Last Friday night the Strathalbyn Cricket Club held its end of season senior presentation at the Strathalbyn Football Club.
The evening commenced with club president, Michael Cutting welcoming everyone to the night and highlighting the challenges that existed with event planning during the current times with many people unfortunately unable to attend the dinner due to a combination of covid and related isolation.
The evening was a huge night for the club, with three A Grade premierships acknowledged including the 1971/72, 1981/82 and 1996/97.
The 1971/72 grand final was the only time the two Strathalbyn teams, the Reds and the Whites had met in an A Grade grand final, with the Whites prevailing.
It was fantastic to have four players from the Whites and two from the Reds present on the night given the club was celebrating 50 years since the match.
Both the 1981/82 and 1996/97 teams went back-to-back in the following season, so the club is planning another big celebration in the upcoming season to recognise that achievement.
In addition to the three premiership acknowledgements, the club also inducted 11 new life members on the night, with 8 of the new inductees being present to receive their recognition.
The club acknowledged the extensive research work and effort undertaken by existing life member and club legend Perry Jones to capture the past playing histories which supported the life membership qualification, nomination and induction process.
President Michael Cutting acknowledged that many of the new life member inductions were long overdue, but the club remained committed to ensuring its history is better captured and recognised and that engagement with past players continues to be strengthened moving forward.
Seven of the new life members commenced their playing careers at Strathalbyn in the 1960s including Robert Webb (1960), Trevor Heinrich (1961), Peter Milnes (1962), Brian Patterson (1962), Brian Harley (1964), Dave Harley (1964) and John Williams (1964).
Together these 7 gentlemen have amassed a huge amount of runs and wickets for the club on the field, while also contributing many years volunteering on the club committee and as association delegates off the field.
Fellow new life members Craig Lamshed and Layne Abbott commenced playing at the club in 1977 and 1979 respectively, and almost 40 years later still hold the record for the highest opening partnership for the club with a massive 293 recorded in 1983 against Nairne.
Chris Pethick began playing in 1989 on his way to scoring more than 5000 runs and averaging over 57 at A Grade level for the club, Chris and family also donating the clay soil that was used in both the centre wicket refurbishment and turf practice wicket establishment since his retirement.
The final new life member inductee was Jerry Blair who played his first season for the club in 1997 amassing 83 A Grade games through until 2006 before adding another 108 games in lower grades since, the most recent in the 2020/21 season.
Jerry was also the club’s Milo Cricket Centre Co-ordinator for over 10 years which president Michael Cutting remarked was worthy of life membership in itself.
“Congratulations to all the new life member inductees, all are very worthy of the honour and we look forward to seeing your faces around the club next season and beyond,” Mr Cutting said.
The night continued with the presenting of the trophies for the senior grades, with the club’s senior coach, Justin Neumann, speaking of the outstanding contribution that the club’s junior players had made at senior level in his address, noting that five of the club’s existing U16 group had debuted at A Grade level over the past two seasons.
The batting aggregate trophies were won by Mark Abbott (542 - A Grade), Rory Lane (412 - B Grade) and Tim Schubert (607 - C Grade).
With the ball, the leading wicket takers in the respective grades were Brayden Gaiter (37 – A Grade), Brett Abbott (25 – B Grade) and Tim Schubert (17 - C Grade) with the best fielder trophies being awarded to Luke Cousins (A), Ashley Medhurst (B) and Scott Harding (C).
Mark Abbott (103), Todd Hillam (112) and Tim Schubert (142) were recognised for reaching triple figures during the season while Brayden Gaiter (5/14), Tim Dellatorre (5/10), Rhys Johnson (5/4), Brett Abbott (5/8 & 5/25), Joel Doecke (5/19) and Adam Smith (5/29) received trophies for their 5-wicket hauls.
The evening concluded with the A Grade Cricketer of the Year, round by round vote count. The award is now in its 3rd season and is voted on by the A Grade players with each player casting a 2 and 1 vote after each match.
Matt Harris skipped away to a healthy early lead on the back of some consistent performances, with Ben Cousins and Mark and Matt Abbott polling well and chasing hard, but ultimately Matt Harris was rewarded for an outstanding season finishing on 104 votes to take out the award from Mark Abbott (90 votes), Ben Cousins (87 votes) and Matt Abbott (77 votes).
The club thanks all its players, volunteers, supporters and sponsors for what has been another successful season with the club securing three premierships and two further teams reaching grand final matches.
Please keep an eye out for the details of the club’s AGM which will likely be held in late May and as always, the club is on the lookout for new committee members for those that are keen to get involved.
The club would also like to thank The Southern Argus for its support of local cricket during the 2021/22 season and we now look forward to heading to the spelling paddock for some much-needed rest and relaxation for a few months before coming back refreshed and ready for the 2022/23 season.
