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TAYLOR Beard is on the move from Sandhurst proud of playing his part in the Dragons' drought-breaking premiership, but still with unfinished BDCA business.
All-rounder Beard has spent the past four seasons at the Dragons - including three as coach - but has made the decision to head back to his former club, Echuca, in the Goulburn Murray Cricket Association.
Beard's departure from the Dragons comes on the back of him having just won the club's Noel Turner Memorial award for the third time with 84 votes.
"It's purely family reasons for this decision... I want to be closer to my parents, grandparents and partner's family and this is the opportunity to do so on weekends," Beard said on Saturday.
"It's also the chance to give my cricket a bit of a freshen up as well.
"I've probably become a little bit stale with three years in a row of coaching taking it out of me a bit, so this is a chance to just get back and enjoy playing cricket again."
The highlight of Beard's four-year stint at the Dragons was coaching Sandhurst's 2017-18 premiership, which broke a 39-year first XI flag drought.
The Dragons beat powerhouse Strathdale-Maristians by four wickets in the grand final at the QEO to win their first flag since 1979.
"That was a great year for the club and I'll certainly look back on that for many years to come... it's definitely the biggest highlight of my cricketing career so far and, hopefully, I can do something similar back at Echuca," Beard said.
"I probably feel though that I haven't accomplished everything I wanted to in the BDCA... I think my bowling has been up to scratch, but I didn't put that big score together that I would have wanted.
"And then to drop off the past couple of years since winning the flag has been a bit disappointing, but there's still a very talented young group there and it's probably the right time to get a new voice in."
Beard departs the Dragons with 109 wickets (eight five-fors) and 1127 runs over his four-year stint, and while he didn't make a century for Sandhurst, he did for the BDCA at Melbourne Country Week with 110 against Warrnambool on day one of the 2017 carnival.
SANDHURST 2019-20 VOTE COUNTS:
FIRST XI (Noel Turner Memorial)
1st - Taylor Beard, 84
2nd - Shasheen
Fernando, 57
3rd - Ben Leed, 46
4th - Matt Combe, 44
5th - Joel Murphy, 34
............................................
SECOND XI
1st - Jack Ryan, 46
2nd - Ben Yarwood, 45
3rd - Alex Winfield, 43
4th - Nahid Hossain, 37
4th - Ash Gray, 37
5th - Jasper Langley, 29
............................................
THIRD XI
1st - Tony Medhurst, 60
2nd - Jacob Smith, 57
3rd - Josh Sheehan, 46
4th - Andrew Hodgson, 29
5th - Michael Coombs, 26
............................................
FOURTH XI
1st - Martyn
McDonnell, 54
2nd - Nava Kolli, 52
3rd - Pat Stanton, 44
4th - Logan Van Der
Hagen, 20
5th - Anil Reddy Ami, 18
5th - Michael Coombs, 18
5th - Ethan Coombs, 18
............................................
UNDER-18S
1st - Nahid Hossain, 81
2nd - Kayde Howard, 53
3rd - Matt Morgan, 51
4th - Jasper Langley, 48
5th - Liam Gill, 27
2019-20 SEASON CLUB REVIEW SERIES SO FAR:
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