Merewether District Cricket Club

“THE ROAR”

“End of Season Get Together”

Next Saturday after the game

Townson Oval

6p.m.

From The Prez

As this is for many the last game of the season, I thought it might be an idea to look back at our season 09/10

We have been Newcastle’s most successful club both on and off the field for the past decade and obviously 09/10 has not been our best, with 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 5^th/2’s all missing the semi finals.

Congratulations to 4ths, 5/1’s and 5/3’s in making the play offs. Our two C&S teams play in their semi finals this Saturday and we wish them well! (See you back at Souths!) The B52’s were minor premiers and the mighty A grade finished 2^nd. I’m sure they will do well.

While the season on the surface was a bit of a flop by our lofty standards, there were a number of significant achievements both on and off the field.

1^st grade skipper, Simon Moore looks like cleaning up the 1^st grade District batting awards and his achievements were even more outstanding given the season we’ve had. His work on and off the field for our club is immense.

Well done to 1^st grade in making the S.C.G. Cup final at the SCG and also in making the Tom Locker Cup final. Actually, when you look at our details for the season you wonder how we are not going to be in the semis. Too many things went against us, wet weather, poor decisions, injuries and an ageing team took their toll.

2^nd and 3^rd grade simply didn’t score enough runs! But both sides are very young and with hard work next season will see a vast improvement. A big thank you to Tony, Demon and Lids who do such a difficult job captaining these lower grade sides.

Perhaps the highlight of our season has been the establishment of a wonderful developing relationship with Tigers Junior Cricket Club. Tigers and Lions together have developed a coaching a pathway for these young players hopefully to Merewether DCC. Congratulations to Jason McKendry and Gordon Dryburgh from Tigers and our own Junior subcommittee who have worked so hard to achieve this outcome.

The junior coaching days were an outstanding success and I must acknowledge the work done by a number of our players during these days. Simon Moore and Troy Goodwin were outstanding giving of their precious time freely for the kids. They were well supported by Scott Montgomery, Nic Tantos, Grant Ratcliff, Martin Krause, Demon Tindal, Neil Crittenden, Nath Beckett,Jack Downing and a very special mention to Peter Grime who never missed a session ensuring we had nets to train in. The whole exercise was a very positive thing for all concerned.

As this is 2^nd and 3^rd grade’s last game this season here are some thoughts from the skippers:

G'Day All

As is the case in 3rds this has been somewhat of a building year for our second grade team. Plagued by both injury, suspensions, work and the social commitments of many of the guys has made it very difficult to have stability and consistency with our performances, however in saying that our performances have been in the main quite solid. The young guys whom have played mostly 3rds and 4ths over the last couple of years have really stood up over all and delivered at times when they could have easily capitulated. I think, what will see us ultimately just miss the semi's this year will be a lack of experience, self belief and trust in themselves and their mates abilities which will no doubt be built on in the years to come.

We will finish the regular season in possibly 5th or 8th at worst depending on results in the last round but the positive aspect of this year is that by year’s end we will have won substantially more games than we have lost even though we will miss the semi's that we have become so accustomed to being a part of. Like Damon in 3rds I have to give a real big wrap to the young men and kids coming through the club at the moment like: Matt Jordon, Jimmy Dillon, Alex Rodger, Josh Forsyth, Nic Tantos, Elliot McLeod, Sam Clune, Matt Nixon, Nic Palmer, and Viral Vishnoi (Hopefully will Return one day from Uni) whom have all spent time in 2's this year.

Also I want to give a wrap to some of the older guys who have been a real help at times during a pretty tough year like: Michael Varnum and Simon Wall in particular but even Duncan McIlveen during his time on the sideline always made an appearance and took interest in how we were going from week to week whilst he was injured. And of course I can't leave Peter Grime out, always of assistance which we come to expect from Pete but I think it was his constant betting against us that got us over the line allot of the time (Don't ever become a bookie Pete). Finally, I just wanted to finish off by saying it was a thoroughly enjoyable year from my point of view, despite some of the results and my cranky persona at times I always look forward to spending time with you guys from week to week and seeing you guys succeed. I think this will be my last year certainly in the higher grades I might relax down in 3rds or 4ths and contemplate taking a few bowling attacks apart from time to time. That's stumps for me. Cheers Guys - NEVER GIVE UP............

3rd Grade

This season has been one of transition for 3rd Grade. Most pleasingly many of the younger guys and older ones (Tony) graduated from our 3rd Grade Grand final team last year to play in a very competitive 2nd Grade team this season. The likes of Elliott McLeod, Nick Tantos, Sam Clune, Josh Forsyth, Matt Jordan, James Dillon and Matt Nixon have some through 3rd and 4th Grade at Merewether over the past 2 seasons to become regulars in 2nds this year. This shows our club does provide a pathway to opportunity in the higher grades. Many of these young guys will form the nucleus over 1st and 2nd Grade teams for years to come and this should act as an incentive to the young guys in 3rds to put in the hard work knowing the rewards are there.

While our season in 3rds will not be highlighted by finals cricket this year, I have been very pleased with the development and attitude by some of the youngest members of our club. Particular mentions should go to Matt Nixon who despite playing as many games in 2nds as he did in 3rds still scored near on 300 runs averaging over 50, including a swashbuckling 159 Vs Belmont and also young leggie Courtney Moulton who took 4 wickets in his first game for MDCC against a very strong City batting line-up. There has been several times this season when I have been the only one in our side over 21 years of age. However, what we have lacked in experience, we have more than made up for with determination to improve and a fighting spirit. This was particularly evident in our best win of the season against a Waratah team with four or five ex-first graders in their side. Likewise, our win against Wests was against a team that looked much stronger on paper, but we beat through application and a ‘never say die’ attitude. Likewise against Wallsend and City we turned around significant first innings deficits to fight our way back into the game and place pressure on or more experienced opposition. Thanks also to Goffo for you taking on the shipper role while I was away on holidays. Well done boys for your efforts this year and let’s take this year’s learning experiences, combine them with hard work at training next season and get 3rds back into the finals again. Tinny

U21’s

It has been another highly successful campaign for our Under 21’s team, falling just one step short of back-to-back Grand Final appearances. Our close loss in the Semi-Final Loss to eventual Under 21 champions Cardiff (who featured 2 NSW Colts reps) could have easily have gone the other way. We had Cardiff 5 for 40 and on the ropes, however several dropped chances and 50/50 umpiring decisions cost us dearly and meant that we had a daunting chase of 230 against a strong Cardiff Bowling line-up. We recovered from the loss of two early wickets and seemed to be cruising at 2 for 130 with Logie and Jack in control; however a late collapse saw us lose 8 for 50 and all out for 180.

Individual performances of note this year came from Nick Tantos (80 Vs City), Luke Stewart (35 and 3 wickets Vs City, 89 Vs Hamwicks, 3 wickets Vs Cardiff), Matt Nixon (37 and 6 wickets Vs Hamwicks), Logie (27 Vs City, 38 Vs Cardiff) and Jack Downing (25 Vs City and 52 Vs Cardiff).

Thanks to Stewie, Logie and Jack for their work with the young blokes this year and CONGRATS on a great season.