Warrnambool cricket export Joe Medew-Ewen reflects on successful Victorian Premier Cricket season

Months on now, with the season done and dusted he walks away having ticked those boxes, knowing he can go into winter satisfied with his body of work.

The Port Fairy export - who made his Sheffield Shield debut for South Australia in 2021 - returned to Victorian cricket in 2022-23 and despite a slow start finished the season as the leading spinner in the competition, snagging 30 wickets at 22.67 with a best of 6-97 against St Kilda.

He has taken 68 first XI wickets for Northcote from just 31 matches, highlighting his ability to be a regular wicket-taker in the competition.

"I did start a bit slower but as the season went on and red-ball cricket came along, it got better," he said.

"My strength is to be able to bowl 20 to 25 overs a day, it suits me a little bit better so I really enjoyed getting back to doing that.

"I think I managed to have a bit more of an influence around November and December and went from there, finished off strongly so I'm happy.

"I'm optimistic I can come back again next year and take more wickets. It is hard, you could bowl just the same and get less wickets, not more. It's not a straight line thing to say."

His Dragons returned to first XI finals, but disappointingly bowed out in the elimination final over the weekend against the Saints at the Junction Oval despite leading into Christmas entrenched in the top-four before fadng.

The talented spinner was the side's leading performer in the elimination final loss which ended on Sunday, sending down 21 overs to snare 3-85 before fighting it out with the bat to remain unbeaten on 49.

"Considering where we were, we were second for a lot of the year, in the rooms we were pretty disappointed after the game," he told The Standard.

"Ideally, we would have wanted a home final, whether in the top-four or in those elimination final spots. I think our style of cricket suits our cricket well, so it's a disappointing finish in many ways."

The former Warrnambool and District cricketer was part of the Victorian winter's emerging player squad but couldn't break into the state system this season despite a consistent run of form, but hoped he could still play a part moving forward after his taste of first-class cricket two years ago with the Redbacks.

"With the slower start I didn't have too much dialogue (with selectors) this year," he said.

"I was obviously part of that winter program so was having some conversations with spin coaches throughout the year, but my focus was on playing good club cricket with Northcote. So I'll come back next year and see how I go."

Medew-Ewen - who is studying sports psychology outside of cricket - said if the opportunity arose over winter to play he would consider it, but instead would enjoy some more time back home in Port Fairy and pour his focus into his studies.

He added he was looking forward to watching Port Fairy play footy in the Hampden league again, particularly his great mate Kaine Mercovich.

"I was looking to maybe go over to England but couldn't this time around with visas, so it's just about finishing uni and hopefully spend some time playing cricket somewhere I just don't know where," he said.

"I know Darwin has a Twenty20 league so that could be an option, but I'm looking at something short and sharp near the start of next season, maybe Queensland even.

"I'd much rather be outside playing games of cricket than being stuck inside in cold indoor centres."

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