It’s About Having a Go.
Our year began as the previous two had – seriously lacking in numbers that would limit our ability to consistently put a quality and competitive team on the park. This meant that we constantly had to go to the emergency well of talent that we had been relying on as fill-ins for the best part of 5 years and thankfully we were able to field a side in most weeks.
F Turf
Played 11 Won 3 (1 outright) Lost 7 Draw 1
Finished 6th
Whilst we managed to get through the dreaded “Spring Carnival” period without forfeiting a game, we succumbed to low numbers shortly after and a resultant walk-over to Donvale ensued.
All in all though, it was a step up from the previous year in that we won three games, the first of which was an exciting win against eventual finalists Tooronga where we managed to defend 153 with only 10 players. From a player and captain’s perspective, this was equal to any win I have been involved in during my 17 years at Carey.
We also had a solid win against Surrey Hills with a quality bowling attack, and another great outright win against Hawthorn, who had been sitting in the Top 4 for much of the year. Watching Noisy tear apart a quality B-Grade bowler with classic pull shots brought a smile to everyone’s face and it was a shame that he missed out on what would have been a well-deserved 50.
I don’t want to go into each game bit by bit as all the results and personal achievements and scores are on mycricket. (mycricket.cricket.com.au) and if anyone is interested, they can go through the games in more detail there.
Early in the year, we played each game with a core group of players including McGux, Viper, Dom Deluise Crowley, Noisy, China and Andy Mac along with Gastro Kelly and his son Mick. We saw a number of old and new players come through the gates for one or two games as well.
Many thanks to Heathy, Apaar, Ali Rajani, and Marcus Cushen and the two Pethericks for their early efforts to help us through the start to the season.
It’s amazing how some recruiting can actually occur and it’s worth noting two particular stories that helped us get through the remainder of the year. As a club we owe a tremendous debt Stuart Rankin for his efforts in bringing in
a great number of new players from Point Cook.
All sides have directly benefited from Stu’s efforts in this regard, especially the 3rd XI, and I owe a debt of gratitude to him for helping us field a competitive side each week after Christmas.
Whilst Stu had decided to play cricket closer to his home in Point Cook at the beginning of the year and thus ending a 19 year association with Old Carey, a combination of factors brought his skill and enthusiasm back to us early in the year. Along the way, he also brought a number of players who helped top up our lists and directly resulted in the club being able to field sides each week.
Many thanks go to Tommy Byrne, Mitchell Cross, Mark Lopez, Brett Corbett and Francis Yacoub for making the effort to drive such a long way to help us out.
Another stroke of good recruiting fortune came from John McGuckin who mentioned to his neighbour during a BBQ that we were lacking in numbers. As a result of that, the neighbour’s son and two friends who were 12 and 16
indicated that they would be willing to come down and play.
As a further result of that, the club picked up a great young bowler in Drew El Moussalli who proved that if we are able to find and nurture good young players in the future, we will continue to be competitive in all grades we play.
The challenge is to continue to find the Drew El Moussalli’s, get them to Carey and do what we can to help them stay. Drew is a fantastic young quick bowler and a quality, technically good batsman, and will go far with his cricket
if it is nurtured well. Thanks to Gux for bringing Drew and James as well as Nathan Gorst along for the odd game as well.
Being able to field a competitive side in some weeks resulted in us challenging some of the better sides. Whilst we were blown away by the two grand final sides, we challenged the other 4 sides in the competition during games and posed some threat when we bowled well and batted well.
Unfortunately consistency with the bat and the ball both within games and between games meant that there were times we struggled and the opposition took advantage of it.
In addition to this is the old adage that catches win matches. There were several games that dropped catches really cost us. The Donvale game cost us around 130 runs as both guys who made runs were dropped very early in
their innings’. Similarly the game against St. Kevin’s saw us drop 20(!) catches, which cost us any chance of putting any pressure on them with the ball.
Both these sides played off in the Grand Final and we had chances to really test them. We all lament our dropped catches every week and every
year. As a club, I think we owe it to ourselves to try and do something about it. If that means we take our catching practice at training more seriously or we do more practice before the game then that is what needs to happen but
taking our chances could make a world of difference for all teams as we strive to climb into the grades above us.
There were a number of successes that individuals had throughout the year:
Gary (Gastro) Kelly took 15 wickets which qualified him for the team’s bowling averages. Gary opened the bowling every week and was as safe and reliable an opener as we have had for a number of years. A wily old veteran, he just bowled consistently outside off-stump. We couldn’t have won games without him. Well done Gary.
John McGuckin made over 300 runs for the year, which was his highest aggregate for Carey. Whilst Gux didn’t managed to make a ton this season, his consistency in applying himself was fantastic when we really needed his runs.
He deserves many accolades for his efforts this year as he really helped solidify our batting line-up and helped us post competitive scores in most games.
Ron Alcock made himself available for a number of games and whilst a bit rusty early on, he showed why he is a great player. Consistent and solid batting and quality bowling enabled him to take 11 wickets in his 3 games for the thirds, as well as contributing with the bat and with his generally safe hands. It was great having Ron in the three’s not only for his batting and bowling skills, but his enthusiasm and competitive nature in the field really made everyone take a step up.
