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Many eyes will be on Darley's new-look first grade outfit, but there will be a couple of big names missing in round one.
Lions coach Brian Wheelahan has reported that former West Indies international Danza Hyatt would not be available until round three due to some issues back home and that recruit Anthony Taylor had been ruled out for Saturday's one-day battle with East Ballarat due to an ankle injury.
Taylor, who has signed over from Napoleons-Sebastopol, will usually take the gloves, but veteran wicket-keeper David Hoey will stand in this weekend.
Darley has been one of the biggest movers during the off-season, recruiting a string of first grade players for a tilt at the 2019-20 Ballarat Cricket Association premiership.
The reigning premiers is a big early challenge for the Lions, with the Hawks fielding a similar line-up to the one that went on to lift the shield last March.
Buninyong will be missing the likes of Stu Squire, Dan Kitchen and David Ellis for its battle with Wendouree, which is also without top batsman Mathew Begbie, who is unavailable.
The Bunnies finished sixth in their first season in the BCA's top division and host a Red Caps outfit that has welcomed in some key figures for the new campaign.
There is none bigger than former South Australian first class cricketer Sam Miller, who adds to an already classy batting line-up.
Napoleons-Sebastopol failed to win a game last season, but has lured some good recruits to boost its playing stocks.
The team, which will be guided by captain Dan Scott, hosts North Ballarat this Saturday.
The Roosters, which narrowly went down in the 2018-19 grand final, have named Jackson Hayes to play against Naps-Sebas, but fellow recruit Haydn Smith is unavailable in round one.
Ballarat-Redan's English recruit Sam Burgess has been selected to play in the battle with Golden Point this weekend. Burgess is a top-order batsman and off spin bowler, who has been playing second grade County Championship cricket with Kent.
Andy Warrick, a two-time BCA premiership player, is back with the Pointies this season.
Meanwhile, Brown Hill has picked a trio of new Sri Lankan players for the showdown with Mt Clear.
Prabath Priyankara has joined the Bulls from Melton and brought with him Imesh Udayanga and Viraj Pushpakumara, who have first class experience.
The return of dual EJ Cleary Medal winner Matt Goonan to first grade cricket is the big news for the Mounties.
Goonan bolsters the batting for Mt Clear, which won the minor premiership in 2018-19 but failed to make the grand final.
SELECTED SIDES
Ballan
Second Grade (vs. Ballarat-Redan, Round:1 )
Michael Snaith(c), Alexander Cairns, Mason Currie, Sam Dehnert, David Gardiner, Mark Kennedy, Tim Landt, Ben Loughnane, Jack McGregor, Hayden Micallef, Lachlan Snaith, michael Vallance
Ballarat-Redan
First Grade (vs. Golden Point, Round:1 )
Chris Egan(c), Sam Burgess, Taylor Sutton, Jayden Hayes, Zac Jenkins, Brendan Thomson, Matthew Aikman, Ryan Aikman, Simon Allan, Jack Greaves, Michael Hayes
Second Grade (vs. Ballan, Round:1 )
Lachlan Constable, Nicholas Willowhite, Max Riding, Liam Fisher, Greg Wakeling, Jacob McFarlane, Paul Aikman, Jack Landwehr
Third Grade (vs. East Ballarat, Round:1 )
Nicholas Wealands(c), Jason Sculley, Bailey Hosemans, Riley Fisher, Matthew Gray, Matthew Reardon, Peter McFarlane
Brown Hill
First Grade (vs. Mt Clear, Round:1 )
Tom Bourke-Finn(c), Ryan Knowles, Jason Knowles, Matthew Sandford, Noah Steenhuis, Dylan York, Kyle Smith, Viraj Pushpakumara, Kane Leathem
Second Grade (vs. Dunnstown, Round:1 )
Wayne Crooks(c), Ashley Coxall, Nicholas Crellin, Kento Dobell, Kyle Hayes, Hamish Irvin, Rajesh Kumar, Tom Miller, Siddharth Rajesh, Ben Sheard, Darcy Waller, James Waller
Coronet City
Second Grade (vs. North Ballarat, Round:1 )
Jayson Tiburcy(c), Jack McDonald, Brandon Anderson, Matthew Stevens, Liam LePoidevin, Brad Dunbar, Jayson Porter, Peter Porter, Ben Hewitt, Grant LePoidevin
Third Grade (vs. Golden Point, Round:1 )
