MIL Lel will be a different beast with new-captain Jack Miller ready to steer the ship for the upcoming 2019/20 Barber Shield cricket season.
The 21-year-old will take over the leadership position from club-stalwart Craig Lock, who led the team in the past three seasons.
During Lock’s tenure, Mil Lel failed to reach finals and finished bottom of the ladder last season.
The side was inconsistent throughout 2018-19, with flashes of brilliance overshadowed by challenging days in the field.
But Miller’s appointment leads to a new era for the club, with its youth ready to take over the mantle and continue their rise up the ranks of South East cricket.
Miller said he hopes the “more mature” young players can play an aggressive brand of cricket to push the club up the ladder.
“Last year we showed how we do not hold back and we are going to be up for a fight that is for sure,” he said.
“I want us to take the next step and this season will be a coming of age moment.
“You have to get on top of your opponent somehow, so we will look to be a bit more fierce and aggressive.”
Despite Mil Lel just scoring the one win last season, the club’s shining light was the emergence of multiple young stars.
Among this group was Ben Thiel, who was the second-highest wicket taker last season with 25 scalps and will look to go one better this time.
Tom Nieuwerkerk will hope to play a full season without injury interruption and show the depth of his talent, while Miller himself is also a potent threat with the ball.
Kaidyn Weber and the Megaw brothers are also players who will look to prove their worth at the top level and could be handy options with both bat and ball.
With more experienced options in Lock and Jonathan Allcock, Miller will have a solid attack at his disposal.
The new captain is no stranger to the role, as Miller led the A Grade side on seven separate occasions across all formats last season.
Miller said he feels ready to take the extra step to full-time captaincy in the same fashion as his predecessor.
“I have done a fair bit of captaincy before in the last few years,” he said.
“It (captaincy) happened to Craig at the same age and he just got chucked in the deep end.
“Obviously it is a bigger step from one-dayers to Barber Shield, but I am definitely up for the challenge.”
He said his elevation to the senior role has been groomed for a period of time and it was just a matter of when, not if he would follow in Lock’s footsteps
“It has come over time you could say,” Miller said.
“He (Lock) always had the mantle there for me, but it was just a matter of time.”
Mil Lel will have the luxury of playing with a settled squad in 2019-20 with no player movements across the senior grades.
However, if the same squad hopes to play finals this season, its output with the bat will need to improve.
Just two Mil Lel players reached the half-century milestone in 10 games last season, as many players struggled to convert on promising starts.
These batting woes reached a climax in the opening game of 2018-19, when Mil Lel was bowled out for the dismal total of just 29 against eventual-premier North Sportsman’s.
Miller is well aware of his side’s weakness and said it is down to the lack of composure at the crease.
“I think it is just adding more maturity through the batting order,” he said.
“We have a lot of people who seem to edge it pretty quickly and we need them to batten down the ship and play every ball on its merits.”
It is for this reason Miller will target the shortest formats of the game to find success in this season’s Barber Shield.
He believes the limited-overs matches better suit his side and hopes that form can translate into the red-ball game and possibly a finals berth.
“The aim will be to target more short-form cricket and build on Barber Shield from that,” Miller said.
“With most of our batsmen being more aggressive, our squad is more suited to the shorter formats, which is where I hope to get some success.
“Finals is never out of the question, but we will take it game by game and see how the season plays out.”
