STRATHMORE CRICKET CLUB
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
SEASON 2015/16
16 May 2015
Agenda
1. Minutes from previous meeting (see attached)
2. Season reports • President • Treasurer
3. Season 2016/17 Executive Committee nominations
4. Season 2016/17 General Committee nominations
5. General Business
Meeting Minutes
Meeting: Strathmore Cricket Club Annual General Meeting 2014/15
Date: 4 May 2015
Attendees: Lee Evans (Chair), Trevor Doody, Steve Papastergiou, Peter Wenlock, John Pantland, David LePlastrier, Steve Houlden, Yvonne Dodd, Jason Cuthbertson, Danny McConville, Steve Knight, Lou Marini, Peter Forman, Steve Jones, Graham Matson, Ross Higgens, Denis James, Peter Gourlay, Tim Elliot, Nancy-Lee Merzel, Scott Sanders, Mark O’Loughlin,
Apologies: Adam Clark, Steve Mullen, John Bassi, Allison Dodd, Peter Hinton
1. Minutes from previous meeting • The minutes from the 2013/14 Annual General Meeting were tabled by the Chair. • Minutes accepted by Steven Knight and seconded by Peter Gourlay.
2. Season reports President’s Report (Trevor Doody) • Trevor noted that season 2014/15 had been a successful one on the field with senior premierships by the 2 nd XI and Vets 2 teams, along with a grand final appearance by our very young 3 rd XI. Junior premierships by the U16Cs and U14As were also a highlight. • A further highlight was the number of ex Strathmore junior players returning to play senior cricket with the club (eg. Dean Peter-Budge, Daniel Slevison, Nick Ingleton) • Kyle Novacek was awarded the Bob Byron medal for best U14A player in the NWMCA. • Off field activities have also been a success with a greater focus on involving more people in the club saw a large increase in volunteers helping out this season. • Noted improvements to our communications, which were led by Frank Merzel (Chris Dodd Best Clubman award winner). • Steve Papastergiou and Ross Higgins were inducted as life members of the Club this season in recognition of their long-standing contribution. • Looking to next year the focus is on further improvement. The Club has re- signed John Patton as senior coach and appointed Scott Sanders as 1 st XI captain following Scott’s overseas travel for most of last season. • The Club is looking to field its first female junior team next season to give local girls the same opportunities as boys in the area. • Construction on the new scoreboard and changerooms are expected to commence soon and be ready before or during next cricket season. Treasurer’s Report (Steve Papastergiou) • The Club officially posted a cash loss of $3000 this season. • Reasons for the loss include one-off expenses such as furniture for the new Strathnaver pavilion, roller repairs and new covers. Bar income for the season was below expectation. • There remains $22,800 worth of merchandise and $2400 worth of balls in stock for next season which offsets the negative cash position. • Leftover merchandise will be used as part of membership packages for next season to reduce the need for new purchases.
3. 2015/16 Executive Positions • President: Trevor Doody nominated by Danny McConville, seconded by Graham Matson. Trevor elected unopposed. • Vice President / Junior Coorindator: Danny McConville nominated by Ross Higgins, second by Jason Cuthbertson. Danny elected unopposed. • Secretary: Lee Evans nominated by John Pantland, seconded by Jason Cuthbertson. Lee elected unopposed. • Treasurer: Steve Papastergiou nominated by Graham Matson, seconded by Jason Cutherbertson.
4. General Committee Positions The following people were elected to the General Committee: • John Pantland (nominated by Jason Cuthbertson, seconded by Peter Wenlock) • Nick Pantland* (nominated by Steve Papastergiou, seconded by Denis James) • Jason Cuthbertson (nominated by Denis James, seconded by John Pantland) • Peter Wenlock (nominated by Jason Cuthbertson, seconded by Ross Higgins) • Steve Jones (nominated by Denis James, seconded by Jason Cuthbertson) • Nancy-Lee Merzel (nominated by Steve Papastergiou, seconded by Danny McConville) • Denis James (nominated by Steve Jones, seconded by Graham Matson) • Steve Houlden (nominated by John Pantland, seconded by Ross Higgins) • John Bassie* (nominated by Steve Papastergiou, seconded by Steve Houlden) • Adam Clark* (nominated by John Pantland, seconded by Trevor Doody) • Steve Mullen (nominated by Lee Evans, seconded by Steve Houlden) • Zack Carey* (nominated by Steve Jones, seconded by Lou Marini) • Peter Hinton* (nominated by Trevor Doody, seconded by Steve Houlden) • Darren Novacek* (nominated by Danny McConville, seconded by Lou Marini) Lou Marini was nominated for the General Committee but declined the nomination. * yet to confirm nomination
5. General Business End of Season Ball • Steve Knight and Yvonne Dodd raised a concern about the lack of senior player attendance at the End of Season Ball. • It was noted that the fact that there are effectively only approx 25 senior players over the age of 18 and that a number of social functions had been crammed into the end of season may have been influencing factors. • Rebalancing the social calendar and including requirements on contracted players to attend events will assist in resolving this issue. Training Nets • John Patton asked how improvements to the training nets were progressing. • Denis James is engaged with the Council on the matter and the expectation is that at least one pitch will be replaced before pre season training and other improvements made as allowed by Council budgets.
