The Coastal Marlins will be looking to better their performances from BPL|01 in the upcoming Century campaign.
With a new look leadership group, headlined by key inclusion of Jay Lenton as Captain/Coach, the Marlins will definitely be looking to make an impact this year. Lenton, their first purchased player in the inaugural BPL auction, was unable to play in last season’s edition due to border closers that affected BPL|01. After coming off a mammoth grade season for Manly in the NSW Premier Cricket and finding himself back in the BBL for the Sydney Sixers, viewers are sure to be entertained if Jay gets going.
The Marlins retained 4 of their maximum of 6 players from last year’s squad with hard hitting allrounder Lloyd Aspin, Interstate gun Adam Sommerfield and country top order hard hitting batter Kris Glass all back to support Lenton.
A busy trade period saw spinners Goppy Ramgharia and Mitch Cook traded in for some cash. They bolstered their spin stocks by securing young gun interstate recruit and NSW 2nd X1 talent Joel Davies (brother of Thunder hard hitter Ollie). Donal Whyte comes in to add some much needed support to Somerfield and Aspin to ensure the Marlins pace attack has some depth before auction night began.
In hindsight, it was quite clear who their main target was after Auction night with former County cricketer Nick Selman, also a Sunshine Coast local going for a record $1.93 million. The addition of Selman provides that extra touch of quality in the top order that was most likely missing after not making the finals last year.
Some other key additions to round out the squad included two highly rated country cricketers, Nathan Van Eekeren from Bundaberg, and Mackay’s Mason Koehler will provide some much needed strength in the fast bowling department as well as former Gold Coast Waveriders fast bowler Kush Ram who also produced some eye catching spells in BPL|01.
Finally, rounding out the squad are two young guns in Judd Markham (Gold Coast Dolphins and QLD U19s) and young Sunshine Coast prodigy Joel Owen who will look to learn as much as he can off his spin bowling team mates.
Can the Marlins string some performances together to burst through the top 4 and play finals in BPL|02? It’s all about how the group comes together on the weekend!
Marlins Player of the Series – Jay Lenton
BPL Prediction – Joel Davies to take catch of the tournament
One to watch – Judd Markham
