The Western Australian Cricket Association has named a 20-man Retravision Warriors squad and six rookies after the first round of contract offers for the 2010-11 interstate season.

 
Victorian spinner Michael Beer, Willetton all-rounder Matt Johnston, New South Wales quick Martin Paskal and Joondalup batsman Michael Swart are the new additions to the full contract list for 2010-11, while all-rounders Nathan Coulter-Nile and Mitchell Marsh have been upgraded to full contracts after spending the past summer as rookie contracted players.

 
All-rounders Justin Coetzee, Theo Doropoulos and Drew Porter, paceman Ben Edmondson and leg-spinner Josh Mangan were not offered contracts for the upcoming summer.

 
New additions to the rookie contract list are paceman Ryan Duffield (Melville) and batsmen Tom Beaton (Mount Lawley), Jake Fawcett (Wanneroo) and Marcus Harris (Scarborough). Scarborough paceman Simon Branston and Gulls opener Marcus Stoinis were not offered new rookie contracts.

 
25-year old Beer, a left-arm orthodox bowler, was the leading wicket taker in the 2009-10 Victorian Premier Cricket competition, picking up 53 scalps for St Kilda Cricket Club at an average of 15.92, with a best of 5-21 against Hawthorn-Monash Uni, as well as 5-65 in the Saints’ semi-final victory over Ringwood. He has been the Saints’ best bowler for the past four summers, with hauls of 28 wickets (at 19.25) in 2008-09, 39 (at 13.05) in 2007-08, and 43 (at 20.42) in 2006-07.

 
Johnston, 24, has been the leading player in the WACA District competition over the past two seasons, finishing second in the 2008-09 Olly Cooley Medal count before sharing the honour last summer with ex-Retravision Warriors paceman Paul Davis. The punishing left-hand batsman and handy swing bowler belted three tons in 2009-10 for Willetton on his way to 706 runs for the preliminary season at an average of 35.30 and also snared 48 wickets at an average of 17.58, including four hauls of five scalps or better.

 
Johnston was a rookie listed member of the Retravision Warriors squad in 2007-08 and received a full contract the following season. He also played one Ford Ranger Cup match and a Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield encounter for the Warriors in 2009-10.

 
Paskal, 24, was a rookie contracted player with the NSW RTA SpeedBlitz Blues from 2005-06 to 2007-08 after announcing his arrival in the Sydney Grade Cricket Grand Final of 2004-05 when he took seven wickets in a match-winning performance. He endured three injury-interrupted seasons with the Blues, but has bounced back in great fashion over the past two summers for Sydney Uni. Paskal took 49 wickets in the three Sydney Grade Cricket competitions in 2009-10 at an average of 15.3, and also represented the New South Wales Futures League team.

 
Swart led Joondalup to their first Retravision Shield Grand Final berth since re-locating from North Perth, which capped off a tremendous summer for the 27-year old in 2009-10. A former WA under-age representative, he has made numerous appearances for the WA Second XI in the Cricket Australia Cup and Futures League competitions. Swart topped all run-makers in the 09-10 Retravision Shield First Grade competition with 909 runs in 18 matches at an average of 50.50, including three successive centuries midway through the season and a highest score of 163 not out against Wanneroo.

 
He rebounded from the disappointment of a second ball duck in his maiden Ford Ranger Cup game against the West End Redbacks in Adelaide to score a fighting 83 on debut in the Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield match against the PKF Tasmanian Tigers at the WACA Ground. He followed up with 57 on a difficult opening morning wicket at the Gabba against the XXXX GOLD Queensland Bulls in the final Shield match of the season to finish with 175 runs at just under 30 in three interstate first class competition games.

 
Beaton, 19, has been a regular at the top of the order for the Australian Under 19 team in the past two seasons, scoring a century against India in a youth Test at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval in 2009, and he was also a member of Australia’s victorious ICC World Cup-winning Under 19 team at the 2010 tournament in New Zealand along with fellow Retravision Warrior Mitchell Marsh, who was his skipper.

 
21-year old Duffield was a regular for the WA Second XI in 2009-10, and was a member of the squad that captured the inaugural Futures League Twenty20 crown in Melbourne last December. A left-arm paceman, he switched Retravision Shield clubs from Gosnells to Melville in the 2009 off-season and took 39 wickets in 15 First Grade matches for the Tompkins Park side at an average of 24.69, with a best of 7-50 against Midland-Guildford.

 
Fawcett received a taste of interstate cricket in the early part of the 2009-10 season when he was called in to the Retravision Warriors team for two Ford Ranger Cup matches against the Bulls at the Gabba and the NSW RTA SpeedBlitz Blues at North Sydney Oval. The 19-year old was plucked from outside the state squad after outstanding early-season form for Wanneroo (234 runs at 78), which included 127 against Bayswater-Morley in round one when he rescued his team from a perilous 4-7 in their first innings. He also impressed in his Futures League debut for WA against Tasmania at Stevens Reserve, scoring a backs-to-the-wall 108 batting at first drop in the second innings.

 
Harris, a 17-year old left-handed opener, was a revelation in his first full season in the top grade of the Retravision Shield competition, scoring 660 runs at 36.67, which included his maiden First Grade century (130 against Claremont-Nedlands) and seven half-centuries, capped off by an excellent knock of 75 in Scarborough’s Grand Final victory over Joondalup at the WACA Ground. Harris also represented WA at the National Under 19 Championships in Canberra.

 
New Retravision Warriors Head Coach Mickey Arthur says he is satisfied with the make-up of the full contract and rookie lists for his first summer in charge of the team.

 
“We have secured arguably the leading spinner outside of the state system in Australia and one of the most promising quicks in grade cricket, and have given a great opportunity to two promising local batsmen to show their wares at interstate level,” Arthur said.

 
“The Warriors have been in a period of rebuilding over the past couple of summers having lost a number of senior players, but we are very confident that we have a good balance of youth and experience in this squad to carry on the great work that has been done with the team in recent times.”

 
The WACA is expected to announce the appointment of a new Assistant Coach to fill the role vacated by Trevor Penney in the next week. Members of the Retravision Warriors squad that do not have playing commitments interstate or overseas will commence pre-season training next month, with a date to be advised.

 
RETRAVISION WARRIORS 2010-11 SQUAD

Full Contracts:

David Bandy, Michael Beer, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Liam Davis, Brett Dorey, Chris Gayle*, Aaron Heal, Michael Hogan, Matt Johnston, Brad Knowles, Steve Magoffin, Mitchell Marsh, Ashley Noffke, Martin Paskal, Luke Pomersbach, Wes Robinson, Luke Ronchi, Michael Swart, Luke Towers

 *Twenty20 only

 
Rookie Contracts:

Tom Beaton, Jason Behrendorff, Ryan Duffield, Jake Fawcett, Marcus Harris, Michael Johnson

 
Cricket Australia Contracts:

Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Adam Voges

 
Twenty20 Contracted Player:

Kemar Roach