The Gators debuted young bowler Patrick Hewson in their clash against Russells Creek on Thursday night and 15-year-old Noah Greene will feature in the club's first two-day match of the campaign on Saturday.

Bant, whose side is preparing to face Dennington away from home, said games were up for grabs.

"I spoke to a few of them on Thursday night and sort of said 'I'm not going to just give you games, but if you put some runs on the board or get wickets in division two or juniors they'll be there for you'," he said.

"Noah Greene did well at Horsham Country Week, he got 100 up there and has made some runs in the twos here.

"He'll get a chance on Saturday and Patty Hewson was probably our best bowler on Thursday. It breathes life for everyone in the team (to see young players coming through)."

Bant, who returned to Allansford-Panmure's captaincy in the winter, said his side was relishing long-form cricket.

He said his men had struggled with Twenty20 cricket and was suited to the two-day format. "We're one of those teams where batsman need those 20 balls at the start of an innings to get themselves in," Bant told The Standard.

"After that we can start scoring. We've struggled a bit in the Twenty20s - our one-day form wasn't too bad - but the shorter stuff hasn't suited us.

"We're looking forward to having the chance to get ourselves in and have more than four overs to bowl. We like it a little bit more."

Bant, who is also senior coach of Warrnambool and District Football Netball League club Panmure, said there was improvement in his top order.

"It's probably batsmen at the top of the order who need to get themselves in a bit," he said.

"If we can get some runs we can set up the game a bit for the bowling attack.

"We've got some good bowlers who've been doing well but they need runs to bowl at.

"It makes it a bit tough on them when the batsmen aren't doing the job. Myself and a couple of others could chip in a few more."

The Gators are in eighth after Wesley-CBC defeated Dennington on Thursday. Other than Dennington, they'll play Merrivale, West Warrnambool and Wesley-CBC to round out the season.

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