Blampied, who also bowls leg-spin, was recommended to the Crows by former player Peter Gough and coach Craig Hogan.

Former East Albury opener Will McIntosh will return to Alexandra Park after a successful stint with Melbourne University.

Coach Dylan Weeding said Blampied and McIntosh would strengthen a batting line-up which struggled for consistency last season.

“’Goughy’ and ‘Hoges’ speak highly of Dom,” Weeding said.

“From all reports he’s a good young cricketer.

“Dom’s a part of the Jersey set up which is about to pick a squad for the World Cup qualifiers.

“He should be really handy in the middle-order.

“Will played some good cricket for Melbourne Uni as well so our batting looks to be taking good shape.”

McIntosh won Melbourne University’s club best and fairest award last season after playing a combination of second and third grade cricket.

Hogan is likely to assist the Crows with coaching.

Brocklesby’s Josh Koschitzke, who captained East Albury’s under-16 premiership team this year, is expected to press for first grade selection.

East Albury has had two confirmed losses in Englishman Alex Ridd and young batsman Caleb Barras.

Ridd scored 260 runs and took 32 wickets while Barras made almost 400 runs at the top of the batting order.

“They are going to be missed,” Weeding said.

The Crows are also speaking to several other potential recruits to bolster their young playing list which really heavily on bowling last season.

“We had a good, young side last year and hopefully we can keep developing,” he said.

East Albury bowed out of last year’s premiership race after losing to North Albury by 17 runs in the semi-finals.

Grand finalists Wodonga and Lavington are again expected to be hard to beat, along with Belvoir, Tallangatta and North Albury.