The Best of 2009-10 News Stories
2009-10 1st XI debuts
Luke Rossito and Sonny Singh took the 1st XI debutante count for this season to 10 when they made their debuts against Seddon in Round 9. Sonny bowled 3 overs for 26 and quickly realised the difference in standard in 1st XI cricket. Nevertheless, he will learn more from the experience rather than concentrating on the figures. Luke Rossito on the other hand grasped his opportunity with both hands and could justifiably lay claim to making the best debut of the season taking 2 for 27 off 14 overs. A feat which was even more meritorious given that Seddon made 4 for 332 in 70 overs. Sonny and Luke joined the following players who have made their first XI debut this season.
- Jake Hawkins debuted against Moonee Valley in round 8.
- Daniel Mezo debuted in the Round 7 against Albion.
- Rohit Allada and Nimardeep Dhande made their debuts in the round 5 match against East Keilor.
- Luke Micallef Round 3 against Taylors Lakes.
- Ben Heppell Round 1 against Moonee Valley
- Hayden Salter Round 1 against Moonee Valley, and
- Tom Cummings Round 1 against Moonee Valley.
Seven under 16s have now taken 4 or more wickets in an innings this season.
Tom Krajina's 6 wicket haul in the 3rd XI takes to 6, the number of current under 16 players to take four or more wickets in an innings this season.
He joins:
- Mathew Montesano 7/33 v Buckley Park (U16s) and 4/50 v Craigieburn (3rd XI)
- Luke Wentzel 5/11 v Balmoral (3rd XI)
- Tom Russell 5/18 v Broadmeadows (U16s)
- Rohit Allada 4/7 v Strathmore (U16s)
- Matthew Dougherty 4/57 v East Keilor (3rd XI)
- Adam Harris 4/22 v Gladstone Park (3rd XI)
Stefan Zivanic and Michael Nikoloski continue their fine season
Stefan Zivanic (Under 14's) and Michael Nikoloski (Under 10's) continued their fine season this round.
Stefan guided the under 14's to a 10 wicket win by retiring on 50 not out. This was Stefan's 3 half century of the season and his 6th score of over 25in8 rounds. This also followed his fine bowlingperformance where he took 2 for 13(his 5th 2 wicket innings of theseason)
Not to be outdone Michael Nikoloski scored his 8th 20 retired for the season in the Blue teams win over Moonee Valley.
Update:
Stevan made another 50 in the last round against Keilor Park to make his 7th score of more than 25 in 8 innings.
Michael made his 9th 20 retired in the penultimate round against Sydenham Hillside.
Mathew Montesano bowls Under 16's to Victory
Mathew Montesano is finally starting to unleash his natural ability with some strong commitment to learning and training. This is no more evident than his brilliant 7 for 33 off 11.1 overs to bowl the under 16's to Victory in the round 5 match against Buckley Park.
The iroony of his performance is that Mat came to Avondale Heights from Buckley Park four years ago.
Needing to bowl tightly to win the game Mat continued his spell from the week before and ripped through the Buckley Park top order.
In 4 devastating overs he had take 3 wickets.
Buckley Park then got back into the game with some good batting but our fielders not standing in position and not taking the chances when they came added to the runs being accumulated. The Buckley Park captain had got to 71 before Mat came back for his second spell.
He had the Buckley Park captain caught behind by Michael Montesano (no relation) and the his swing and cut was too good for the lower order. Mat had taken 7 for 33 and the 16's had won their 3rd match for the season.
Mat proved that good line and length will get the best batsman out.
Congratulations Mat on a great performance.
Luke Wentzel takes 5 wickets in 3rd XI
Luke Wentzel took his maiden 5 wicket haul in the 3rd XI's round 8 clash with Balmoral. Luke was brought on as first change for his accurate line and good length when the opening bowlers bowled too full to the Balmoal batsmen.
The change soon paid dividends with Luke taking a wicket in his first over. He then continued to have the batsmen mesmerised finishing with a career best 5 for 11 off 10.1 overs.
His last wicket put him on a hattrick in the 2nd innings.
Alas his first ball in the 2nd innings was a run out rather than a bowlers wicket and he missed out on the incredible feat.
Had he achieved his hattrick he would have achieved a rare combination of a hattrick taken in 3 differnet overs.
Merv Hughes achieved this in test cricket.
Well done Luke a great effort for your first 5 wicket haul.
Logan Mckay takes double hattrick in demolition
Logan McKay had a field day against East Keilor in round 5 as he took 8 for 3 off 5 overs.
In the process he also took a 5 wicket haul in the second innings.