Next Meeting: May 2016 (date TBC)
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
To all Strathmore Cricket Club members,
Firstly, I would like to sincerely thank the General Committee and the Executive Committee, for their enormous efforts and support throughout 2015/16. As a club, we are very fortunate to have a large number of wonderful people who continue to keep our club strong. We fielded an incredible 18 teams this season and a Milo In2Cricket Program, which is almost 240 players representing the Strathmore Cricket Club each weekend. So, to all committee members and all other people who volunteered their time this season, a huge thank you from all 240 players, for making it possible.
On-field
This season our seniors finished 8 th on the ladder in VTCA Senior Division. This was a disappointing result for our seniors, given we were fighting for a finals position with 2 games to go. Losing our last 2 games to Doutta Stars and St.Bernard, put a real dampener on our season. We also had 3 games drawn through the season due to weather conditions, making it a very interrupted season and hard for our seniors to get some continuity with their cricket. Scott Sanders provide great leadership on- field as captain and John Patton continued to lead the development of our players through his coaching. John has decided to not coach again next season due to work commitments, which is a loss for club. John has continued to improve his coaching each year and always gave 110% to get the best out of everyone. Thank you John for support and passion for the past 2 season. We look forward to you continuing your time at Strathmore next season as a player.
Our 2 nd team on the other hand, finished 7 th on the ladder and qualified for the VTCA North/West 2 nd Finals. The boys played their best game for the season in the semi-final, smashing Laverton and then played a wonderful game of 4 day cricket to defeat Airport West in the Grand Final. Our 2 nd team have now won premierships in 5 of their past 6 season. This is a fantastic reflection of the depth of players at our club. More importantly this season, there were 9 new players in our 2 nd team compared to last year’s premiership team. Our team was also very young with 9 of the boys being 21 or under (1 – 16yo, 2 – 17yo, 2 – 18yo, 1 – 19yo, 2 – 20yo and 1 – 21yo). Congratulations to Darren Gregory on captaining our 2 nd team to another memorable premiership.
Our 3 rd team was also young and wonderfully captained by one of life members in Steve Papastergiou (Stinga). Even with an outright win in the last game, the 3 rd team could not slip into the final four, finishing 5 th on the ladder. Our 4 th team played on turf for the first time in club history. Our 3 rd and 4 th teams now shared Cross Keys Reserve which provides us with an even greater opportunity to help our younger players’ transition from junior hard-wicket cricket to senior turf- wicket cricket. Our 4 th XI were captained by another one of our life members, Jason Cuthbertson. Jason was able to successful guide our very young 4th teams into 4 th position, losing their semi-final to top team Laverton.
Support for our senior teams, came in many different forms but special mentions and thanks to Lui Marini (Head of Senior Cricket), Adam ‘Inzy’ Clark (1 st XI Scorer), Graham ‘Mato’ Matson (Net Captain), Inzy and Mato for sharing the 1 st XI Team Manager role, Rod ‘Daffy’ Joronen (Lebanon Curator), Fab Bassi (Cross Keys Curator) and Ross Higgin (Partnership Board). Our Under 17 team also had a fantastic season, only to trip up in the semi-final, losing to eventual premiers Greenvale. A huge thank-you to Frank Merzel and Dale ‘Flea’ Weightman who coached our Under 17 team this season. Across our junior teams, we were able to win 1 premiership with our one of our Under 12 Friday night teams, coached by Nigel Karunatileke. Nigel was fantastic in his first year as a coach, not winning a game before Christmas and then not losing a game after Christmas.
