DARLING DINGOES UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Winding down the range into the big smoke, the Dingoes are looking to go 1 better in BPL|02.

Buoyed by a clinical all round team performance last season, all eyes are on the Dingoes this Century.

A result of success and good business had seen some players picked up in the Auction for BPL|01 unavailable for a host of reasons.

After stellar grade and BPL seasons, Sam Truloff has been made unavailable due to gaining a full time Queensland Bulls Contract.

Blake Maher’s troublesome knee has hindered his ability to play this year as well leaving two massive holes to fill in the Dingoes squad come BPL|02 and trade period.

A full list of retained players ensured that 6 spots of experienced BPL campaigners are ready to mix it in with some big name recruits. These retained players are Zachary Beveridge, Steve McGiffin, Brandon Faber, Brendan McNae, Saveen Nanayakkara and Nicholas King.

A monster trade between the Pirates and Dingoes saw top order maestro Arian Jain go to the Pirates from the Dingoes in exchange for experienced seam bowler Joshua Henderson and $600,000. A nice little top up to the kitty of the Dingoes ready for the Auction. It’s clear to see that the Dingoes were ready to splash the cash to fill their spots.

Brother of Australian All Rounder Sean Abbott, Ben has been picked as their pre auction interstate allocated player. Himself a hard hitting premier cricketer from New South Wales is sure to add some more firepower to the Dingoes line up to help replace the absence of Maher and Truloff. So much so that in NSW Premier Cricket he is blitzed two centuries in a day of T20 cricket, including a new grade record! Ben peeled off 126 off 52 (100 in 35 balls) as well as 115 off 59 balls playing for Parramatta. Here’s hoping we see this sort of fireworks in the Century!

After some quality list management in the trade period, the Dingoes went into auction night with 6 players to get and a cool $3.1 million to splash.

Local Toowoomba product and South East Queensland Country rep ​​Pieter van der Kooij was taken first by the Dingoes for $50,000. Another addition to the top order class in former Bulls contracted batsman Corey Hunter for $550,000. Corey played as a COVID replacement player last year for the Marlins and will definitely add some class and aggression when coming out to bat.

Young Grayson Jones will be making an appearance again in the BPL but this time in different colors. Jones was picked up by the Dingoes after not being retained by the Southern Rockets this year and was purchased at auction for $300,000 after some very consistent and eye-catching performances in grade cricket.

Perhaps one of the highlights of the night came up when former First Class wicket keeper/bat Adam Crosthwaite was up for auction. A bidding war between 3 franchises saw the Dingoes eventual winners with their man being snapped up for $1,600,000. Unfortunately Adam has since had to withdraw from the tournament as his coaching contract in the USA has since been extended. The Dingoes have since called up talented SA 2nd X1 keeper bat Joshua Barrett to replace him. A worthy addition to the Dingoes lineup and will add some maturity, leadership and experience that more than makes up for the last minute loss of Crosthwaite.

Rounding out the Dingoes list brings Toombul speedster Dan Cranitch ($50,000) and Qld Country All Rounder from Bundaberg Arden Lankowski (replacement for Ryan King who was unable to participate due to a SA rookie upgrade over the winter).

Will it be the year of the Dingoes? It may look a little bit different with their stars from BPL|01 missing, but with some key decisions, and crafty list management, the Dingoes have still managed to create a balanced and dangerous line up ready for players to put their hand up and showcase their talent.