The experienced campaigner - one of the association's most prolific run machines - has played several years of representative cricket with plenty of success.

He told The Standard - ahead of the association's opening Hudson Shield match against Portland on Sunday - the squad was still being finalised but was pleased with the breadth of talent and the interest in playing.

"I'm really looking forward to it, it should be really good," he said. "I'm working my way through the squad - we'll have a training run (on Wednesday) and we'll know more.

"It's been hard figuring out the newcomers, they've only played one game. Past performances do matter and players with reputations have to be a part of the thinking.

"With the Hudson Shield starting really quickly, there's certainly time for people to then put their hands up for country week too. It's about player availability too but the aim is to get a versatile squad and adjust to different conditions, grounds and that sort of stuff.

"We're trying to get a versatile group together."

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Harkness said the association was especially keen to return to the highly-anticipated Melbourne Country Week in February which would bring together regional competitions for a carnival of cricket.

Melbourne Country Week, which is run by the Victorian Country Cricket League, is celebrating its 100^th year of competition.

South West Cricket played in division three in 2019-20 among associations such as Bellarine Peninsula, Sunraysia and Hamilton and couldn't muster up a win.

The new leader played in the carnival in 2015-16 where he scored 124 runs at a healthy average of 41.3 and hoped the association could put in a strong showing this time around.

"It's going to be great, there will obviously be a few changes, a bit of a reset for us," he said. "Just getting some appeal back to country week will be really good."

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