Camperdown set for return to South West Cricket's division one

The Lakers, who made a brief appearance in division one in 2015-16 before returning to division two last summer, will take a largely young group into this season.

“Our success is going to be judged on how we start the year to how we finish the year,” Fisher said.

“There’s not a lot of expectations, coming from division two last year.”

Long-term Pomborneit player Fisher is one of the more experienced players for the Camperdown team, which features Melbourne Country Week representative Jye McLaughlin.

Returning Lakers Bernard McLeod – a potential opening bowler – and spinner Simon Richardson will also boost the team’s stocks.

“There’ll be four or five players that have played division one before in the side,” Fisher said.

“It’ll be pretty exciting to see how the young ones go.

“I’m still trying to finalise a couple of players, but we’ve got a few players coming back to the club that haven’t played (here) for a couple of seasons, and then we’ve got a few young kids that are fairly handy cricketers.”

Fisher has been particularly impressed by Western Waves junior bowler Jack Atkins over the pre-season.

“I’d heard some good things about him, but crossing over and getting to see him training (has been an eye-opener),” the captain said.

Fisher, who spent nearly two decades at South West rival Pomborneit through juniors and seniors, said he was still finding his feet at his new club, but has enjoyed his time so far.

Camperdown dropped back to division two for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons and returned to the second-tier division again last summer, but is ready for a fresh crack at the top grade.

The team will be given a baptism of fire when it takes on powerhouse Mortlake, which has won five of the past six South West Cricket division one flags, in a Twenty20 match at D.C. Farran Oval on Saturday morning.

The Lakers will then take on T20 heavyweight Noorat in the afternoont at Noorat Recreation Reserve.

“From division two last year to stepping up against the reigning premier: it’ll be a good experience for the kids, to see what level they need to reach,” Fisher said.

Saturday will feature two rounds of T20 matches in a revamped competition for South West Cricket.

The association used to run a knockout T20 tournament post-Christmas, but now six rounds of matches over three weeks – and a seventh preceding the T20 grand final on January 7 – will count towards premiership points, with a win worth six points and a draw worth three.