Nathan Freitag is crossing the water from Melbourne to Tasmania later this year to try and make a first-class breakthrough.

The 24-year-old from the Casey-South Melbourne Club represented Victoria at Under 23 and Second XI level and pushed himself to the verge of a first-class contract, but it was not forthcoming during his last home season.

The man who has made a big impact at Hill Top since being recommended to Slaithwaite by Tim Welsford, the former Golcar player, plus other agents and coaches, now itends to cross the Bass Strait to see if he can make the grade in Hobart.

“I am going to Tasmania because I think there may be a bit more opportunity for me to break into the first-class game,” said Freitag, who is sharing a house in Newsome with Scholes’ Kiwi Pete Drysdale and Honley bowler Jak Jowett.

“A few of the coaches who are now with Tasmania were previously from Victoria and they know me from playing in the Second XI not last year, but the year before that.

“I fly back on September 25 and then I’ve got 10 days training before the first game for the club I’m playing for over there, then it will be down to doing some work with Tasmania and seeing if I can break into their team over there.

“The people involved seem to think I was a bit unlucky last year not to get anywhere with Victoria, so I’m going to give it a crack elsewhere.

“They rang me from Tasmania to say they wanted me to have a go with them, so if it works out then all well and good, if it doesn’t then at least I’ve given it my best shot.”

Freitag will go with the best wishes of everyone at Slaithwaite, where he has piled up 500 runs at an average of 60 and led the bowling attack with 29 wickets at less than 23.

“This is my first time playing cricket overseas and Slawit have looked after me really well, I get on really well with all the boys and for my first season in England I really couldn’t have asked to be at a better club and with a better bunch of people,” he said.

“I think the standard has been pretty good, although the weather proves a challenge at times, and it’s been good to experience different conditions, playing against different people and learning about all the different cultures.

“My main aim for the rest of my time here is obviously to help the club stay up in the top division, because we want to build a platform in the Premiership if possible.

“We know we are capable of getting the results we need to keep us going in the right direction and, if I can help out in that, then I’ll be very happy indeed.”

So what about the wickets here compared with Melbourne?

“When you get a nice week, you can tell the wickets are a bit faster and you can see the difference in the bounce and carry,” he explained.

“When it’s wet here the ball tends to skid through, whereas at home it tends to stick in the wicket and become a bit dangerous, but once you get used to it you are fine. Back home it’s generally just fast, bouncy wickets, whereas here it can be a really good challenge from week to week.”

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