The import news around Cricket Shepparton’s district started as a drip-feed, but is quickly starting to flow more freely.
Next off the ranks in announcing an overseas-based signing for the 2024-25 Haisman Shield campaign is Katandra, which has added an English arm to its pace attack.
Right-arm seamer Seth Westley joins the Eagles for the summer as he continues to ply his trade at Rugby Cricket Club in the Warwickshire County Cricket League.
Westley has appeared in Gippsland’s summer cricket scene previously, making this his second trip Down Under, and has impressed in his time as part of Rugby’s first XI.
Such is the esteem in which the former Warwickshire representative player is held there, he serves as part of the Rugby Cricket Academy staff as a nationally qualified coach.
Katandra’s Ryleigh Shannon certainly liked what he saw in his fellow paceman.
“We’re pretty excited to be adding to our pace bowling and we’re making sure to cover our options in that department,” Shannon said.
“We explored asking our former imports for someone we might want; we eventually went down the agency path, as that’s common around these parts now.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have Kieran Collins and the Richardson boys across the last four years or so, and we were lucky as well to lock Seth in pretty quickly.
“The president out Sale way gave Seth a glowing review, which is important as you want to tick the box on what kind of person they are first.
“Hopefully he’s well aware of how Australia works with his experience in a different part of Victoria.”
The cricketing prowess of the young man replacing the outgoing Collins as an import has not been doubted by many.
Westley took the workhorse shift in a 50-over game at the start of July, becoming the only Rugby bowler to claim multiple wickets in his side’s losing draw.
In Katandra’s eyes, though, it was first and foremost important to ensure he would gel within the club’s culture.
“We are lucky enough that most English games at that level are recorded, so we had a look at a few videos of him bowling,” Shannon said.
“We were quite impressed with what we were getting, but cricketing comes hand-in-hand with the kind of person we look for.
“A few people often say that they want to play in Melbourne instead.
“It’s daunting to be this far away from a capital city when you’re coming over, but when you have someone open to coming up this way, it speaks to the character they have.”
While the status of 2023-24’s other Katandra import in Scott Richardson remains up in the air, that wasn’t the end of the Eagles’ incomings.
Former Katandra junior Steve Barrett rejoins the side he came up with as a batting wicketkeeper following a spell at Bendigo United in Bendigo District Cricket Association.
On top of that, the club has formalised a change in leadership with Corey Hickford and Jedd Wright stepping down from their co-captaincy.
“Ben Pedretti is going to step up as captain for us this year after Corey and Jedd were sharing it for the past couple of seasons,” Shannon said.
“We were really happy with what he could provide after he expressed interest in the role.
“Steve comes back as a former Katandra kid here and now as a high-quality keeper-batsman, so it’s good to have him return back.”