From our juniors we also had 16 boys play representative cricket, including 2 players representing Victoria – Kyle Novacek in the Victorian Under 15 team and Jaga Kaduru in the Victorian Under 13 team. Congratulations to both Kyle and Jaga on their fantastic achievement. Our strong junior program is truly a great reflection of all the wonderful work that Daniel McConville performs as our Junior Head of Cricket. Thank you Danny for another incredible season. Special thanks also to all our junior coaches and team managers who make it possible for us to run our junior program.
Our youngest juniors are our Milo In2Cricket players. This season we had 30 boys and girls aged 5-8 playing Milo In2Cricket each Friday night at our club, who will hopefully be our junior players over the next 8-10 years. This season, Peter Hinton became our Milo Co-ordinator and had fantastic support from Jack Merzel, Matt Riordan and Darren Novacek. Thank you from the club for looking after the most important group of players at our club.
Off-field - Thank You
For a club of our size, there are an incredible number of people play support roles in the back- ground to make everything possible. There a number of people who I would like to specifically thank.
Mick Keohane – who took on the role of our Clubroom Supervisor again this season. Mick continued to take enormous pride in making sure our rooms were the best in the association, so that no matter who walk through the doors of our clubrooms, they were immediately impressed. Thank you Mick for all your hours of sweat and tears to make our clubrooms the best. Goal achieve again. Thank you.
Frank Merzel – who not only coached our Under 17 team but also managed all of our club communications, including the Weekend Wrap and website. Frank also took a lead with the new electronic scoreboard, enabling us to promote our sponsors and show match day scores. And just for something else to do, Frank moved all of our registration process online. Thank you Frank for not only the wonderful job you do with communications but also for everything else you do to help us be a great club.
I would also like to give special mentions to Yvonne Dodd – Afternoon teas, Allison Dodd – Race Day and Pink Stumps, Heather Templar – Thursday night meals, Jamie Haste – function meals, Lee Evans – Presentation Night, Jason Cuthbertson & Inzy Clark - $5K Draw, Denis James, Steve Jones, Dave Hosking & Nancy-lee Merzel for help with sponsorship, Steve Houlden & John Bassi – Fund Raising, Steve Jones – Calcutta, Diana McConville – Season Launch, Ian Anderson – Golf Day, Nancy-lee Merzel for Merchandise and Sam La Rosa – Griffin Club
Overall, we had at least 86 volunteers this season, who put their time back into our club, which not only us a better club but also takes a lot of pressure off our committee members. To everyone who helped out this year, thank you and hopefully we look forward to your continued support next season. To our loyal sponsors and our new sponsors who hopefully become loyal, thank you for your support. Like any club, there are a huge number of costs which come with running a club and although we are raise a number of funds through membership fees and fund raising events, your support makes the biggest difference. Special thanks to our major sponsors, including Strathmore Community Bendigo Bank, Rydges Hotels, Hille’s Home Extension and PW Glass
Off-field - Highlights
As you learn more about the club, you learn more and more about the incredible people who have made this club great. This season, we acknowledge two members with Life Membership:
Rod Reddish
Rod captained our Under 16 team in our club’s first year of existence (1971). The following year, Rod became our club Treasurer at the age of 16. Rod also commenced playing in our senior 1 st team winning the batting award. Rod also coached our Under 14A team that season and won a premiership. In 1973, Rod became Vice-President of the newly formed Strathmore Cricket Club and came 2 nd in the club’s B&F (Brian Last Award), Rod also coached our U16A team that year. In 1974, Rod became captain & coach of our 1 st team, winning the competition batting and bowling trophies and winning the club Best & Fairest player. In 1975-76, Rod was selected to captain the EBKCA Under 21 team (other team members included - Pete Slevison, Daryl Schimmelbusch & Neil Reynolds). Rod, was a member of 1st Premiership team (75-76), allowing us to be promoted from 'C' Grade to 'B' Grade. In 1977, Rod commences shift work only allowed him to play a couple of games in the 2nds.
