Blue and White: Southern Pioneers

We preview the Southern Pioneers in the lead up to the Victorian Bushrangers Pathway Championships.

Under-18s

Coach – Ross Woodall

2012-13 Finish – Finals

Under-16s

Coach – Brett Forsyth

2012-13 Finish – Semi-Finals

Under-14s

Coach – Rob Elston

2012-13 Finish – Finals

The 2012-13 Victorian Bushrangers Pathway Championships are behind the Southern Pioneers as far as they’re concerned.

Winning only two games last carnival, Regional Cricket Manager Adrian Jones saw the need for change in training and preparation.

“We’ve had a look at our struggles from last year so we’ve organised more practice matches and game scenarios this time around,” Jones said.

“There’ll be a lot more intense training in the lead up to the first game.”

Despite their indifferent performance, Jones has not lost sight of his goals for the Pioneers.

“Our goal is centred on development – we want to groom better cricketers,” he said.

“We want to watch our cricketers develop and leave each age group as a more rounded player.”

His expectations primarily lie within the under-18s side, which he expects to be highly competitive.

“Our under-18s have played a lot of cricket with their Premier clubs or in the Dandenong District Cricket Association, so we’re expecting them to be strong,” Jones said.

“We’ll need to play at our best in order to compete with the best teams.”

The under-16s claimed just one win during last summer’s carnival, but Jones is excited about the crop coming through.

“Ryan Quirk is an exceptional talent who was outstanding with the bat in difficult circumstances last year,” Jones said of the young batsman who made his debut for Premier side Dandenong last summer.

“This is a real opportunity for the team to show what they’ve learnt from their last summer’s Championships.”

In the under-14s, Jones stressed the importance of building confidence and a winning culture for their futures in cricket.

“If we can instil confidence and a winning mindset in these boys, it will be beneficial to both them and the Southern Pioneers in years to come,” Jones said.

“We want these boys to use their experience with the Southern Pioneers and be better for it.”