The official journal of the Monash Cricket Club Since 1981 20th April 2013 Presentation Night Edition PRESIDENT’S REPORT The 2012/13 season represents the start of what I hope will be an extended period of success for the Monash Cricket Club. Following the reintroduction of our junior program several years ago we have struggled to replicate our off field performances on the playing fields of Tally Ho and Carlson Reserves. After several years of hard work from a dedicated group of individuals the club has turned the corner. No longer are we waiting for success to come to us, but we are now striving towards success. We are no longer waiting for young players to come through and play senior cricket, they have arrived and are making an impact. We are no longer happy with being competitive, we want to win premierships. This is a great time to be at the Monash Cricket Club. This change in attitude has been reflected in our on-field success this season where the 1st, 2nd and 4th XI‟s as well as the U/14‟s all made finals, with the 2nds making it all the way to the grand final where they fought hard in trying circumstances. However, our successes could only be achieved through the support of a dedicated group of volunteers that work tirelessly and without expectation of reward. As such I would like to thank our committee who have done more than you could possibly imagine to make sure that we still have an amazing club to come back to year after year. Additionally I would like to thank our junior coaches, the parents who help on match day and the players who step out on to the ground and put their best foot forward for themselves and others. Whilst on the topic of thanking people, I would like to thank Alastair Mollison in particular for all of his hard work and dedication to the club over a period in excess of twenty years. As many of you will know Al is stepping down from official duties having been at the heart of the club for a long time. He has been the President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Junior Coordinator and the Social Secretary amongst other positions. On several occasions he has even held more than one of those titles at the same time. He is a life member of the club and has nearly held this place together single handedly through some of our darker days. If you get a chance I urge you to refrain from mocking him about wearing thongs to a formal occasion for a few minutes so that you can shake the man‟s hand, thank him for what he has done and tell him that you hope to see him around the club next season. May you all enjoy the winter and return to pre-season ready to enjoy a successful season on and off the field in 2013/14. GO ROADERS! Leigh Harink President HATCHED, MATCHED & DISPATCHED It was sad to hear of the passing of Ian Stuart in February. Whilst it is doubtful that any current Roaders have even heard of Ian, he was an integral part of the first Roaders teams when we started as Syndal Presbyterians back in 1964. Ian is yet another link to our formation that has now been broken, but a link for which we should all be grateful. Meanwhile it has been the season of romance for a number of Roaders, with a couple getting engaged, a few getting married and 1 couple welcoming a new addition to their family: The start of the season saw our ex club captain-coach, Rob “Throbba” Jurson get married. I‟m sure that those of us who remember the hellish time that Rob went through several years ago when he lost Peta will wish him every happiness. November then saw Brendan Hislop and Stacey Debra walk down the isle. We congratulate them for that, but we are awfully concerned that they then took Steve McKenzie on the honeymoon with them. The 9th March this year finally saw a day that many Roaders never though would actually happen, when Chris Hudd actually married the lovely Fiona Cory. He has been dating her so long that a lot of us thought that we would see a funeral before a wedding. Then only a week ago Deek Wimalasuryia married Ana Ernikolis, and they happy couple have taken off to Thailand for their honeymoon. We wish them all the happiness, but question their timing. DJ Deek was booked in to DJ tonight‟s function for us, so now I‟m afraid that you have Ginswobble‟s musical tastes to fulfil your evening. Brendan “Tugga” McMahon has recently become engaged to Lauren Edwards and whilst we congratulate the happy couple, we suspect that the wedding will see a spike in the share price of CUB stock. Simon Read is another Roader who has found a pair and asked Rebecca Cook to grace him with her hand in marriage – to which she agreed. Let‟s just hope that he didn‟t then make it to the bathroom and pass out with joy (again) Finally, Michelle and Ryan Sliwinski welcomed Lily Belle into the world at 11:41pm on Thursday 14th March. Congratulations guys – we just hope that she takes after mum rather than dad. QUOUTABLE QUOTES Dug Goldsmith: “My best bowling figures were in my very first game of senior cricket” Mark Wilkinson: “What were they ?” Dug Goldsmith: “4 / 1” Mark Wilkinson: “Didn‟t you take a 5 fa in the Vets ?” Dug Goldsmith: “Yeah, but this was better” Nick Roach: “How old are you now, Pup ?” David Hurley: “18” Nick Roach: “Hey, now you are old enough to come on our end of season trip” David Hurley: ”Cool. When is it ?” Dug Goldsmith: “What‟s the retirement score down here in the 1-dayers ?” Al Mollison: “50 - why ?” Jai Chandrasekaran: “He‟s obviously interested in irrelevant trivia” When you‟ve got a guy playing in your team that‟s opened the batting for Victoria, his team-mates appreciate it …. Al Mollison: “Would everyone please confirm their Veterans‟ availability ?” Shaun Prescott: “I‟m good” Dave Lacy: “Yeah – we know, mate” The Under 17‟s had a great year, and were unlucky to just miss out on finals. They did have quite a few wins, which generated interest from a part-time U/17 player in who had performed in a win: Justin Meredith: “Who scored ?” Leigh Harink: “Kurt made 76, Thaveesh made 38 not out, and Hughie made 25 not out?” Russell Yee Loong: “…and I made the cordial” Dave Hurley learned that the boys pull no punches in the nets when you duck out of the way of a short ball rather than hooking it David Djordjevic: “Pup, when did your parents start dressing you in blue and pretending that you‟re a boy ?” Luke Westfield: “What‟s your favourite X-Box game, Al ?” Nick Roach: “It‟s „The Sims‟ because he likes to try and get all the girls naked. Actually it‟s Harink‟s too, except he tries to get all the boys naked” Al Mollison: “If we‟re really short, I will get some kids from Cougars” David Djordjevic: “How is he gonna get kids from there ?” Paul Benjamin: “Handcuffs” 1st XI CAPTAIN’S REPORT Well Road Pigs, isn't it nice to have a successful year throughout the entire club? Three out of four senior teams make finals, another two teams in the threes and veterans narrowly missing out, and junior teams having success as well - with the under 14's making the finals. It certainly is happy times down at Roaderville at the moment. Unfortunately, though, there were no flags this year and we failed to really capitalize on the chances we were given. It is true when people say that finals are a different game altogether: nerves creep in; mind games take over; and sometimes players even take the situation too lightly. Maybe we weren't prepared enough, maybe we had a bad weekend, maybe we just didn't want it badly enough. We can go through as many scenarios in our minds now, but what's done is done. I will say this, though, if we as a club really do want premierships, there are things that need to change. In my opinion, we wanted premierships when we should have needed them; we trained hard on selection night and didn't turn up or took it easy on other nights; we helped out at the club when it suited us yet let 'the others' do it when we had something better to do. For me, this is not the attitude to have when we are striving for flags. In my eyes, Monash should be a club where you have brothers by your side, working towards a common goal - winning games, bettering yourself as a player, helping the club all through the season, winning premierships and celebrating in style. Yes we are merely playing park cricket but that doesn't mean we can't put in our best effort, go out of our way to get to training, help each other out etc. By no means am I trying to take away from the great performances this year, I am just stating my opinion on how we need to get things done if we are to make dreams a reality. For us in the ones this year, we had a great start. Picking up a new opening bat in Nic Cameron was very helpful, and throughout the season he put in some gutsy, exciting and high scoring partnerships with both Brendan Smith and Brad Elphinstone.