Drew El Moussalli also took over 10 wickets for us and proved a quality bowler. His cool head with the bat also contributed 80-odd runs and a great arm in the field.
Simon Noisette really took a lot of responsibility on himself this season and as a result, he has had his best year ever with the bat. Noisy managed to put in three quality innings, which were his best scores in his career. To see a
guy who normally struggled with the bat make scores of 35, 44 and 48 was really pleasing.
Any player scoring over 130 runs, taking wickets and continuing to improve his catching would make his skipper very proud. The outright against
Hawthorn can be directly attributed to Noisy’s batting and his desire to keep focused for the team. I can honestly say we would have struggled to win that game on first innings let alone outright without Noisy’s great knock.
Dom Crowley also deserves special mention for his year. Crowl’s started the year with a bang, making 45 in Round 1, and followed it up with a few 20’s and 15. Again, he has made 120 runs for the year and took a few wickets with the
ball. Dom has even gone to the extent of coming to training regularly to improve his batting and bowling, and with continued focus in the future, his batting will become more consistent and he will make plenty of runs. As he showed against St. Kevin’s, when he puts his head down and plays carefully, waiting for the right ball, he is capable of making plenty of runs, in addition to his hard straight hitting.
Another special mention goes to Andrew MacLeod for his efforts as well. Whilst Andy is the first to recognise he is not the greatest player, he shows up every week and applies himself to the best of his abilities to help contribute to the team. One of the best moments of the year was when Andy hit his first ever boundary against St. Kevin’s. It may not sound like much, but for Andy, it was like winning the lottery and the smile on his face was priceless. Well done A-Mac.
There are a couple of issues to come out of the season from my point of view. The first one is not confined just to the 3’s. As a club, our batting really needs to be looked at.
Our results across all 3 grades with the bat this year have been disappointing. There have been many games where we have not been chasing great totals, but for whatever reason, we have fallen short with the bat. Is it because we think we are better than we actually are?
We have some fantastic batsmen at this club who individually and on their day are capable of tearing bowling apart, but for some reason, it doesn’t happen. What is the answer? I don’t profess to know, but from a 3’s skipper
point of view, I have seen what some blokes with less skill have been able to do. We have had guys who have applied themselves and focussed on their innings with a ball-by-ball philosophy. To see a number of guys make their highest scores in this manner has been pleasing.
When asked how they have done it, their comments that they are not capable
of dominating an attack with pure batting skill, but with occupation of the crease, focussing each ball, and building an innings and partnership has been refreshing. It may be something for us all to think about in the future.
The second issue is the question of captaining the 3rd’s team. I owe a great deal of thanks to Christmas, 30 and Dino to help me field a side every week. The issue is what happens ON the field once we have a side.
There is always a toss-up about ‘going for a win versus encouraging participation’, especially when we have an influx of so many new players who may only come down for one or two games.
I have tried to do both – we all love to win, but we will only ever build a competitive side if those blokes who DO come down to help out decide to come back and play as well.
To our detriment I think I tried to do this too much during the year and it may have cost us chances to win certain games when being ruthless should have been the key.
Encouraging the participation of all players that come down is great and if they all get a chance to be involved in the game at some stage means they
leave feeling they have been involved is what I have focussed on in my last three years.
Rightly or wrongly, I am happy to accept responsibility for not winning as many games as we could have as a result. I hope that if we are able to build on the side we had this year, and obtain some more quality player so we have a core of 10-11 quality and competitive players, then whoever captain’s the 3rd’s next year will be able to chase victories more intensely, and can focus on making finals and climbing up into E Turf.
As we had 32 players who graced the field for the 3rd’s during the 09/10 season, I won’t detail all their results here. Again, you can do that on ‘mycricket’ if you wish, but I want to thank every single person who came and gave their time and effort to the club to help us play each week.
Guys like James Trewarne who unfortunately played 2 two-day games and didn’t get a bat in either of them. My apologies to Jimbob and I hope that he returns at some stage in 2010/11 to have another go. The ever-reliable Mango who again put himself out in a time of need. Let’s hope for his sake we don’t have to call on him in the future. Mark Heath who hasn’t picked up a bat for 7 years came along one game and batted as though he hadn’t left, and Hew Gerrard made himself available on his Christmas holidays from Merry Old Scotland to help us over the line in a game as well.
Mick Kelly also came along with his dad to help out as well. With a bit of nurturing and positive thinking about his own ability, Mick will go on to be a very good cricketer. To all others who I haven’t mentioned, your efforts have been greatly appreciated and from a skipper’s point of view, I can’t thank you enough.
Again thanks to all players and all the 1’s who helped out in the field from time to time. Thanks to Slug and Robyn for the great arvo tea’s each week at Mother. Thanks to everyone who scored and umpired for us and special thanks to McGux for his input during each game.
Hope to see you all again in 2010/11 in some capacity.
Regards,
China (aka Phil Pitts)
Third XI Captain
