THE Ballarat Bolts will get their premiership defence underway on Sunday in WCCC North West Division A season with a home match against Clifton Hill.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bolts, last season's premiers, will head into the new year full of confidence, and possibly even with a slight advantage over their rivals given they have been able to train since September, while many of their Melbourne-based opponents have only resumed in the past couple of weeks.
Coach Emily McNeight said the whole squad was looking forward to finally getting back out onto Eastern Oval this week.
READ MORE SPORT:
"We're all very excited," she said.
"Its been a long time coming. With the COVID and vaccine restrictions, we weren't sure when we could get back out there on the park, so it's great to finally have a date set.
"We're really excited to get to play the first game at home."
the WCCC A Grade has expanded from six teams to eight teams this season, something McNeight is thrilled to see.
The opening round fixture will be against one of their fiercest rivals in recent seasons, Clifton Hill.
"We drew one game against them last season, they are a good team, a good opposition," she said. "We only had the six teams last season, so it's great to see it growing and expanding out."
The Bolts this season will field three sides, the WCCC A Grade, a North West B team and a thirds team which will play in the Gisborne league.
"We're thrilled we've got three teams," she said.
"We were about 50-50 about the threes because you just never know with how things have been going. For a lot of sports participation in the sport has been at an all time low.
"For a lot of clubs, there's issues with finances and attracting players.
"We've been fortunate that a lot of work on social media has attracted some new players that have literally just come along to training."
McNeight said the goal would of course be aiming for another premiership, but she said the first aim would be to get to play strong cricket all round, and that would hopefully see the results take care of themselves.
She said a number of young players, many still aged 15-16 who experienced success last season, had matured even more this season.
Ballarat Bolts Fixture
Clifton Hill (h), Holy Trinity (a), Coburg (h), Altona Roosters (a), Melton Centrals (h), Craigieburn (h), Clifton Hill (a), Holy Trinity (h), Coburg (a), Altona Roosters (h), Melton Centrals (a) Melbourne University (h), Craigieburn (a)
