Leschenault Cricket Club captain says Green Caps are “heading in the right direction”

Leschenault Cricket Club’s first grade captain has described his side’s year as a positive one after the Green Caps quadrupled their number of wins from the previous season. Leschenault recorded eight wins for the year as they made a return to BDCA first grade finals before they were undone by a rampaging Colts side in a semifinal late last month. Despite this, Green Caps skipper Matt Fink said there were signs his men were “heading in the right direction”. “It was a positive year, we beat all the top three teams (Eaton, Marist and Colts) throughout the year, we just couldn’t finish the job,” Fink said. Fink said the side had been focusing on professionalism to take them from being a solid community club to a powerhouse in Bunbury cricket. “In the last few years, we’ve tried to instil a bit of professionalism and that’s helped the young guys coming through,” Fink said. Fink said it was the side’s batting that let them down last year as they recorded three scores of less than 110 in a season where they managed just two wins. “Our bowling has been pretty strong but our batting needed to be more consistent to make sure we are batting all of our overs,” he said. And the focus on time at the crease worked, with the Green Caps scoring more runs this year than they had since the 2018-19 season. But a spirited five-wicket-haul from Colts’ skipper Josh Topliss in the semifinal put an end to Leschenault’s season and they were bowled out for just 71 in reply to the opposition’s 9-162. Fink said whilst the loss hurt, the side had plenty to take away from a return to finals cricket. “I feel like we did (better with the bat this year) and we eliminated a lot of the fade-outs we had last year, but obviously in the final our batting let us down, which was disappointing,” he said. “We’ve made finals three out of the past four years and I feel like we’re definitely heading in the right direction and success is just around the corner. “We felt like we had the team to run deep into the finals but Colts were just too good on the day.” Fink said his team had focused on junior development in recent times and there were positive signs in “young guns” such as Nico Le Roux and Tyne Dodds. “We found last year that we had to go a couple of steps back to go forward and this year was definitely a step in the right direction,” he said. “Nico and Tyne are both great kids and they are really committed. “They have created a really good culture around the group, we have a really good blend of experience and youth, and they have been two good additions.”