Out with the old, in with the young

During the first week of the season, changes continued to happen within the Crusaders camp. Most of these changes were due to happen pre-season, but due to conditions beyond the control of club management, changes have happened in-season.

The first big change is the selling of Marc McVeigh to English club, Babo. McVeigh only played for single season for the Crusaders after a massive purchase price of R530,604. The money was ill-spent as McVeigh did very little to trouble the scorers, despite his top-notch keeping. Team manager, Neville Smeda, agreed that Rohana Ahad should continue to be nurtured as the first-choice keeper due to his youth. He also admitted that the price for the quality of McVeigh was too good to refuse, only to see the purchase turn sour.

Smeda said, “We have invested a lot of money in Rohana at the Academy and he has improved in his keeping and batting tremendously. The purchase of Marc was a quick-fix to our lower middle-order batting issues with Rohana not making the kind of impression hoped for. Nonetheless, I feel that now that we have reversed that decision and allowed Marc to return to England, we have given Rohana the confidence he needs to continue his improvements in the batting department”.

Another big change is the purchasing of 18-year old Graham Ferdinand from the top-ranked Indian club Silk. This was a significant purchase as the youngster has gained significant experience from playing for a top-ranked club. Ferdinand came from a Hampshire school, only to be sent to play in New Zealand. His stint there lasted one month before going over to Silk. Due to overwhelming strength in the Silk squad, Ferdinand was sold to the Crusaders for R1,061,208.

The club management feels that this amount of spending was warranted as they have been desperately looking for a genuine all-rounder, which Ferdinand is. The reason for this search has been to take some of the burden off John Simpson, who has had to field the all-rounder spot.

Captain, Matt O’Shea commented on this acquisition, “Graham just joined us yesterday and he had a little net with us, immediately showing his superiority with both bat and ball. If he comes off, we could see the Crusaders upping their game to a new level”.

Ferdinand has already been enrolled in the Academy and will work in both the batting and bowling setups. With a 2nd XI friendly looming this weekend, the youngster may very likely get some game time in.

Announcements have been made about the leadership setup for the coming season with no changes from last season. Matt O’Shea will captain, with Graeme Jeremy serving as his deputy. Pete Moller will lead the 2nd XI in the weekend friendlies.

O’Shea said about the prospects of the new season, “This upcoming season will be tougher than any we’ve had before, but I also feel that we’re coming together as a team nicely. We’re out of the SA Cup and that was purely an unlucky pick of the draw, but I truly believe that even if we don’t succeed with trophies this season, we’ll play better this season than we’ve ever played before”.

Awards Banquet

The Awards Banquet for season 4 has been scheduled for Saturday the 19th of September at the T&N Smeda Stadium Banquet Hall.

At this banquet the club will honour those who have excelled throughout the season.  There will also be an Academy graduation ceremony as well as announcements for changes in the new season.

The agenda is as follows:

17h00  Registration

18h00  Supper

18h45   Dessert and Video Highlights package

19h00  Academy Graduation

19h15  Captain’s report

19h30  Manager’s report

19h45  Awards ceremony

20h15  Announcements for next season

20h30  Adjourn

Season 3 Banquet Report

The awards banquet was held last night at the T&N Crusaders Cricket Stadium banquet hall, and the awards and outstanding achievements were presented in front of a packed house.

The evening began with the announcement of 43 new members being added to the club, which adds a large sponsorship incentive to the club. This now takes the membership total to 1320, which is substantial considering the Crusaders are only beginning their 4th season. It was also announced that 470,000 had been awarded to the club for an outstanding season, including a 2nd place division finish in the BT20 league.

Following was a 20-minute highlights video clip of some of the best moments of the season for the club.

The agenda then kicked onto the awards item, with Eddie Ayres picking up 3 awards including “Player of the Season”. Chris Hayward also picked up 3 awards, which included “Youth Player of the Season”. Twelve team awards were handed out, for those players who played 25 or more matches for the Crusaders during the season. Manager’s Award went to John Simpson.

The night ended with the announcement of Matt O’Shea as captain for the upcoming season, and Graeme Jeremy as the vice-captain, with Michael Prince completing the leadership trio as strategic advisor. That position was previously held by Chris Kotzo, who will now spend more time at the Academy with Stephen Harding and Chris Hayward.

The season draws to a close

With the season drawing to an end, the Crusaders can look back on a much-improved performance from them throughout the season. Not only did they finish second in their T20 group, but they did well enough in the one-day and first-class leagues to not be relegated. The Crusaders’ final official match of the season comes in the form of a playoff on Friday.

With season-ending activity preparations underway, the club is bustling with team news regarding player personnel, including players who will be leaving the club.

Probably the biggest name on the list is that of Marc Weeks, the 30-year old middle-order batsman who became the first Crusaders player to score back-to-back first-class centuries. Weeks has had limited opportunities this season in league matches due to the younger players being shown preference in the middle-order, however, he has been able to participate in some 2nd XI friendlies which allowed him to produce a top score of 49. Overall, Marc Weeks played in 28 first-class matches with a highest score of 122. In 41 limited-overs matches, he scored eleven fifties with a best of 96 in a SA Cup match.

