Nick Ansell appointed new Warrnambool District Cricket Association general manager

Ansell, 28, has taken on the role as general manager for the association, succeeding long-time sports administrator Michael Harrison, who finished up after a 10-year stint.

"Its a wealth of experience on the way out but Michael's loved his time and given a lot to cricket and I'm sure he'll still be around the cricket in a less formal role," Ansell said.

The former Warrnambool Standard sport journalist said he was excited to take up a role within the sport.

"(WDCA chairman) Gordon McLeod reached out to me and mentioned the role was available," he said.

"I've loved covering cricket through my time at The Standard and I really enjoy the community and people involved it in. I thought it would be a good opportunity to stay involved in it and try my hand at sports administration in addition to my work (as communications coordinator at Brophy)."

While Ansell will spearhead the administration side of the league, he also wants to use his nous in the communication space to aid the promotion of the league.

"That's a part of it that excites me because I have that background," he said. "It's seeing how we can improve our digital marketing presence. It's growing relationships with media and just getting people excited about cricket."

Ansell believes the state of cricket in the region remains in a good spot.

"This season you're bringing Northern Raiders into division one, Mortlake's flagged its intent to come into the association," he said. "You've got a lot of exciting things. You can definitely say with confidence it will only get bigger and better."

Meanwhile, growth in women's and junior cricket continues to go from strength-to-strength.

"At our board meeting (on Monday) our junior president brought up data about how many teams were in the association now compared to 10 years ago," Ansell said. "It was astronomical growth. From a junior perspective it's about sustaining that and making sure kids still want to go and play cricket.

"And women's cricket is a huge focus for us. We've got a really good base behind us and the growth potential is enormous. We want to see it thrive and reach the next level."

Ansell reiterated he was open to outside ideas for how to help the league prosper.

"There is a million different ideas floating around and people are passionate about cricket and want to see it do well," he said. "I certainly want people to feel heard and their ideas to feel heard because no idea is a bad idea. It's just about channelling them in the right way."

Meanwhile, Allansford's Jacob Bloom will replace Alastair Templeton as the junior director of coaching.

MORE SPORT:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard: