MICHAEL Hogan will return to English county commitments with 26 wickets and almost 100 overs under his belt following a half-season stint at Newcastle District Cricket Association club Merewether.
Featuring three five-fors and most recently a nine-wicket match, Hogan helped the Lions win three of their last five fixtures and fall just four points short of the semis.
Outrights against Belmont and Toronto helped Merewether's late surge up the ladder to fifth, but it wasn't quite enough to continue their campaign this weekend.
Hogan finished with figures of 9-46 (5-17, 4-29) from Townson Oval in the last round, following on from 4-26 (4-17, 0-9) against Wests and 5-26 against Stockton.
He had 7-54 (2-18, 5-36) against Toronto and also picked up Wallsend's Nathan Price in the game after Christmas.
Hogan, now joining Kent, will likely collect the NDCA bowling award for 2022-23 with a competition-best average of around six. His strike rate was roughly 21.
Price looks set to take out the NDCA batting gong with a first-grade high 549 runs at an average of 68.83.
* STOCKTON have qualified teams in all four grades, featuring across the board of NDCA semi-finals this weekend.
Stockton are the only club to produce a clean sweep in 2022-23 with Merewether (3), Wests, City and Waratah-Mayfield (2) the others with multiples.
Wallsend, University and Cardiff-Boolaroo have one each while Belmont, Charlestown, Hamilton-Wickham and Toronto missed out completely.
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