13 years later, in 1991, Rod returns to the club and decides to reform the old crew with Ian Binch and enter a team into the NWCA one day competition (Gidding Shield). Over 7 seasons, this team was all about getting the families involved. Very enjoyable time for everyone involved. Finally won a flag in 1998-99 (Giddings Shield Premiership). In 1999-2000, Rod also volunteered to coach our Under 16A team and won another premiership. Congratulations Rod and thank you
Denis James
Denis (DJ) has been actively involved at our club for just over 20 years. Some describe Denis as a ‘doer’…just cut through the bullshit and let’s get started. A number of our senior players would say Denis is the reason why they joined our club and why we finally made it to Senior Division. Denis started playing cricket here 20 years ago in the Gidding Shield and later in Vets. Denis was fortunate to play in 4 premiership including taking 5 catches in 1 st slip for one Grand Final against Gladstone Park. When Denis’s boys started to play down here, there was no holding him back, Under 10 Co- ordinators for 4 years, Junior Co-ordinator for 5 years, Junior Team Manager for 6 years, Junior coach for 3 years and has lead our Sponsorship program for the past 6 years. Denis took over as SCC President in 2011 and in his 2 nd year, we won 4 senior premiership and our club was promoted up into VTCA Senior Division. Congratulations to Denis and once again, thank you.
Next season – 2016/17
Planning is already well underway for next season, on and off the field. Our biggest challenge at the moment is to find a new club coach. A couple of options are forming and hopefully we’ll be in a position to announce our successful candidate in the next few weeks. At this stage, we are also confident that the majority of our senior squad will be returning to our club next season to play. As a club, we remain confident that the squad has all the ability, talent and youth required for us to make the finals next season and win the premiership. Appointing a strong club coach will be an important ingredient to for making this a reality in 2016/17.
We are also renewing our focus to establish a girls’ team for next season. Hopefully we will be able to leverage off the great work from the Strathmore Football Club, who have established their first girls’ team this season.
Off field, we have a number of projects due for completion in 2016/17:
• New changes rooms at Lebanon Reserve to be completed by Jun 2016, including a new store room for our roller and mowers. This will enable us to remove the shipping containers behind the old change rooms and clean-up the creek-side of the clubrooms. • Replacement of oval fence around Lebanon Reserve. MVCC have included funding in their 2016/17 planning for this project. • 2nd wicket to be established at Strathnaver. We are currently working through the planning with MVCC and the Strathmore Split Soccer Club to understand feasibility and time-frame. Targeting to have 2 nd wicket established by October 2016.
There are also a number of projects for which planning is currently underway:
• Additional car parking at Strathnaver Reserve. MVCC have developed a number of options for clubs to review and provide feedback. • New merchandise room and boardroom at Lebanon Reserve. • New training nets for Lebanon Reserve
In closing, thank you for giving me the opportunity to perform the role of Strathmore Cricket Club President for a 2 nd season. I have once again, thoroughly enjoyed this past season and I look forward to hopefully being given the opportunity to continue in the President’s role next season.
And, although I have thanked a lot of wonderful people in my report, I have saved my most important thank you for last. To my wife Karen and family, thank you for all of your wonderful support, as I know I could not balance this role with everything else going on in our lives, without you. Thank you.
Trevor Doody President
TREASURER’S REPORT
It is with pleasure that I announce a profit for the cricket club of $3280.
There were a number of reasons for this:
• Bar income was up $21000 on 2014/15. • There was a gross profit from trading of $7500. This is in stark contrast to the gross loss from trading suffered last season of $10000. • Fundraising – revenue up $3500 or 21% on 2014-15. This increase can be attributed to the chocolate drive the club ran this season. Thank you to Johnny Bassi for organising this and all those who bought and sold chocolates. • Operating expenses were down $22000 from $186000 to $164000. This was achieved mainly through lower function expenses and a 25% decrease in incentive payments. The decrease in part occurred because of the complete wash out of Round 9.
However, the club’s other income streams overall were down ($-29000). There are a couple of concerns. Namely, the decrease of Function Ticket Sales (-$10600) and Sponsorship (-16100).
Special thanks to our sponsors for their ongoing support of the club. Thank you DJ and the sponsorship team for all the work you put in.
