Friends and teammates of late WGCA champion Steve Vivian will get together this weekend and next for the annual memorial match at Devon Meadows against Pakenham. Last year’s match was well supported and both clubs are encouraging patrons and cricket fans to attend an enjoyable day in memory of a revered local player. ANDREW Cooper, Pakenham’s young captain-coach, has an impressive but frustrating batting record.
During his playing career with PUT, Berwick and now Pakenham, the 27-year-old all-rounder has reached scores in the 90s on six occasions, but he has still not achieved the coveted ton.
Furthermore in his hands of 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 98, he has remained not out at the end of his teams’ innings and on five of those occasions has run out of partners.
It is a fair bet that the celebrations will be long and loud when Andrew finally shakes the jinx and scores a well-deserved maiden century.
Despite his batting frustrations, Andrew was still all smiles after reaching 98 not out against Emerald last weekend. It was a big improvement on his previous two scores in West Gippsland club cricket of one and 0!
PAKENHAM Upper-Toomuc youngster Ruth Bardwell, who recently gained selection in the Victorian under-15 girls’ team, informed listeners on Saturday’s WGCA radio cricket program that she would represent the state in a series of matches against other state age teams at Glen Waverley between 12 and 15 December.
A large family and club group is sure to provide Ruth with strong support at the games.
The 14-year-old has enjoyed all-round success with the Yabbies’ under-14 team this season and has also performed well with the PUT women’s team in Sunday fixtures.
Ruth’s older brother Josh is a promising Yabbies A-grade player, while her father represented Lang Lang and PUT with distinction.
NINETY children attended a recent Monday night Milo Have-a-Go cricket clinic at Emerald, proving that the hills are alive with budding sports stars. The result was pleasing for organisers of the successful Milo program and reports from other venues in the district have also been encouraging. Milo and junior cricket officials are to be congratulated for their promotion of the game at grass-roots level.
WEST Gippsland representative teams played a series of matches against the Yarra Valley on Sunday.
The WGCA under-16 and -14 teams opposed Yarra Valley junior sides at Seville, while the under-18 team played at Merinda Park and the senior team hosted the Yarra Valley at Pakenham.
The three junior teams triumphed while the senior combination went down in a lacklustre performance.
WHILE on representative cricket, the selection of one WGCA junior team hit a sour note with at least one disgruntled parent. An email to the Gazette said that referring to the players as the “cream of locally produced young cricketers” was not correct because there were several representatives from one club. The writer was invited to contribute a letter to the Gazette detailing these concerns but declined in an abrupt manner.
Just as well really, because the weekend’s great wins by the WGCA junior teams vindicated the decisions by selectors and coaches and proved that the youngsters are among the best cricketing prospects in the district.
TOORADIN bowling stalwart Matt Finch is missing from both club and association teams at present due to illness. All cricket followers wish Matt a speedy recovery and hope that he is back in action again soon.
ANOTHER tidbit worth a mention is the fact that Nyora’s opening bowlers Matt Hutchinson and Nick Fairbank completed 38 overs for 14 wickets in the B-grade game against Pakenham on Saturday. Not a bad strike rate in a one-sided game in which the Lions lost 20 wickets for 71 runs.
FOR top all-round match performances, compare Ryan Radford’s seven wickets plus a century, all in a day!
Playing for Drouin Gold in Warragul and District C grade, Radford completed a stunning day against Yarragon with 129 after rolling the opposition with 7/16. Drouin Gold batted for just 24 overs and amassed 5/223, Radford blasting sixes around the ground in an opening stand of 118 with Malcolm Dow (35).
DEVON Meadows Cricket Club will host Eye Candy, four of Melbourne’s leading standup comedians, this Saturday night at the Devon Meadows Sports and Entertainment Centre at Glover Reserve.
Troy Kinne, Tom Siegert, Dave Thornton and Monty Franklin will have punters rolling in the aisles with their unique brand of comedy. Between them they have supported top local and international acts and scooped several local comedy awards.
Doors open at 8pm and tickets are available at the door at $10.
