By Marcus Uhe
A long winter of frustration and disappointment is nearing its conclusion for Parkfield Cricket Club as it gears up for another summer in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 2 competition, with renewed expectations and pressure on the back of an excellent 2023/24 season.
The juxtaposition between the good and the bad, however, is fuelling the motivation to go one better this time around, having succumbed to Dandenong West by five wickets in last season’s grand final.
Steve Cannon, captain at the Bandits, hasn’t addressed the result as a collective with his teammates, the vast majority of which are back at Parkfield Reserve for another shot at glory.
The all-rounder and long-time leader at the club doesn’t believe he’s had to; he can see it in his teammates’ eyes.
“I’ve spoken to pretty much every player over the winter and caught up with them for a coffee or beer and for me, it’s good because everybody’s hurting over it – it just showed that it meant so much to us,” Cannon said.
“We’ll get together for a goals or season plan meeting in the next week or so, but for the most part, everybody’s just burning from it.
“It hurt us big time, but the determination of the guys coming back, they’ve got that steel to them.
“They do look like they’re pretty engaged and really want to recoup it.”
With just three losses last season, there’s not too much that needs to change, however the Bandits have made some key additions.
Most notably, Sahan Jayawardana has arrived at the club, fresh off an excellent season with Narre Warren where he was named in the 2023/24 Turf 2 Team of the Year for his all-round capabilities.
The sentiment from the grand final loss, a game in which they let a solid start with the bat slip through their fingers and could not build sufficient pressure with the ball, was that they missed a chance to put a foot on the throat of the Bulls and capitalise on the foundations.
Eager to not suffer the same fate, Cannon is pleased with the internal motivation his players have shown, making extra effort to get to training on time and show the buy-in to the program that took them so far last season.
The external perception, however, has shifted, with the Bandits now having a target on their back and seen as one of the teams to beat.
Cannon doesn’t shy away from the reality; where the opportunity to maximise a firm grounding alluded them in last season’s decider; there is a determination to not allow for that again over the course of the season.
“The message would be, we’re now the hunted; everybody’s going to be after us this year, they’re going to want to beat us for that reason,” Cannon said.
“We can’t just rest on our laurels and say ‘we’re going to make a grand final again’ – it just doesn’t work like that.
“The guys, they’ve played for a long time, it doesn’t just happen.
“Hopefully, we’re all on board with that and remember what got us to the grand final which was hard work, selfless cricket, team cricket – we didn’t just make it on the back of a couple of blokes doing all the work for us.