The club has the following assets on hand:
• Merchandise $15723 • Cricket Victoria Grant $5000 • Alcohol – Sav Blanc $3024 • Balls $2846
Steve ‘Stinga’ Papastergiou Treasurer (continued next page) Foxtel $ 900 100.00 $ 900 Function Expenses $ 9,457 46.30$ 20,424 Gas $ 522 98.39$ 531 Goodsports $ 80 14.55$ 550 Grounds - Cross Keys $ 5,946 189.82$ 3,133 Ground Curator $ 11,500 100.22$ 11,475 Ground - Preparation $ 3,845 115.85$ 3,319 Grounds - Rental $ 2,522 98.32$ 2,565 Hardware $ - 0.00$ 156 Incentives $ 39,150 75.46$ 51,881 Indoor Training $ 825 150.00$ 550 Insurance $ 975 45.45$ 2,145 Junior Awards $ 976 $ 974 Milo $ - 0.00$ 3,460 Petrol $ - #DIV/0!$ - Photography $ - #DIV/0!$ - Postage & Printing $ 421 71.18$ 592 Club Ball $ 11,000 114.58$ 9,600 Raffle Expenses $ 7,810 90.41$ 8,639 Refunds $ 1,107 149.64$ 740 Repairs $ 233 15.88$ 1,464 Scorer Fees $ 249 28.26$ 879 Sponsors $ 787 131.74$ 597 Sportsclub Expenses $ 417 132.99$ 313 Sundry Expenses $ 152 18.78$ 807 Telephone $ 542 114.14$ 475 Training Expenses $ 473 212.84$ 222 Trophies $ 937 41.17$ 2,277 Umpires $ 2,743 75.45$ 3,635 Water $ 1,704 145.85$ 1,168 $ 164,151 $ 185,825
$ 3,280 -$ 6,669
1ST XI
We entered the 2015-2016 season full of hope and excitement for the year ahead. We knew that we had unfinished business from last season after losing to the 2nd bottom team in the last round to miss out on finals. After a very solid pre-season put together by JP, we were all fitter and in better shape then before.
Round 1 saw a great win first up against the reigning premiers in Yarraville Club. We posted 240 batting first and Yarraville Club were always on the back foot after a couple of early wickets to Nick Ingleton. However from there, the season seesawed for the remainder. We lost the next game to Tullamarine and during the season were only able to win 2 games in a row once. We had 3 games out of the 11 with no results due to rain or heat, and eventually finished the season 4 wins and 4 losses, with 3 draws. This left us 8th and missing the finals by a considerable margin.
These inconsistencies throughout the season cost us dearly and eventually were the thing that cost us finals. We had eventual premiers Sth Caulfield 4-50, Greenvale 4-20 and bowled out Doutta Stars for 155, but managed to let all those games slip through our fingers.
Highlights for the year were • Rd 1 – Dean Peter-Budge 106 • Rd 2 – Scott Sanders 4-52 • Rd 2 – Johnny Bassi 4-50 • Rd 3 – Stephen Houlden 95 • Rd 4 – Dean Peter-Budge 140 • Rd 4 – John Patton 89 • Rd 5 – Johnny Bassi 50* • Rd 6 – Scott Sanders 4-65 • Rd 7 – Luke Bassi 4-21 • Rd 10 – Johnny Bassi 4-26 • Rd 11 – Johnny Bassi 4-57
Congratulations to John Bassi who won the Stan Treblecock Award for best 1 st XI players (as voted by umpires) and the Tim Stapleton Awards for best senior player (as voted by the senior playing group).
I would like to say thank you to Lui Marini and John Patton for all the support and advice throughout the year. It was a considerable help and you two will able assist again next year taking the club forward. Also thank you to Inzi and Mato, always making sure all pre-game paperwork and set-up were completed. Inzi thank you also specifically for the scoring, amazing to have such detailed insight to the game afterwards. Yvonne Dodd and ‘Frankie’ Houlden, thank you for organising and collecting the lunches weekly, great spreads that are hard to beat.
Now let’s look forward to 2016-2017 in a new competition and set the bar high.
Scott Sanders Captain
2ND XI
After winning the Senior Division premiership the previous season the 2’s came into the year facing a brand new challenge. A competition that comprised of 18 teams from the north west area including Senior Division and North Division clubs with no clubs from the south divisions. To face the new competition was a young playing list with a new captain. What could we expect to achieve? The answer to this was provided during another finals campaign 6 months later.
Going into the first game of the year against Yarraville Club, only 1 member of last season’s premiership team was present. This was a challenge for the new group and one that was met with enthusiasm and competitive spirit that defied the age and changes to the line up. While the match ended in a narrow loss it demonstrated to the players and the club that we had a team that could compete with the better clubs in the competition.
At the Christmas break the 2’s were positioned mid table with 2 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws. These performances highlighted the inconsistency of youth with a big gap between our best cricket and our worst. This trend continued after the break bringing a further 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw. The last 2 rounds produced 2 good wins that enabled the team to clear the mid table pack and eventually finish 7 th on the ladder. With the setup of the competition this meant Strathmore would compete in the North West Seconds finals series with the other sides finishing between 5 th and 8 th . The top 4 teams were competing in the Senior Seconds finals.