This feat included a double hattrick (all bowled) to secure outright victory for the club.
This is a great effort given that Logan is in his first season with the club.
His analysis for the match was 5-4-8-3. Congratulations Logan on this fantastic achievement.
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Chris Dougherty takes 5 wickets against Balmoral
In the absence of injured bowler Mark Cunningham, Chris Dougherty took the new ball in the second innings in the match against Balmoral. Having just won the match on the first innings in controversial circumstances, both teams were fired up thinking an outright win was in the offing.
Chris struggked early in the first few overs as his old body, and the fact he hadn't bowled for 3 matches, had to get used to the rigours of new ball bowling.
With Travis rodier bowling well from the other end, Chris finally got his line right and the Balmoral batsman struggled with the ball coming at the stumps.
Chris ripped through Balmoral taking 4 unassisted wickets with his 5th a catch by Sodhi securing Chris first 5 for in over 25 years.
This was the second 5 for in the match with Luke Wentzel taking 5 last week.
He was well supported by Travis Rodier who took another 3 wickets to finish with 6 for the match, and his match winning 33 would earn Travis man of the match.
Alas the efforts of Chris, Travis and Luke were not enough to get the outright win.
Balmoral were all out for 96 but we ran out of time for the outright to be 4 for 45 when stumps were drawn.
Matthew Dougherty Takes Career Best Figures of 4/57
Matthew Dougherty took career best figures of 4/57 in the 3rd XI round 9 match v East Keilor.
Coming on to bowl with the East Keilor middle order running rampant, he began his spell bowling off-spin. When he had 0/20 off 2 overs, something drastic needed to happen as we were running out of guys who could bowl any more overs.
Matthew suggested he tried medium pace and the runs soon dried up and the wickets started to fall.
He dismissed the captain who had made 50 and the other batsman in the partnership was also out to Matthews medium pace.
His next 10 overs returned the figues of 4/37 and he finished with a career best 4/57 off 12 overs.
East Keilor batted one batsman short and had that batsman been there Matthew may well have taken a 5 fot.
Congratulations Matthew.
Rohit Allada selected in Western Spirit Dowling Team
Congratulations to Rohit Allada who has been selected in the final squad to represent the Western Spirit in the Under 16 Dowling Shield competition.
His top score of 74 this season didn't hurt his selection chances.
Congratulations Rohit.
We wish you every success.
Tom Russell achieves maiden double of a century and five wickets during 2009-10
Tom Rusell continued to tap into the rich vein of form by taking a 5 wicket haul for the under 16's in the round 3 match against Broadmeadows.
This added his 102 in the round 3 3rds match against Gladstone Park.
Tom has come on in leaps and bounds this season and he has the temprament to be a good cricketer for the Avondale Heights Seniors in years to come.
Keep up the good work Tom.
Stefan Zivanic Takes a Hattrick
The first hattrick of the season was taken by Stefan Zivanic who took three wickets with consecutive balls in the first round match for the under 14's against Strathmore.
Stefan's fast building a reputation as a very good all rounder with him also retiring on 25 in the same match.
Congratulations Stefan on this fantastic achievement.
20's a plenty in under 10's
After having an under 10 team that struggled to make big scores last year, we have had 8 players score 20's in the first four rounds.
Aaron Ciavarella has been a revelation scoring 3 consecutive 20's. He fell short this week by making 17 before being dismissed.
Jaycob Secchi who struggled to put bat on ball in his first season last year has scored consecutive 20's in the last 2 weeks. He joins 3rd year under 10 veteran Michael Nikoloski who has also made back to back 20's in the last 2 weeks.
Others to have scored 20's so far are Matthew Ciavarella, Lucas Nikoloski, Joel Versace, Robert Dasilva, and Anthony Bonaguro.
Many of the other under 10's have been developing very quickly and it won't be long before they crack their first 20.
Veterans call it a day
Age has finally caught up with the brave souls who were to be a our veterans team this season.
Having played in the grand final of the open age one day competition, the move to the veterans competition was the next logical step to full retirement.
The guys however found it difficult to get motivated for yet another season of cricket and have decided to give it away.
The club will definitely miss the on-field experience of these guys but hopes they guys will still be around the club supporting the new breed of players about to wear the baggy blue.
Thanks to Paul Condon who made every effort to get the side motivated and thanks to Dave Grant, Rob Wilcynski, Gavan Hearnden, Paul Houston, Wayne Lewis, Craig Eastway and the other guys who helped fill in numbers when the team was running short of players.
For those who picked any of the vets in their dream team, bad luck.
