The Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield welcomes a new contender in season 2024-25 after another entry was admitted by the league.
Pine Lodge has been welcomed into the A-grade competition following a successful spell in B-grade that resulted in the one-day trophy and a semi-final berth in the Clyde Young Shield last season.
The decision had been in the works for some time internally as Pine Lodge built a compelling case through multiple seasons of high achievement in the Jim McGregor Shield before the move upwards.
Coach Travis Waters, who has overseen this rapid success, hailed the benefits he anticipates will bear fruit quickly upon reaching the Haisman Shield.
“It’s something we’ve been working towards for four or five years,” Waters said.
“We were knocked out of the two-day semis last year (in B-grade), but we’ve been building for a long time.
“We’ve been sick of juniors coming through our ranks and then leaving because we can’t offer A-grade cricket, so we’re taking the plunge this year.
“We might have lost five or six players if we didn’t go up and we’d be in strife then, so that was a big reason.
“We’ve got a young English player coming over too and he’s really keen to have a go in Australia.”
It’s a significant series of steps — rising up the ranks and immediately making a splash with a new import signing upon reaching the top grade.
The man in question is Emile Haratbar, a young wicketkeeper-batter who has recently earned the opportunity to represent his Lancashire league at under-21 level.
Needless to say, there’s plenty more where that came from on the recruiting front as Pine Lodge embarks on a new era — could that mean some old faces?
“We’re still working hard in discussions,” Waters said.
“We’ve got some former A-grade players who are playing elsewhere and we hope we’ll attract them back.
“We might have five or six different players in our side come round one compared to the B-grade finals.
“We’re still hoping for more expressions of interest, but we’ll work hard to build a team that will be competitive.
“We got our pitch redone after we didn’t play at home all last year and we’re continuing to build up our juniors.”