts guys you’re dealing with; you’re the leader of the whole club and everyone wants a bit of you so you’ve got to share your time as much as you can. A lot of things get missed with your own performance.
“I did that for three years and by the third year I was totally drained and my game suffered.
“Now just turning up to training, being a player and worrying about how many runs I can add to the team and contribute … the results have shown in the last year and a half that it’s helped me out a little bit.”
Dean has given a massive thumbs up to newly appointed captain Tim O’Brien.
O’Brien took over as skipper from Mitch Johnstone, who parted ways with the Tigers after one season.
Werribee is 4-1 after five matches, a superb outcome considering the obstacles thrown its way. The Tigers have been playing on the road every week while their Chirnside Park redevelopment takes place. And they’ve been without gun opening batsman Matt Dean (Shaun’s brother), who will be out at least three months after foot surgery.
Highly rated import Ollie Freckingham has played just one game in five due to an abdomen injury, while young speedster James Freeman has been absent, travelling with his band.
“Tim’s got the captaincy responsibility now and he’s doing a really good job,” Shaun Dean said. “We’ve done pretty well but haven’t had all the personnel we started off with. We’ve had some chopping and changing but still managed to hold our team form.”