Thankfully the first month is trial month for the dream team and you will have another crack at selecting a competitive team.
Raheel Hussain appointed the 1st XI Captain for 2009-10
The club held its inaugural season launch at the club rooms on Thursday 1 October 2009. The launch saw over 100 club members and their families enjoy cooked meals, drinks and snacks while the Senior Coach Ron Blair announced the 1st XI captain, Raheel Hussain.
Ron and Raheel then welcomed each of the junior players to the club and handed out their 2009-10 playing shirts.
A big thank you to Wendy Harris, Anna Krajina, Di Cunningam, and Lisa Dougherty for putting on the meals, and thanks to all the Committee members who were there helping out on the night.
If this night was any indication, the club is in for a successful season.
The next big event will be the clubs Trivia Night on 24 October 2009. Get a table together to enjoy a night full of fun and games.
Milo In2Cricket comes to Avondale Heights
The Avondale Heights Cricket Club in conjunction with the Avondale Heights Primary School, Nestle and Cricket Victoria has established the Milo in 2 cricket program.
The program caters for Primary School aged boys and girls to learn the skills of cricket in a non-competitive, friendly atmosphere.
The program will commence on 19 October 2009 with registration and the first session.
Annual General Meeting 2008-09 - Key Messages
The Annual General Meeting was attended by only 13 members and was an indication of the level of apathy for the club and its direction. The retiring President Richard Phillips announced in his report that the club had struggled to raise funds throughout the year and that the club was in danger of ceasing to exist - not because of money but because of the apathy in working to make the club great. The Colonel praised the work of the junior committee and the club coach Ron Blair for embracing the development of a pathway for the juniors to play senior cricket. If it were not for the strength of the juniors and the development of some talented cricketers, this may have been the last AGM for the club.
The meeting however looked toward a strong future and a new beginning at the club which is suffering from a lost generation of home grown cricketers. 2009-10 will be the dawn of the new generation with recently promoted junior players like Cameron Harris, Josh Fedele, Jake McBean, John Silviloglou, Andrew Barszuskyj, and Steve Mezo the nucleus of the new generation of cricketers at the club. Add to this experienced cricketers like Shaun Farrugia, Adil and Raheel Hussain, Chris Kenney and Irfan Bhatti - the club will strengthen as these young players gain valued experience on turf. Throw into that mix the Cunningham twins, Travis Rodier, the likely return of Tom Cummings and a host of under 16's the club is poised to benefit from the junior program in the next few years.
All players must however pay their way and this will be a significant focus for the new committee. The time of no pay no play is about to begin as a wealth of juniors will be pushing for selection in the Senior teams this coming season
Junior medal named in honour of Leigh Shellie
Leigh Shellie has been honoured at the AGM with the naming of the junior award, as voted by the Senior coach, as the Leigh Shellie medal. The award is voted by the Senior coach on a 3-2-1 basis across all junior teams for each day of play.
Leigh has been a stalwart around the club and came through the junior program and has been involved with the Junior and Senior teams for over 20 years. A life member of the club, he has helped the careers of many junior players. He resurrected a dying junior program and has been influential in many of the activities at the club. The view at the meeting was that it was fitting recognition for the tireless work he has put in over the years.
AHCC and Avondale Heights Primary School Alliance
The Avondale Heights Primary School and the cricket club have established an in principal agreement to work together in an effort to upgrade the facilities at the school, provide the club with valuable recruitment opportunities, and to provide the youngsters within or community with a chance to personally develop through participating in structured and competitive sport.
The formal association between our two organisations will be mutually beneficial in that it: will establish a strong link between two community focused organisations, provide access to, and better utilises, a sporting facility in the heart of our suburb; will enable the establishment of a Milo In2Cricket program for primary school children and provide a pathway to competitive cricket in the local community; provides potential access to funds, through an association with a community group, to upgrade facilities to allow better utilisation of the school oval and to provide the club with an ability to accommodate an increasing number of player registrations, and ; provides students, teachers and parents with extra curricular activities that promote the health and well being of children through fitness and personal development.
The two parties will now commence work on obtaining the relevant approvals from the various authorities to see this implemented by the commencement of the 2009-10 season.
Meet the youngest recruit
Congratulations to Ron and Lisa on the birth of their first child - a healthy boy who finally arrived Monday afternoon 11 May 2009 at 4 20.
Angus Brock Thomas Blair welcome to the AHCC family.
Weighing a nice 7.3 pound. Both Mum and Dad are well but very very tired.
The junior committee would also like to announce the Under 10 coach for season 2016/2017 as Ron Blair under the father son rule. Congratulations.