Melbourne hosts Australian Open Indoor Cricket Championships

The Australian Open Indoor Cricket Championships will commence tomorrow with five Victorian teams competing at the event held in Werribee.

The state will have representation in the Open Men and Women’s divisions, the Under-20 Men and Women’s and in the Lord’s Taverners category.

Hoping to better last year’s performance, the Victorian Open Men’s team will again be bolstered with the Melbourne Stars’ Clive Rose, who has been granted permission to compete at the carnival by Cricket Tasmania.

Looking to make the most of the home ground advantage, the men’s team will open its campaign against last year’s champions, Queensland.

“We are hoping to improve on our fourth placing at last year’s Championships and will look to put pressure on all teams, in particular, Queensland and Western Australia,” Victorian Open Men’s coach Ross Gregory said.

“Whilst we do have an inexperienced side we are confident that we can be competitive throughout the week.”

In the Open Women’s division, Victoria will be in search of a Grand Final spot after suffering a surprise loss to South Australia in last year’s preliminary final.

The team boasts a range of Australian representatives including Nicole Martin, Danielle Montague and Briony Polkinghorne and also features Box Hill Cricket Club’s Laura Shaw.

“In the ladies teams we expect to do very well,” Gregory said.

“Our Open Women’s team was beaten favourites in last year’s preliminary and we expect them to hit back hard this year on the back of their excellent preparation.”

Victoria’s Under-20 Men’s team includes a number of Bartercard Premier Cricketers including St Kilda’s Jarrod Munday and Footscray Edgewater’s Lachlan King, Brayden Koch and Jonah Koch while all members of the Under-20 Women’s side have been preparing for the tournament in the domestic Women’s Premier Indoor Cricket League.

In the Lord’s Taverners division, the category for all abilities cricketers, Victoria’s squad comprises of a mixture of returning and new members, including Alex Skinner in his first tournament.

“These guys are important ambassadors for all abilities cricket and have been very committed in their preparation for the upcoming Championships,” Victorian Lord’s Taverners coach Rick Tresize said.

The Australian Open Indoor Cricket Championships begins on Saturday with Victoria opening the tournament in all five categories against Queensland.

Tournament fixtures and results can be found at the Indoor Cricket Championships website with finals being live streamed.

The 2014 Victorian Open Indoor Cricket Championship teams are:

Open Men
Lance MacDougall (Werribee)
Ben Devanny (Bendigo)
Josh Gregory (Wantirna)
Jack Craig (Hoppers Crossing)
Justin Perkins (Croydon)
Laurie Dart (Croydon)
Geoff Latham (Northcote)
Matt Fitt (Bendigo)
Clive Rose (Tasmania)
Travis Baker (Heidelberg)
Brad Jones (Melton)
Jarrod Burns (Ballarat)
Ross Gregory (Coach)
John Chilton (Manager)

Open Women
Briony Polkinghorne (Ballarat)
Chloe Ip (Northcote)
Danielle Montague (Croydon)
Janelle Hayhurst (Cranbourne)
Jessica Surace (Northcote)
Kerry Johnson (Melton)
Laura Shaw (Croydon)
Liz Pierce (Melton)
Nicole Martin (Cranbourne)
Tamzyn Wright (Northcote)
Sam Carlson (Cranbourne)
Sharrni Dimauro (Northcote)
Wayne Turner (Coach)
Tom Holt (Manager)

Under-20 Men
Brayden Koch (Springvale)
Jonah Koch (Hoppers Crossing)
Dean Pirro (Melton)
Lachlan King (Wyndham Vale)
Ben Cooper (Bentleigh)
Jarrod Munday (East Bentleigh)
Joel Harris (Croydon)
Chris Jolley (Croydon)
Ash Armstrong (Melton)
Chris Brown (Croydon)
Dean Handley (Coach)
Lloyd Nevitt (Manager)

Under-20 Women
Adelaide Campion (Northcote)
Holly Johnson (Wheelers Hill)
Brooke Eley (Werribee)
Amy Jennings (Kew)
Dannielle Menzies (Bacchus Marsh)
Sophia Field (Lilydale)
Sarah Chong (Templestowe)
Lani Dejong (Bayswater)
Ella Baulch (Brunswick East)
Madelaine Hendy (Bentleigh East)
Elly Donald (Rosebud)
Janet Finn (Coach)
Tony Pahi (Manager)

Lord’s Taverners
Jarrod Connelly (Melton)
Craig Whitehand (Geelong)
Chris Anderson (Geelong)
Shaun Wilkie (Geelong)
Nathan Mahar (Ballarat)
Theo Arnold (Ballarat)
Shane Collins (Ballarat)
Warren Buckley (Melton)
Shaun Rayment (Footscray)
Joe Brizzi (Footscray)
Adam Sims (Heidelberg)
Alex Skinner (Point Cook)
Rick Tresize (Coach)
Darren Riches (Manager)