Sinclair calls it a day as captain as Katanning Wanderers look to future leaders to continue season’s growth

The end of the season has brought an end to the captaincy of Ryan Sinclair at Katanning Wanderers Cricket Club. After four years at the helm, the schoolteacher is stepping down in the knowledge that the club has leaders who can replace him. Although the club missed out on finals, finishing fifth with three wins and 12 losses, Sinclair believes things are looking up and progress has been made over a tough season. “There has been a fair bit of growth this season among the younger players, and we were a lot more competitive in a lot more games,” he said. “If we can build on that going into next year we will be on the right path.” He paid tribute to two players who ranked highly in the end-of-season statistics, heralding young Adam Edwards as a batter to watch and applauding Emily Pinney for holding her own in the male-dominated arena of the Great Southern Cricket Association. “Adam was our second leading run scorer — he is a great kid with a good head on his shoulders,” Sinclair said. “As for Emily, opening the bowling week in, week out is no mean feat. “She topped our bowling with 19 wickets and made the Great Southern Association’s team of the year which is a great effort in a male-dominated comp. “She holds her own and that’s a fantastic result and a tribute to her hard work.” At the club’s awards night on March 13, Pinney’s 19 wickets at 19.84 headed the Wanderers’ bowling stats with Braydon Keley’s 15 at 16.33 next on the list for the aggregate and top of the pile for the average. Brock Green was third with 11 wickets at 19.0 and Sinclair fourth with 11 at 28.91. Green was the best of the batters, with 259 across the season at an average of 23.55. He took out the Wayne and Julie Hams Perpetual shield with 39.90 points, 5.8 points ahead of Edwards. Edwards, the rising star, was just behind Green in the batting stakes with 238 runs averaging 21.64, ahead of Caleb Keley’s 228 at 19.0. As well as being promising with the bat, Edwards was superb in the field with eight catches and three runouts, and all that effort earned him the Darren Schloithe Young Cricketer of the Year award. Josh Pinney took six catches and Caleb Keley five. Club person of the year was Luke Stathy.