The Semi Final against Laverton saw the team produce its best game of the season putting on a total of 7/331 from 80 overs. This was backed up by a strong bowling performance with Laverton bowled out for 126. Oddly enough this was the first time Strathmore had played Laverton since winning a North Seconds Semi Final against them in season 2012/2013. The setup of the draw did not enable very team to play each other during the season. Bring on the Grand Final.
The Grand Final saw us playing another team, Airport West St Christophers that we had not played during the regular season. Initial concerns regarding facing a much more experienced opponent and playing on a ground we had never seen before proved to be unfounded. Like the Semi Final, the team produced another season best performance with our fielding and bowling standouts during the game. The winning culture that the club has been able to establish over recent seasons shone through and provided another highlight for the club.
The key highlights over the year included centuries to Matt Reynolds and Luke James, 5 wicket hauls to Nick Marini, Chris Williams and Luke Bassi and Victorian U15 representative honours for Kyle Novacek. Luke Bassi topped off his year with 10 wickets in the Grand Final which earned him the player of the match medal. Outside of these individual performances, the overall development of the younger players was pleasing to see. The growth in confidence and performance delivery of the players resulted in the successful finish to the season. The challenge is now set for next season to continue this development, push for selection in the 1’s and compete for the Senior Seconds premiership.
Thank you to all the players, club officials, supporters and helpers during the season. Without your involvement, the success the 2’s enjoyed would not have been possible.
Darren Gregory Captain
3rd XI
The 3rds missed out on a finals berth by roughly two points. Whilst the end result was disappointing, the development of our kids was more important. Don’t get me wrong, it would have been great to lead the boys in a semi final or better, but it was about allowing the boys to figure out how to win games. We didn’t make finals because the difference between our good and bad days was vast. By that I mean, we were good enough to beat the eventual premier (Spotswood) in Round 2, but on the flipside of that we were bowled out four times for under 90 runs.
However, throughout the season I was impressed and proud of the way the boys responded to these collapses. The first time it occurred this season was against PEGS. In chasing a score of 173, we made only 73. Then, the boys bowled PEGS out for 44 in the second innings, setting up an unlikely chase of 100 runs off 9 overs for outright victory. We ended up 3-55 after the 9 overs,
Then there were the two victories in the one-dayers in the New Year against St.Bernards and Seddon, after we made 51 against Taylors Lakes. In each victory, we batted first and posted scores 160 and 200, respectively. In defending these scores, the boys were tested in the field when the opposition batsmen started to get on top, but we were ultimately successful because our young bowlers persisted and claimed important wickets when needed.
In the last round – after a bad loss to Wyndhamvale - we were still an outside chance to make finals, albeit slim, as we were 12 plus points adrift of 4th. We needed an outright victory and the game to go according to plan and it did. I won the toss and bowled against lowly St.Albans. We bowled them out for 110 in 40 overs. Then I asked our batsmen to go for it - meaning, to be 1st innings winners at the end of Day 1. We were 5-133. On Day 2, we stretched our lead out to 87, leaving 55 overs to bowl St.Albans out again and chase down whatever score they posted. St.Albans made 140 in 42 overs, leaving to chase 53 in 13 overs. We won with 7 wickets to spare in 11 overs.
Awards
Batting – Matt West
Bowling – Tim Roberts
Captain’s Award – Jayden Hocking
Steve ‘Stinga’ Papastergiou Captain
Vets 2
The season started with the knowledge that up to 5 premiership players from the previous season were NOT going to play. Lui, Boucks, Jason, Adam definitely and Darren who was injured would be doubtful. Darren, however responded whenever we were short to make up the numbers when needed. New players were drafted into the side Paul Conley, Andrew Nettleton and now we had our own Stevie J!
Prior to the last game before Christmas, I remember telling my team mates that “we were currently 5th in a 4 team competition”. So we needed to lift and despite an improved showing in that game we lost another and therefore won only one game before Christmas. Despite continued unavailabilities we were more competitive in the second half of the season and improved from 5th
to 3rd by the end of the regular season. I had always said we only need to win 2 games; the semi and the final.
In the semi we played Keilor 1 and despite being one or two bowlers light, I thought we had a good chance. We got off to a disastrous start when the Captain (bloody idiot) ran out Eags for a duck. Luckily we had plenty of batting with the ‘Rolls Royce’ Pete Hinton 52 n.o, Selvaggi 20 and with some big hitting from Trev Doody (24) and especially Bert Werden (42); we posted a very defendable score of 178 off our 30 overs. Our bowlers tried hard and I felt we pushed them all the way but in the end Keilor got the runs with an over to spare.