Other players who are not being renewed at the end of the season are batsman Jimmy Mokoena, and quick bowler John Immelman, both of whom are 26 years old and who have also not been regular features in the Crusaders league matches. Immelman played in 11 first-class matches for the club, taking 25 wickets with a best of 5/17. In 40 one-day matches, Immelman picked up 62 wickets with a best of 5/12. Mokoena was more geared to first-class cricket and he played in 14 matches, scoring a best of 84 as opener.

Club captain Michael Prince commented on this news, “Over the last two seasons we have been looking towards reducing the squad size, and at the same time have funds available to develop schoolboys through the Academy. Unfortunately these three players have been adjudged as excess to the needs of the club, evident by the minimal cricket they have played this season. These guys are good guys and I know that they will succeed wherever they end up.”

There had also been talk amongst the administrators about releasing one of the frontline spinners onto the transfer list, due to the fact that both Prince and John Simpson offer the option of part-time spinner. Chris Kotzo was the one that the administrators were considering, but manager Neville Smeda, along with Prince and Matt O’Shea, took the stand that Kotzo’s experience, especially in the spin department, are required to nurture the teenaged spinners into becoming quality spinners. Prince pointed out that Hayward’s 44 first-class wickets this season have been a result of the excellent coach that Kotzo has been to him.

At the awards ceremony on Saturday, Matt O’Shea is expected to be named as club captain for next season, with Graeme Jeremy as his vice-captain. O’Shea had taken over as skipper of the first-class matches mid-season, giving Prince the opportunity to focus on his batting which had slumped somewhat.

New player, new captain

There have been some changes to the setup at the T&N Crusaders Cricket Club over the weekend. The first is the purchase of teenaged fast bowler, Mike Legg, from ShangerRatsXI in Australia. He is a 19-year old right-arm fast/medium bowler. In 9 first-class matches he has taken 32 wickets with a best of 6/5. His one-day record is as impressive with 12 wickets at 20.17 in 10 matches, with a best of 3/16. He is scheduled to play his first match for the Crusaders 2nd XI on Sunday against the Nashua Titans.

In other news, Matt O’Shea has been named as the captain for all Crusaders first-class matches for the remainder of the season. O’Shea’s wealth of cricket knowledge and experience has given Michael Prince the option of focusing his captaincy on the limited-overs format. Prince, who had hoped to relinquish captaincy at the beginning of this season, agreed to stay on for one more season but hopes to be able to just play cricket rather than having captaincy on his plate too.

Spin-vetaran Chris Kotzo commented on the change, “What is exciting about this is that you have two excellent cricket minds on the field at all times and they will consult with each other on all decisions no matter which format it is, which can only give you a winning combination. I think where Michael was struggling for a while is that he didn’t have anybody else really to turn to. Graeme Jeremy was his vice-captain last season, but was also only 18 so was not able to provide that maturity in decision-making. Matt and Michael not only make an excellent leadership team together, but you can see how well they bat together at the top of the order. The Crusaders are in for some positive times in the near future”.

Winder bought right before deadline

Right as Ciaran Winder was about to be released for his free transfer, CRSM Cricket Club in the Nottinghamshire League in England bought him in an attempt to bolster their spin bowling.

This sudden change in fortune for Winder, who was about to be left in the wilderness to decide his cricketing future, has given him much to smile about as he leaves for England on Saturday to pursue this new venture. The effective date for the releases to occur was at 5:00 this evening, but manager Neville Smeda got a call from the CRSM manager at 4:30 and said that they wanted Winder.

Smeda, “I phoned Cia immediately and asked him what he thought. He had no hesitation in giving me the affirmative and we hurriedly worked with the CRSM finance team to make all the arrangements”.

“Cia will be a great asset to his new club in England and we will miss the variation that he would’ve provided to the depth of spin in our ranks”, said captain Michael Prince after learning of the news.

Winder was one of 3 players released from their contracts which was due to happen on Friday at 5:00pm. The others, Danny Giles and Greg Ransom, have been released from the club and will look to pursue their careers on their own. The releases came about due to the need to cut down on spending this season and increase profits.

11 terminated

In an effort to reduce expenditures and increase profit, the management of the T&N Crusaders cricket club has made some serious decisions regarding those on their payroll. This all took place at the conclusion of the first day of the first-class league match against the Company of Wolves.

All eight financial advisors were terminated with immediate effect. The decision was made due to the low cash balance available in the bank accounts following the 1.5 million spent on Matt O’Shea. With that huge cut to the financial reserves, management felt there was little need to keep an active board of financial advisors.

Manager Neville Smeda said, “Once our bank account becomes healthy again, we will see the financial advisory board being reintroduced. By the same token, we will rehire those advisors who were terminated if they have not moved on to other ventures”.

Team news is that batsman Daniel Giles, pace bowler Greg Ransom and spinner Ciaran Winder have all been released on free transfers. They join the recent releases of Glenn Rorke and Dirk Wright-Phillips.

