Behind the stumps: Pace ace finds form, confidence with ball as BBL looms

The 23-year-old Nirranda product and former Victorian contracted pace bowler made the off-season move from Geelong to Northcote in the premier cricket competition and snared 5-67 against Ringwood in the previous round to sit inside the top-10 for wickets.

He told The Standard he had put in a "power of work" in the off-season to improve his game but was more importantly enjoying his cricket in a new environment at Bill Lawry Oval.

"It's been great, I've felt like I've fit in really well at the club and it's been really enjoyable so far," he said.

"It's good I've been able to enjoy my cricket and I get along with all my teammates. It's a great club to be a part of. While we probably haven't had a strong start as we would have liked, we're not far away and I think it's a really talented side.

"I'm probably never going to be at my best personally if I'm not enjoying my cricket with my teammates. It's a big factor in my game."

While his final season at Geelong didn't quite yield as many wickets as he would have liked, Couch said he was working hard on his game inside and outside the walls of Cricket Victoria to put his name forward.

"Personally, I've just put in a power of work on my game in the past 12 months," he said.

"I feel like I'm bowling a bit faster now, with a few tweaks I've made. I've got another coach on-board whose helping me outside of the four walls of CV so it's another person to help with my game.

"I'm chipping away with my action and I feel really good at the moment. As I said, I'm enjoying the game which is the most important thing and my bowling's come on quite a bit and luck plays a part too which is handy."

Couch, who is contracted to the Melbourne Stars this season in the Big Bash League which starts on Thursday, December 7 with a match against the Brisbane Heat, says he is hungry to burst back into the team.

The slick right-armer, who has one Sheffield Shield cap for Victoria, is playing practice matches this week in Melbourne ahead of the season-opener as he turns his attention to the shorter format.

"These days you don't get much of a choice, you just get thrown straight into it," he said of switching from red ball to white-ball cricket.

"That's what the best players do, they switch in between modes really well and I think that's what these games will do in the lead-up to the Big Bash. Your brain just switches into that white-ball mode really quickly.

"I'm focusing on taking it a week at a time, as cliche as it sounds, and just trying to really have an enjoyable and successful year with Northcote and hopefully I can get my opportunity in the BBL and take it with both hands and see what comes of that."

South West Cricket's impressive start to its representative season had yielded another success with the association defeating Hamilton in the over 40s carnival.

Despite playing just nine players and relying on two juniors in Miller Murphy and Alex Bird to sub-field, the association successfully defended 220 at the Camperdown Cricket Club on Sunday, November 26 by bowling Hamilton out for 114.

Pomborneit's David Murphy was the star with the bat, blasting 59 opening up to set the tone for his side. With the ball, Travis Brown from Heytesbury Princetown did the bulk of the damage to snare 3-21.

Twenty20 cricket across the region comes into force this week with South West Cricket set to spend the next two weekends in the fast-paced format.

The division one Twenty20 Cup begins on Saturday, December 2 with each team to play a game in the morning and one in the afternoon, with the following Saturday to also follow the same format.

The winner of the Twenty20 cup will advance through to the Sungold Cup, with the overall winning club netting $15,000.

Warrnambool's Twenty20 Cup will also officially kick off on Thursday evening, with games from 5.30pm.

Warrnambool cricketer Steph Townsend is seeing them like balloons at the moment for Geelong's first XI women's side in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition.

The talented athlete, who coaches Koroit in the Warrnambool and District Cricket Association and will captain Victoria Country early next year, smacked 96 from 101 balls against Ringwood on Sunday, November 26.

Townsend, a multiple-premiership winning player with Melbourne at first XI level, has already hit scores of 83 and 56 from just four innings for the Cats and is leading the competition for runs.

Cats coach Stephen Field lauded the "natural leader" for her ability to lift the group both on and off the field.

"Even though she probably wouldn't like me saying it, she's in a really mature phase of her batting where she knows her game, has all the skills and fitness and importantly the mental capacity," he said.

"The other thing is, she's a natural leader and the team's performance rests on a large amount from her.

"She's just one of those great players that thrives under pressure. She embodies what all female cricketers should be."

Townsend has also taken on the gloves at stages this season due to an injury to the regular first XI keeper.

"It's a tricky situation, we'd love to have her in the fielding and bowling, and we're still working hard on our fielding but our incumbent keeper is still injured so we need someone to do the job," she said.

"She's working so hard at it, like everything Steph does."