I hope all the players enjoyed themselves despite having to put up with captain grumpy. Oh captain my captain! I want to thank the club and especially my right hand man Joe Selvaggi for helping organize the team.
Trophy winners
Batting - Trevor Doody (a bit stiff Pete)
Bowling - Bernie Borg (a bit stiff all the other bowlers)
Captains award - Steve Jones (aka Stevie J)
Bernie Borg Captain
JUNIOR REPORTS
Under 17s
A great group of 16 boys made up the squad this season. With 12 boys being selected each week those boys not playing we provided opportunities to play in senior teams.
For many of the squad this was their first season playing on turf. During the season a number of the boys played senior cricket with Tom Markey playing in a first XI T20 game.
On field success was achieved with the team winning all home and away games. Unfortunately a below par batting performance saw the boys narrowly lose their semi-final by 4 wickets to the team who ended up winning the grand final.
All the boys improved their skills throughout the year and they work as a team every game. Captain Ben Bowden led the team well and ensured that each boy battered and or bowled each game.
Special thanks to all the families who helped throughout the year. Your support and assistance on match day is greatly appreciated.
Player Batting Bowling Fielding Runs Average Wickets Average Catches R/O Stumpings Ben Bowden 168 24.00 0 0.00 7 1 0 Lachlan Curtis 108 21.60 0 0.00 4 0 0 Nick Curtis 25 6.25 5 22.00 3 0 0 Anthony Daquino 315 45.00 1 33.00 4 1 0 Dilshan Delgama 13 6.50 14 10.93 1 1 0 Matt Germani 51 5.70 0 0.00 2 0 0 William Ingleton 61 10.20 8 18.50 2 0 0 Nick Lukies 56 9.30 0 0.00 3 1 0 Tom Markey 100 25.00 9 20.70 4 0 0 Jack Merzel 128 21.30 17 11.53 3 5 0 Oliver Nicholas 158 22.60 0 0.00 6 2 5 Ben Reddick 42 42.00 5 17.80 1 1 0 George Vasilakakos 143 20.40 7 14.40 3 2 0 Kyle Weightman 12 4.00 13 17.50 5 3 0 Deshan Wijerante 30 4.30 7 17.40 0 0 0 Jibril Yamak 243 30.30 0 0.00 5 2 0 Award Winners
Batting – Anthony Daquino Avg 45.00
Bowling – Jack Merzel Avg 11.53
Best in Finals – Jabril Yamak
Coaches Award – Thomas Markey
Dale Weightman & Frank Merzel Coaches
Under 12 (1)
The side had a very slow start to the season, with a number of boys unavailable at the start of the season due to other commitments.
The first four games were grading games and we won one of those games and then won only one other up until Christmas. After Christmas the boys played some great cricket and we lost only the one game, going from 7th on the ladder at the break, to finishing 5th at the end of the home and away season. The main reasons for the improvement was that we had a settled batting and bowling line up, the boys had picked up the pace of playing ‘A’ grade cricket and our bowling improved immensely. The improvement in the bowling was great to see as the boys were able to bowl a good line and length and restrict the opposition batsmen. This pressure resulted in a lot of run outs and catches in the outfield. Consistency with our batting is an area for improvement. We had 4 boys score more than 180 runs for season and these were the main run scorers.
We lost our first final in a close one at St. Bernard’s, going down with 7 balls left in the match.
Award Winners
Batting - Wil Swidryk – 273 runs at 39.00
Bowling - Rory McConville – 15 wickets at 10.00
Coaches Award - Isaac Dukic
The parents were fantastic support, particularly Karen Doody, who took on the Team Managers role again. Karen was super organised and made my job a whole lot easier. The boys didn’t go hungry and everyone knew when and where they had to be!!
Thanks to Chris Egan for his help at training, it was greatly appreciated. Thanks again to the parents, who filled when other commitments made it hard to get to training and the parents who helped out with umpiring and scoring duties – Chris Egan, Bruno Maisano, Trevor Doody, Tom Dukic, Kellie Johns, Fi Swidryk, Rinaldo Cesarini, Dean Opie & Jamie Haste.
Danny McConville Coach
Under 12 (2)
We won two of our first 4 grading games and were put in the U12 first division which I thought was a bit rough considering we were a team of first year U12,s.
