Bullants get their Tucker

Right: Officer Cricket Club has appointed opening
OFFICER Cricket Club has appointed 22yearold Colin Tucker coach following the recent departure of Jack Hayes to CaseySouth Melbourne.
The appointment of Tucker, a promising batsman who graduated to the Bullants’ senior team from the club’s junior ranks, represents a fresh approach from Officer, who last season recruited experienced players such as Hayes, Chris Pentland and John Simpson from rival WGCA clubs. All these players have now departed Starling Road and Officer is pinning its hopes on local players such as Tucker and Ben Tivendale to lead the Bullants to onfield success this season.
In other preseason news, star allrounder Mick Torney has applied for a clearance from Pakenham so that he can accept the role of assistant coach at Catani. Steve Madin is making a welcome return to Clyde, which has lost gifted former coach Brad Francis to Fountain Gate, and the Cougars may also lose the services of teenage fast bowler Kyle Brooke, who is training with Premier League club Frankston.
Upper Beaconsfield has lost former captain Steve Carr to Berwick and he has been replaced as the Maroons’ skipper by Scott Pitcher, their well performed young spinner. Marcus Gehling will also be lost to the Maroons, as he is now employed in the Bendigo area.
It is becoming increasingly likely that Cardinia’s young gun Jamie Glen will join Pakenham UpperToomuc (PUT), but the boys from Cardinia will be strengthened by the appointment of Cameron Knight as coach. Knight is a wellrespected allrounder who has previously coached the Narre Warren and Boronia clubs.
Tooradin will welcome former promising junior Sam Clarke back to the nest, especially if both Rohan Best and Tim Cortese depart. Batsman Troy Bellchambers has returned to Beaconsfield, and Rick Colling, who relinquished his coaching duties at Beaconsfield after guiding the Tigers to last season’s premiership, has accepted a position on the WGCA selection panel.
At Merinda Park the Cobras are uncertain whether the Betreen brothers, Noel and Lester, will play with their club in 200506, but fast bowler Brad Hobbs, who performed well for the club’s junior ranks in the past, is tipped to play at the Donnelly Reserve after a stint with the Dandenong club.
The L.J. Hooker Radio Cricket panel is already planning for the coming season, and local fans can expect to enjoy their first program two weeks before the start on 1 October.