Just a month on from the final day of the season in the IBI Corporate Finance Premier League, and the newly crowned Champions, Pembroke, have become the first club to confirm their overseas plans for the 2025 season.
St George Cricket Club captain Nick Stapleton had filled the role to a superb standard for the past two seasons, however he confirmed he would not be returning for the 2025 season earlier this summer, leaving a significant void in the side with both bat and ball.
Stapleton’s performances over the last two seasons have been exceptional, and led the side to three trophies, the Championship title in 2023, before adding a Leinster Senior Cup & Premier League double in 2024, a season where he skippered the side. The Australian played 43 games in Cricket Leinster competitions, scoring 1,467 runs at an average of 56.42, featuring eight half-centuries and three 100s, with his highest score of 153 coming against Terenure.
His bowling was also a truly excellent addition, with 79 wickets coming at a cost of just 12.82 apiece, and his best bowling figures coming in his maiden 50 over fixture for Pembroke in Sydney Parade, when he took 8/8 against Terenure in the Leinster Senior Cup first round in 2023.
The Sydney Parade outfit have moved quickly to confirm his replacement, with fellow St George man Blake MacDonald set to attempt to fill the boots of his home-club captain. MacDonald is firmly a top-order batter, and he has featured in 49 games for St George since the start of the 2022 season, making 2114 runs at an average of 48.05, passing 50 on 20 occasions, and converting 6 of those into centuries.
Speaking on behalf of Pembroke, Paul Lawson welcomes MacDonald to the club, whilst also paying tribute to Stapleton’s time at the club;
“Blake replaces Nick Stapleton, who had two extremely successful seasons with us. Nick was central to our resurgence after our relegation in 2022, demonstrated by following-up our Championship win in 2023 with a Premier League and Senior Cup double in 2024.
As a former teammate of Nick’s, we’re well aware of what to expect from Blake - he comes with an impressive track record from Australia and will add undoubted quality to our group.”
MacDonald also cited his excitement with the signing, and is keen to contribute to silverware at the club;
“I’m very excited to come over and meet everyone at Pembroke in 2025!
I’ve heard great things about the club and the people from Stapo’s time the last two seasons and seen the success of the team in the season just gone. I hope to be able to come over and help contribute to continuing that success next season.”
Pembroke became the fourth club in the past 10 years to follow up a Championship title with Premier League success, however in that time only Clontarf, in 2015 & 2016, have successfully defended the top level crown. The Sydney Parade side will be hoping the addition of MacDonald will see them breaking that record.