Smeda said about these releases, “Our squad is just too big right now with 26 players. With the season structure changing and fewer 2nd XI matches being offered, it seems only right that we give those non-playing squad members a chance to go elsewhere. Eventually our goal is to get down to a squad of 20. Being released from a contract and being on the free transfer list is not pleasant, so many will be able to use the upcoming opportunities to prove that they can still maintain the club’s level of playing expectations”.

Spinner Chris Kotzo remarked, “The club is bigger than any one player and unfortunately we have to sometimes do what’s best for the club. The goal is to become the best team in the province and then eventually the country, and we cannot do that by using the ‘loyalty card’. The good thing about the guys leaving us is that they are true characters at heart and will continue to keep that character no matter where they end up.”

 

Pre-season news

Season 3 for the T&N Crusaders begins this weekend in the opening round of the National Club Cup. As final preparations are being being made, the biggest news to come from the camp is the purchase of batsman Matt O’Shea for a huge 1.5 million and ultimately cleaning out the bank account of the club.

O’Shea, 28, comes to the Crusaders from the Hampshire leagues in England where he performed admirably as a left-handed batsman, especially in the one-day setup. He averages 61 in first-class cricket with 6 centuries and 6 fifties to his name in 23 matches. He has played 150 one-day matches wherein he has picked up 22 hundreds and 32 fifties, averaging 65. O’Shea is even more explosive in T20 cricket with a strike rate of 176 and an average of 104. In addition to his batting prowess, his leadership and experience will provide a monumental asset to the club this season where Michael Prince will be able to turn to.

Captain Michael Prince spoke on behalf of management on such an expensive purchase, “Matt O’Shea has been looking to come south to play his cricket. After spending many seasons in India and England, he is looking for a new challenge and we are delighted that he has made himself available for our club. As a management team we felt that by investing so much money in this player, the victories will be weekly and that the crowds will fill our ground at every home game”.

This was a last-minute signing by the club, meaning that O’Shea will not be arriving in South Africa until Friday. O’Shea will not play in the first round of the National Club Cup this weekend but should be fit and ready for the first-class competition that begins next week.

This new signing does leave many unanswered questions for the rest of the batting line-up and even the senior players. During pre-season, the batting line-up looked solid, but now having to create a vacancy in the line-up to accomodate O’Shea may cause some hearts to be saddened.

One such player is teenager Pete Moller, who was looking at settling in down the middle-order. His place is now in jeopardy of being taken by the new signing, meaning Moller will continue his season in the Academy.

On the bowling front, Chris Hayward has definitely leaped ahead of Stephen Harding in the spin-bowling stakes and is looking likely to be the primary choice in this weekend’s opening Cup fixture, with veteran Chris Kotzo looking forward to sticking with the longer version of the game.

The 32-year old indicated recently, “the one-day game is for the young and fresh guys, so I may look to concentrate soley on first-class cricket. We’ll see. I have the fortune of being in the management meetings and if the one-day side are looking for some experience, I will certainly not say no”.

Responding to recent questions regarding retirement, Kotzo said, “I am also committed half-time to the Academy to develop the younger spinners, so I am certainly not bowing out of the game. Cricket will still be full-time for me, but I think its important that these two upcoming teenage spinners get as much match practice as possible”.

Despite all the excitement and hype brought around by the 9 teenagers in the camp, one can’t help but shift most of that excitement to Matt O’Shea, for it will be him who will lead the destiny of Crusaders cricket this season, and perhaps for many season to come. With the amount of money spent on O’Shea, the sponsors and spectators will settle for nothing less than first place in both one-day and first-class leagues.

Two more players released

As anticipated, two players have been released on free transfers, allowing them to continue their careers elsewhere and gain more game time.

Fast bowler Dirk Wright-Phillips, who only made a single appearance this season, had been on the transfer list for quite some time without any bites from other clubs.  To save on budget expenses, he agreed to be released from his contract.

The other player released on a free transfer is secondt team captain, Glenn Rorke.  There were only two 2nd XI matches this season due to Crusaders lasting so long in the Cup competition, and Rorke was never allowed to develop his game outside of the nets.

Both players’ release takes effect immediately.

Banquet report

The second end-of-season banquet for the T&N Crusaders Cricket Club was held at the T&N Academy in what turned out to be a well-attended event. Despite being completely destroyed in the first-class competition, there was much to celebrate with a trophy and check making its way to the club as winners of the one-day league 126 in South African division 5.

The program began with a 30-minute highlights video of the inaugural season for the club, showcasing some of the memorable moments of the season including Graeme Jeremy’s brilliant one-day 169 and Eddie Ayres’ match-winning 7/15.

There were no graduates from the Academy this year, but all received certificates for completing the year’s requirements.  All current attendees will continue to attend the Academy for at least another 2 years as the maximum Academy age is 21 and Tim Fox is the oldest at 19.  This bodes well for a stronger-looking team within the next 2-3 years.  The only new intake for the next season is batsman and part-time spinner, Steve Lothrop, who recently matriculated.

Following the manager’s and captain’s report of the season, the awards ceremony took place with captain Michael Prince once again picking up player of the season.  Click here for a full list of the awards for the season.

The evening concluded with a speech by team manager Neville Smeda, indicating his desire for a successful upcoming season with a stronger-looking team.