We did however have a number of fairly gifted kids in our side so we did remain competitive although suffered a very heavy loss against Taylors Lakes and were subsequently regraded to Division 2.
We then remained unbeaten for the remainder of the season before losing our semi-final to Doutta Stars by 5 runs. We completed the normal season in 3rd place on our ladder which I thought was a great achievement by our boys having fought their way up the table from last.
Even though we struggled early on in the season, especially to score runs, our more senior boys kept us competitive and by the second half of the season everyone was contributing and I thought that our boys became quite selfless in their desire to put a good total on the board.
Our boys played to win for their team mates not their stats and averages. We had a great bowling attack, four good quick bowlers and bowled well right down to no.11. Some of the fielding, in the slips and gully in particular was as good as anything you will see on the field; seniors included.
The last 4 games of the season we implemented a tactic to bowl as full as possible around off stump to prevent the stronger hitters from scoring off pull/hook shots which I believe hurt us the most early on. The boys had progressed enough through the season to pull this off and also had great tactical awareness of why we were doing it which was great. Enjoyed this part of the season the most. A great team for next year if they can be kept together, plenty of upside and a couple of boys to keep an eye on for more advanced coaching/coaching clinics.
Award Winners
Batting - Sam Duggan 175 runs @29
Bowling - Finn Shannon 11 Wickets @6?
Coaches award - Tom McWilliam
Player of the finals - Sam Duggan
Record partnership for the season-Harrison Logan and Taylor Moxon - 110 runs for the 9th wicket.
Promising up and comer - Ryan Brodie
I had the best group of parents in my side, Cricket and football club would be all the poorer without them.
Steve McWilliam was a great assistant coach and helped out with scorers table and chairs throughout the season. Thanks also to Craig Brodie for his help at training throughout the year.
Silvana Mammoliti, our team manager who organised the match fees/collection.
Tim Logan and his son Paddy, Neil Moxon and Brad Ryan for there help with the scoring throughout the season.
Richard Holmes Coach
Under 10 (1)
The 2015/16 season saw an experienced line up of 7 third year players and 1 new player to the club play in this team. The team had a successful season winning 13 and losing 2 matches, which was an outstanding effort by the boys. Next season the majority of the boys will move up to U12’s.
All of the boys improved their skills throughout the season, while also having fun, and enjoying the game. It was great to see all the team contributing with the bat with every player scoring at least 20 runs in one innings during the season. The team’s fielding was also a high standard with many catches and direct hit run outs taken. In terms of our players, some of the highlights:
• Oliver Jones – took 4 wickets in 2 overs including a hat trick! Handy wicket keeper and batsman. • Joseph Scerri – his batting confidence grew throughout the season, best highlighted when he asked a bowler to bowl his next ball faster and then dispatching it to the boundary. • Nicholas Page – leading wicket taker. He is also a great all-rounder with the bat and in the field. • Christian Charles – economical bowler whose variation in bowling made it hard to score runs off. His batting improved finding the boundary more often as the season progressed. • William Nettleton – leading run scorer, who rarely loses his wicket. Bowled and fielded really well. • Aidan Spitaleri – big hitter who can score runs quickly, best highlighted scoring 38 one innings with five 6’s and two 4’s. • Zac Wason – played his first year of cricket. He fitted into the team really well, quickly settling in scoring runs and bowling tidy overs. • Drew Shannon – took the most catches during the season. When batting he accumulates his runs with minimum of fuss and is a handy left arm middle pacer.
Thank you to Deb Jones for being our Team Manager and to the parents for their support of the team. Thanks also for Club support from Danny McConville and the Committee.
Andrew Nettleton Coach
Under 10 (4)
Team: • Max Wheeler • Joel Hannes • Heath Issacs • Nicholas Staropoli • James Staroploli • James Gibbons • Jesse Bates • Issac Hengel
Wins: 3
The U10(4) team consisted of all first year players. Our focus for the year was learning the fundamentals whilst always keeping it fun and enjoyable. The boys improvement throughout the year was unbelievable.
The strategy for the team was on consistency of performance. The three wins that we achieved came about because of a very consistent performance across batting, bowling and fielding.
Areas for improvement next year
• Fielding - Suggested skills for improvement would be backing up the fielder behind the stumps
• Bowling - consistency of line and length. Our bowling was definitely an area that needs improvement.
A big thank you the Trish Hengel who took on the role of team manager and all the parents who helped score throughout the season Andrew Wheeler Coach