Caine Hunter(c), Josh Cartledge, Nathan Leishman, Cameron Werts, Ronald Smith, Allan Hayles, Anthony Lemmon, Dylan Lemmon, Michael Fletcher, Josh Smith, Joseph Kay, Michael Damen
Darley
First Grade (vs. East Ballarat, Round:1 )
Ryan Ali, Bradley Barnes, Joel Cadman, Madushanka Ekanayaka, Lachlan Herring, David Hoey, Rahmatullah Khwaja, Drew Locke, Hasitha Wickramasinghe, Jake Wilkie
Dunnstown
Second Grade (vs. Brown Hill, Round:1 )
Ben Collins(c), Jaye Cahir, Austin Murphy, Matthew Spezza, Paul White, Nick Hobbs, Jacob Collins, Benjamin Dunwoodie, Aidan Murphy, Michael Matthews
East Ballarat
First Grade (vs. Darley, Round:1 )
Joshua Brown(c), Tristan Dixon, Jacob Eyers, Nicholas Hynes, Chris Jerram, James Nichols, Bradley Whittaker, Oscar Pryor, John Hayes, Lewis Hodgins, Luke Hodgson
Second Grade (vs. VRI Delacombe, Round:1 )
Jeremy Collier(c), Brayden Ferguson, Craig Brand, Shane Gray, Dominic Cousens, Jeremy Learmonth, Chris Pearce, Mitchell McKee, Tom Miller-Schmetzer, Ben Morcom-Knight, Nate Rieniets, Peter Norman
Third Grade (vs. Ballarat-Redan, Round:1 )
Adam Walters(c), Matthew Dyke, Brad DeJong, Paul Rose, Nathan Mahar, Craig Paxman, Matthew Weybury, Craig McHenry, Gibson Paxman, chris lang, Kyle Ettridge, Riley Williams
Golden Point
First Grade (vs. Ballarat-Redan, Round:1 )
Joshua White(c), Daniel White, Andrew Falkner, Simon Ogilvie, Daniel McDonald, Shaun Hocking, Joshua Richards, Dean Romeril, Manjula De Zoysa, Lachlan Anderson, Andrew Warrick
Second Grade (vs. Napoleons-Sebastopol, Round:1 )
Matthew Swards, Aled Carey, Darcy Osborne, Nick Smith, Joshuah Belleville, Jack Bambury, Benjamin Ogilvie, Tom McKenzie, Nathan Porter, Abdul Mohammed, Laurence Parker, James Lewis
Third Grade (vs. Coronet City, Round:1 )
Timothy Gawne, Anthony Irish, Declan Hart, Alonzo Soloman, James Maggi, Paul Frary, Julian Di Stefano, Noah Maggi, Christopher Delaland, Ikram Din, Alex Radford, Leo Turnbull-Gent
Mt Clear
First Grade (vs. Brown Hill, Round:1 )
Darcy Thomson(c), Jacob Smith, Dylan Achison, Jarrod Burns, Darren Fletcher, Matthew Goonan, Tim Griffith, Brendan Moyle, Les Sandwith, Grant Trevenen, Nathan Yates
Second Grade (vs. Buninyong, Round:1 )
Matthew Ward(c), Jaidyn Achison, Paull Jeffrey, Jeremy Cross, Aaron Burfurd, Jack Tigchelaar, Nathan Achison, Nathan Hucker, David Carton, Isaac Hucker, Jack Jeffrey
Third Grade (vs. North Ballarat, Round:1 )
John Carton(c), Aaron Sharp, Ned Talbot, Brandon Walsh, Garry Cook, Graeme Andrew, Liam Carter, Ben Hassell, Michael Mennen, Ryan Carton, Justin Torresi, Angus Woodcock
Napoleons-Sebastopol
First Grade (vs. North Ballarat, Round:1 )
Daniel Scott(c), Aaron Balzan, Tarkyn Balzan, Luke Corden, Sajith Dissanayaka, Nathan Doonan, Matthew Messemaker, Harry Peirson, Umer Qureshi, Oliver Rogoff, Jonah Healey
Second Grade (vs. Golden Point, Round:1 )
Jade Ramage(c), Michael Gerlach, Corey Hucker, Marcus Probert, Mark Emerson, Dylan Sexton, Benjamin Poursanidis, Lachlan Storey, Mark O'Loughlan, Rory Fisher, Clay Brook
Third Grade (vs. Wendouree Red, Round:1 )
James Shelton(c), Chamisha Fernando, Sam Cowan, Geoff Martin, John Pryor, Matt Shelton, Clinton Howell, Kyle Faulkhead, Samuel Peters, Samuel Poursanidis, Damian Faulkhead, Brayden Sheridan
Third Grade (vs. Darley, Round:1 )
Dilshan Ousmand(c), Anupam Ahlawat, Jerome Fernando, Samitha Kariyawasam, Warnaka Koralage, Sreekanth Lella, Ishan Perera, Badrika Piyumal, Dharshana Ratnayake, Mayur Sehgal, Susheel Sharma, Jayaweera Somawardena
North Ballarat
First Grade (vs. Naps-Sebas, Round:1 )
Leigh Lorenzen(c), Ashley McCafferty, Mick Nolan, Paddy O'Brien, Brett Severino, Mitchell Nicholson, Sam Jackson, Dylan Jellett, Jackson Hayes, Matthew Zakynthinos, Dylan Price
Second Grade (vs. Coronet City, Round:1 )
Thomas McPhan(c), Brodie Bennett, Shane Lench, Jake Stevenson, Cowan Morgan, Aarron Sarra, Jude McGuire, Patrick Corbett
Third Grade (vs. Mt Clear, Round:1 )
Matthew Cations(c), Keiren Chapis, Dean Nichols, Wayne Nichols, Jackson Leech, Patrick Corbett, Daniel Banks, Alexander Martin, Theodore Arnold, James Bawden