UNITED should live up to its "perennial power" status by again being among the top flag contenders in the Emu Valley Cricket Association this season.
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The Tigers are coming off a runners-up finish after losing last season's grand final to Emu Creek by 20 runs.
Gun all-rounder Harry Whittle is again at the helm as skipper for a third year and the Tigers have all of their grand final team from last season returning and hungry to go one better.
"We haven't lost anyone from the team last season and I can tell you we're all really looking forward to it," Whittle said.
"We've got a very motivated group with an average age in the mid-20s and, hopefully, we can keep together for a few years and keep building and improving.
"Losing the grand final last year obviously hurt the boys; we had our chances and all the boys are really keen to go around again this season and try to go all the way."
The Tigers' batting will again be headlined by the trio of Alex Code, Broderick Williams and Whittle, who between them had a combined average last season of 129.6 as they contributed more than half the team's runs.
And there will be no shortage of options with the ball for the Tigers as shown by the fact that last season there were only 10 players who took more than 20 wickets in the competition and four were United players - Jarrod Starr (26), James Smith (24), Harry Whittle (24) and Kane Goldsworthy (21).
"With the ball we think we're fairly well balanced," Whittle said.
"We've got two or three blokes who just take wickets for fun and then we've got two or three blokes who might not take a lot of wickets, but they just don't get hit for runs.
"We've got a tight knit group and are all just really keen to get the season going.
"Knowing that we haven't been able to start playing until mid-November and with the COVID situation it has been hard, but over the past few weeks you can just see that everyone has got itchy feet.
"We've been getting twice as many people at training the past few weeks as what we were a month ago.
"We pride ourselves on the way we go about our cricket... we've got really good batting depth and seven or eight bowlers we can call upon, so hopefully, we can play a good consistent year of cricket and give ourselves another opportunity."
The Tigers won't have to wait long to get a crack at the side that cost them the premiership last season.
After taking on Marong in their season-opener this Saturday the Tigers will face Emu Creek at Ewing Park in the grand final re-match in round two on November 20.
SEASON FIXTURE:
ROUND 1 - November 13
v Marong (a)
............................................
ROUND 2 - November 20
v Emu Creek (h)
............................................
ROUND 3 - November 27
v California Gully (a)
............................................
ROUND 4 - December 4
Bye
............................................
ROUND 5 - December 11
v West Bendigo (h)
............................................
ROUND 6 - December 18
v Mandurang (h)
............................................
ROUND 7 - January 8
v Axe Creek (h)
............................................
ROUND 8 - January 15
v Sedgwick (h)
............................................
ROUND 9 - January 22
v Spring Gully (a)
............................................
ROUND 10 - January 29
v Marong (h)
............................................
ROUND 11 - February 5
v Emu Creek (a)
............................................
ROUND 12 - February 12
v California Gully (h)
............................................
ROUND 13 - February 19
v West Bendigo (a)
............................................
ROUND 14 - February 26
Bye
............................................
ROUND 15 - March 5
v Axe Creek (a)
............................................
ROUND 16 - March 12
v Sedgwick (a)
LAST SEASON FLASHBACK:
Finished - 2nd
Record - 10-5-3, 1.34%
Batting rank - 4th
Bowling rank - 3rd
............................................
Leading run-scorers:
481 - Alex Code
385 - Broderick Williams
289 - Harry Whittle
222 - Joe Hartney
131 - Kane Goldsworthy
122 - Mac Whittle
............................................
Leading wicket-takers:
26 - Jarrod Starr
24 - James Smith
24 - Harry Whittle
21 - Kane Goldsworthy
12 - Mitch Whittle
8 - Mac Whittle
............................................
Leading MVP points:
869 - Harry Whittle
618 - Jarrod Starr
616 - Kane Goldsworthy
586 - Alex Code
573 - James Smith
452 - Joe Hartney
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORDS SINCE 2006:
v Axe Creek
Won: 9 Lost: 2
............................................
v California Gully
Won: 12 Lost: 3
............................................
v Emu Creek
Won: 9 Lost: 9
............................................
v Mandurang
Won: 10 Lost: 6
............................................
v Marong
Won: 15 Lost: 4 Tied: 1
............................................
v Sedgwick
Won: 11 Lost: 6
............................................
v Spring Gully
Won: 15 Lost: 8
............................................
v West Bendigo
Won: 10 Lost: 7
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