The Coro Cougars will look to hit the ground running this season when they take on Exies Eagles in the first game to be played underlights at Exies Oval this season.
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It will be a somewhat new-look top order for the Cougars after long time opener Dean Bennett made the switch across to Diggers this season.
The Cougars have made a couple of handy acquisitions to try and fill the hole left by Bennett, and Coro captain Haydn Pascoe is happy with the position his side is in heading into the clash.
"Obviously, a big one for us is Dean, who headed to Diggers which is going to be a big loss," he said.
"But we have picked up Hicko (Brendan Hicken) and get a handy player from Narrandera in Brent Lawrence. It is going to be an interesting season for us, but it should be good."
Hicken is capable of ripping apart a bowling attack with his aggressive batting style, while Lawrence is a handy batter who has an average 22.62 during his past eight seasons with the Carpheads and scored six fifties in that time, including a 62 last season and is also a decent contributor with his slow bowling.
The Narrandera recruit could be an option to bowl the overs normally taken up by Bennett, but Pascoe said they might look to one of their veterans to fill that hole.
"Old Hutch (Shane Hutchinson) was bowling to us in the nets the other day, and he is still landing them on a dime," he said.
"We will go with him for round one, and hopefully, he can pick up from where he left off."
Pascoe is also looking at the season as a chance to blood some of the younger players with a permanent place in the first-grade side.
"We are going to have a couple of young fellas who are going to have a good crack in Jack Rand and Benny Signor," he said.
"We have picked up Thomas Camm from Leeton as well, who had been playing in our third-grade side as well. It will be good exposure for the young blokes this year."
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The Cougars fell in the elimination final last season after they suffered an inconsistent ending to the season.
Pascoe is targetting laying a strong foundation to build from in the opening stages of the season, but he won't be taking Exies lightly despite the tough season they had in 2020/21.
"If we can play some consistent cricket week in week out and get some early wins on the board, that will get the confidence up," he said.
"Most teams in Griffith on their day can beat anyone. We will just play the game as it is unfolding."
The first ball between the Cougars and the Eagles will be delivered at 2pm on Saturday.
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