QUEANBEYAN Cricket veteran Vinesh Bennett says he plans to improve the work ethic of the new-look, young first grade side, after he was recently appointed to a coaching role at the club.
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While he will still play as a middle-order batsman, and possibly still wicket-keep from time to time, he will oversee a lot of the team's coaching at training, and will work with new captain Sam Taylor, vice-captain Dean Solway, and club president Pete Solway to make the young side competitive in this season's Cricket ACT grade competition.
The average age of the 2015/15 first grade side will be just 19 to 20, with the loss of hundreds of games of experience in Jono Dean and former captain/coach Blake Dean, as well as strike bowlers Vele Dukoski and Josh Bennett, along with Cowra-based batsman Michael Curtale.
Bennett said the club was craving a big effort and commitment from its young roster this season, and he planned to inject that in his men.
"It's about instilling that work ethic into the players, and it'll be interesting to see how that goes this season," Bennett said.
Although he will still pad up for the team, he said his role in it was still unclear, and said his focus was ensuring the younger players would be able to develop their games to first grade standard.
"Having them work harder breeds two things," he said.
"The want to work for 12 hours in a two-day game, and also it teaches each individual that a game of cricket isn't won in a session, where in the past that's what they're been used to."
"Now it's all about establishing themselves and finding their own way within the Queanbeyan Cricket Club."
The 39-year old will carry the most experience of any player in the Queanbeyan side this season, but said he felt no pressure on himself to pile on the runs or take wickets with his part-time bowling.
"There will still be other older heads around the club like Mick Frost, Adrian Brunker and Pete Solway to look over my shoulder, so I won't feel any pressure at all," he said.
"I've already spoken with the more senior players around the group as well, and they'll be driving things as well on game day, and making sure we get the small things right, as opposed to trying to be great from the word 'go'."
The professional cricket bat maker will also be representing Australia at next week's indoor cricket world cup in New Zealand, and said juggling his indoor cricket commitments with work and coaching Queanbeyan would be challenging this season.
"The next few months are going to be pretty full-on," he said.
