Following demmands from supporters, Colts manager age_master today broke his silence and appeared for a media conference with 2 of his star players, W Anderson and B Lee.
age_master: First of all i would like to thank all of you for coming. I would like to start today by outlining our plans for the next season. After the retirement of our captain Lance Klusener at the end of last season we began looking for possible candidates, a tough choice considering the number of senior players we had. In the end though, the choice was obvious. no player has had as much influence on the club im my tima as manager as W Anderson. he has scored alot of runs and player a heck of alot of key innings. its now also his job to guide the side back from its slump after season 2 and win some titles. B Lee will be his deputy. His experience playing in so many places and for a number of quality teams will be vital.
Colts CC management hope that this will prove the most effective leadership of the club so far.
This season we have decided to focus more on the longer version of the game after what i could only call an embarassment in division 4 last season. We have drafted well with the ball, players like Hawkins, Cook, Venkat and Raza will all add alot to the attack. Hawkins and Cook are expected to take on alot of the workload this season. We have also traded in some very good
batsmen in the longer version of the game with the likes of Pieterson and Laxman, who will likley take up positions 3 and 5 in the batting order. For the first time we have also traded in a wicket keeper instead of relying on the draft. L Ronchi will be a fantastic asset for the club for many years to come, both with the goves and with the bat in his hands.
The divisions we find ourselves in this season are the same as the last, 4 in 4 dayers and 2 in 1 dayers, we will particularly be looking to boost our 4 day division. Doing that will be no mean feat however. with Goffy in charge of ACT they will be a very powerful force and should be deserving favourites to take out the division. however beyond that the divsion looks nowhere near as tough as last season. in the One dayers we face sides like Kent and Tamil Nadu, which look tough but both sides, like ours are aimed more at the 4 dayer crown in their respective divisions. should be a good battle but we would certainly want to be contenders for the title nearing the end of the season.
we will now take some questions.
Q. Recently the SA manager claimed that you were looking to trade M Beasley for B Allen, but missed a deadline. is
this the case?
A. age_master: I recently had discussions with the SA manager, inwhich a possible trade was discussed. This trade was however in no way fomalised, i listened to the offer,as i always do, said i would think about it, notify WP - who were very keen on Beasley in the past, and get back to him. AT NO TIME however did he mention any deadline for the trade to me, there is no way that i would be that disorganisedanised.
Q. Some rate this as the weakest colts side since you began managing the club, how do you respond to such accusations.
A. age_master: Suggestions like that are absolutle crap. when i took over the club we had none of the current crop of players, and no stars like we do now like Anderson, Beasley, Lee etc. we hardly had any batsmen at all and our bowlers struggled when the number of overs they had to bowl rose about 25. not one player from that team would make the current side.
Q. Why havn't you had made any public comments since the close of last season?
A. age_master: I was extreamly dissapointed with our performance as a team so we have been at a closed training camp
since the end of last season in Broome in an attempt to strengthen our side for this season.
Q. Last season the batting was a weakness, yet you seem to have strengthened your bowling more than your batting for the coming season?
A. age_master: While that may seem the case through the draft we have recruited players like Laxman, Ronchi and Pieterson through trading which will strengthen the batting overall.
Q. Whats it like to be named captain of one of the clubs in WCC who are batting for identity and could fall over if there arn't better results this season?
A. W Anderson: I hardly think that this club will fall over if we dont improve our results. cricket is a complex game and form slumps arn't always easy to get out of. All we can do this season is look to perform well as a team, and individually we have to give 110%.
Q. Yesterday you traded one of the better young keepers in the competition to Free State for a seemingly inferior keeper, is there some sort of tactic in place here of is the club just being charitable?
A. age_master: In some ways it was an act of charity, Free state's previous manager left the club in a pretty harendous state for a largley unknown reason. their stocks of 4d players were particularly low, and seeing as Ambose was probably goping to spend a large part of this season on the bench i thought it would be a nice thing to do to trade him to FS.
Q. Given the state of the clubs bating stocks its hardly in a position to be charitable.
A. age_master: As i said Ambrose was likley to spend the bulk of the season on the bench as the reserve keeper, as such i didn't see a need to keep him at the club doing nothing, maybe playing only one or two games during the season.
Q. As vice captain Brett, you will obviously be taking on a leading role with the ball, but also in teaching some of the younger bowlers in your squad. which of these bowlers do you think will perform the best in the coming season.
A. B lee: well mate we have alot of taleneted young bowlers at the club at the moment and mate, i reakon that hawkins might be the pick of the rest of the bowlers, hes got alot of pace, similar to myeslf mate, and he doesn't take as many wickets as me mate, but he hardly has any runs scored off him, so i think we will have a good bowling partnership mate.
Q. Which side do you rate as the best in the competition going into the season, and do you think any sides will spring
out of the woodwork like Victoria did last season?
A. age_master: Well i think that SA will still be a very difficalt side to beat, though Karna will always be dangerous. i dont think SA will be as successful as last season, though they will probably still end up with the title. outside division 1 i think TN will do very well this season, though the manager only seemingly wants to beat Warwickshire. if they are going to make a name for themselves i think it has to be this season, i really cant see them getting any better than they are now. Free State should also do quite well in division 5.
Q. What about in terms of individual players?
A. age_master: outside of my own team i expect players like Allen, Darden and Llewellyn to pile on the runs, and bowlers like N Kumble, O Clarke, Stratton to take loads of wickets. surprises are too hard to pick with individual players, anyone can perform or not, its up to the individual to give thier best.
Q. What are your thoughts on the new cup format?
A. W Anderson: I think it will be good to have a slight change from the normal fixtures, will be good for the crowds too, my only other suggestion would be to take the game to the people and play all the games at neutral venues al around the rest of the world.
B Lee: I agree, i would love to get teh chance to play in places like the USA, Canada, maybe even Fiji or Vanuatu.
age_master: well thanks for coming but we should get back to training, if there is demmand we can hold another
conference later this week, thanks again.