Back In Black | Short & Weatherald Return For Top End T20

A squad of 14 players have been selected by Simon Helmot (Head Coach), Dylan Slater (NTC Coach Development Specialist) and Tony Judd (Coaching Consultant), with an exciting mix of established stars, local talent and generation next. 

Katherine born Short (Palmerston Cricket Club) is currently contracted to the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) for the 2024-25 Domestic Season, as well as the Adelaide Strikers for KFC BBL|14, but returns to the NT Strike side for the first time since 2022. Short recently became the first Territorian to win a Sheffield Shield to go with his 8 One Day Internationals and 23 T20 Internationals. 

Darwin born Weatherald (Tracy Village Cricket Club) is currently contracted to Cricket Tasmania (CTAS) for the 2024-25 Domestic Season, while also lining up alongside Short for the Adelaide Strikers in KFC BBL|14. The left-hand opener had a number of match winning knocks in BBL|13, helping the Strikers to the finals and becoming the first Striker to make 2000 runs in the Big Bash League (BBL).  

The destructive openers will be joined at the top of the order by two local power hitters in Jacob Dickman (Darwin Cricket Club) and Connor Carroll (Nightcliff Cricket Club), with the former widely considered the best bat in the 2024 Darwin and Districts Cricket Competition (DDCC) and latter having amassed 660 runs across 14 matches.  

Exciting 18-year-old quick Tom Menzies (Darwin Cricket Club) returns from a winter playing cricket in England, with the youngster eager to display the type of form that saw him selected for the Australia U19 Squad for a 2023 Tour of the United Kingdom.  

The core of Matt Hammond (Southern Districts Cricket Club), Coby Edmonstone (PINT Cricket Club), Harshtik Bimbral (Palmerston Cricket Club) and Hamish Martin (Palmerston Cricket Club) will all return for the 2024 Top End T20 Series, having been an integral part of the side that won the title last year. While talented 20-year old spinner Charlie Smith (Nightcliff Cricket Club) gets an opportunity after taking a ton of wickets this season and last.

A season ending injury to incumbent keeper Michael Kudra (Nightcliff Cricket Club) provides an opportunity for the experienced Isaac Conway (Waratah Cricket Club) to take the gloves and represent the Northern Territory senior side for the first time.

Exciting 16-year old keeping prospect Cadell McMahon (Palmerston Cricket Club) earns his place with the senior side for the first time, having impressed in the senior grades of the Darwin and Districts Cricket Competition and Junior Strike League.

Imports Lachlan Bangs (Southern Districts Cricket Club) and Calean Maladay (Nightcliff Cricket Club) bring some much-needed pace bowling and balance to the squad, with both players impressing with their skill set and performances in the 2024 and 2023 Darwin and Districts Cricket Competition respectively.

Northern Territory Cricket CEO Gavin Dovey said it was hard to put a price on the value of Short and Weatherald choosing to come back and play for the NT Strike.

“D’Arcy has just been superb from the moment I started in the role. From day one he has said anytime he can come back and play for the NT he is going to. At the moment he is available, so he said count me in.  

“I was lucky to spend a bit of time with D’Arcy when he played for Australia and he’s just a wonderful person. Very low key, very understated but what a talent, he’s a match winner, and he showed last year that he still belongs at the elite level of the game.

“I’ve not spent a lot of time with Jake, but I'm looking forward to seeing him in the ochre and black. I remember when Australia had a training camp in Darwin in 2017, he filled-in in an inter-squad match for us and had the best innings in the game.”

NT Cricket have also selected four Development Players, Matthew St Clair (15yrs, Southern Districts Cricket Club), Ralph Stephens (15yrs, Darwin Cricket Club), Nicholas Fleming (17yrs, Nightcliff Cricket Club) and Archie McCormick (17yrs, Waratah Cricket Club), who have been chosen to gain further experience in and around the senior squad.  

The NT Strike will be led by Jacob Dickman who replaces 2023 winning skipper Matt Hammond who may not be available for the entire tournament.  

The NT Strike will play 2 x 50 Over warm up games in the lead-in to the Top End T20 Series, with the first fixture against Bangladesh ‘A’ on Thursday 1 August at TIO Stadium at 1pm (D/N), before a second fixture against Pakistan ‘A’ on Sunday 4 August at Gardens Oval at 10am. 

The NT Strike will kick off their Top End T20 Series campaign against the 5-time BBL Champions, Perth Scorchers in the opening match of the tournament on Friday 9 August at DXC Arena, followed by a Sunday country clash at Gerry Wood Oval against the Adelaide Strikers and mid-week matches against the Tasmania Tigers, Melbourne Renegades, Melbourne Stars and ACT Comets.