Sport
21 November, 2025
English trio helps take Maryborough Cricket Club to A grade upper echelon
The Maryborough Cricket Club has so far exceeded all expectations during their much-anticipated return to the MDCA A grade, with the help of a talented trio from the other side of the world.
A serious buzz swooned around the Owls’ nest when the club announced the arrival of Englishmen Oliver Bennett, Alex Burrow and Elliot Ashburn.
After spending a year away from the MDCA’s premier competition, Maryborough was keen to make a splash in the ever-growing international pathway.
Burrow, who arrived from Nottingham for his first stint in Australia, said assisting a team hoping to regain its footing was an exciting aspect of a personal long-term ambition.
“I just finished school and I talked to my parents about seeing how I could branch out in the world,” he said.
“I always wanted to come to Australia and this is such a good opportunity to do some travelling and include that with cricket as well.”
With their English trifecta in tow, Maryborough has flown out of the gates this season, winning four of their first seven games as they currently sit comfortably inside the overall finals places in third.
Playing in a different country forces cricketers to become accustomed to new conditions with contrasting weather, pitch variance, ground size and even the cricket ball itself.
However, opener Bennett has acclimatised to his new surroundings like a duck to water, currently ranking fourth in the A grade run-scoring charts with an average of 47.2.
Bennett, who passed 600 runs in the Northamptonshire County League in 2025, is one of three international players in the category’s top five alongside Laanecoorie Dunolly’s Nafis Shaikh and Colts Phelans all-rounder Asim Akhtar.
“From a cricketing point of view, I wanted to better my game and sort of improve certain aspects and just personally it’s a new challenge for myself with the change in scenery,” Bennett said.
“You only have 10 rounds of the one-day competition and if you lose some quickly, you are out of that competition.
“Being able to adapt quickly and finding new formulas for scoring runs have been the challenges, but it’s good fun.”
By his own admission, Burrow has “struggled to adapt” to playing in Australia so far, but he has been a valuable top-order bat for the Owls, top-scoring with a run a ball 48 in Maryborough’s 45-run win over Clunes.
While Bennett and Burrow’s involvement has predominantly come with the bat, Ashburn has delivered with the ball, sitting just outside the top 10 wicket-takers with eight breakthroughs this season.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like this. It’s really going to help my career as a cricketer with the experience of playing in different conditions,” Ashburn said.
“It’s a lot different than what I thought it was going to be. Obviously, the ball is a lot lighter than what we play with at home, and the decks are a lot harder, so it took me a while to adapt to that.
“Obviously, I’m still getting used to it, but it’s a good experience to play on wickets like that.”
Complementing their on-field success, Bennett said the club has been very accommodating, quickly building strong connections with locals and his English counterparts.
With only three games left in the one-day season, followed by five two-day encounters, Bennett hopes to bring team success to his new club.
“It’s nice to have people who are in the same boat as you, obviously you have got shared interests from coming over for the same thing, so you have that kickstart to friendships,” he said.
“There’s never a dull moment, (the club) does a really good job of keeping you busy with things to do and I think it being a quiet rural town allows you to relax and settle in a little easier.
“For a team where it’s their first season back in A grade, you want to try and go take the team as far as you possibly can and score runs against the bigger sides.”