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1979/80 Bob Kent continued as President, Clarrie Swan became Vice President, Wayne Ross - Secretary and Andy Gilroy-Scott - Treasurer. The Committee consisted of Chas Buccilli, Barry Cotterell, Ian Fry, Gordon McLeod, Danny Quinn, Steve Reynolds and Peter Worland. The Membership Fee remained at $15, but the Match Fee increased to $4. The Junior Membership Fees were $10 for the Under 14's and $5 for the Under 12's. Entering the Eighties, the Club continued to look to the future, and increased it's teams by one, by adding an Under 14 team. Rob Dean was again appointed Coach, and the playing numbers continued to swell - by 16. Unfortunately, only two of those, Alex Kosub and Barry Morgan were considered good enough to play 1st Grade cricket, and Barry only managed a handful of games in that grade. New players who played down the grades, and served the Club well were John Denton, David Dodson, Bill Fowler, John Garrick (Seaford) and Geoff Lucas (who was to become President of the Club in a couple of years time - then leave the following year!). Against this was the departure of Wal Guthrie, Brett Harris (59 games), Alan Moulden, Greg Neilson (26 games), Mal Smith (32 games) and Russell Wealands (38 games). The 1st XI won games early in the Season, seemingly from impossible positions, and at the Christmas break all looked rosy. However, the last half of the Season was extremely disappointing, and we finished in the lower half of the ladder. After losing the first match of the Season to Baden Powell (Rob Dean 59), we won the next five games, beating Rosebud - 160 to 137 (Glen Farrow 58, Dave Muir 4/37), Frankston YCW - 120 to 64 (Gordon McLeod 6/21), Langwarrin - 301 to 218 (Ian Cookman 55, Glen Farrow 55, Gordon McLeod 4/42), Heatherhill - 231 to 220 (Barry Morgan 5/49) and Frankston East - 156 to 154 (Gordon McLeod 4/35). We then lost three in a row, to Moorooduc 259 to 268 (Rob Dean 85), Main Ridge 161 to 249 (Rob Dean 59 not out) and Sorrento 130 to 228. The last game of the Season, against bottom side Dromana, resulted in an easy win with Ian Cookman scoring 54 and Dave Muir taking 4/15. The 2nd XI never looked good enough, dropping some of the early games by small margins, but never being good enough with the bat. After losing the first match to Tootgarook, we lost by 4 runs to Baden Powell with Ian Cookman scoring 81 not out in the 2nd Innings, then defeated Rosebud by 2 runs, thanks to Gordon McLeod's 5/12 on the only day of the match that he was available to play. The next 7 games were lost, with only Alan Goodwright taking more than 3 wickets in an Innings, and no batsman reaching the half-century mark in those games. The Season ended on a high when we defeated the lowly Dromana outright, with Steve Reynolds getting 58, Ken Morgan 5/17, Alan Goodwright 4/32 and skipper Wayne Ross taking 4/25. The 3rd XI under the leadership of Graeme Meadows (to this date Graeme had captained every level except for the 1st XI), had a very successful Season, finishing in fourth position, but being beaten in the Semi Final. The first match of the Season was lost (to Tootgarook), but in his first game with the Club, Geoff Lucas scored 67, while Barry Cotterell took 4/24. We lost the next two games with Armin Otto (5/50) and Harry Fairhurst (4/41) doing well with the ball. Then followed victories against Baden Powell (Chas Buccilli 52 and Bob Bowden 59), and (Outright) against Main Ridge (Kevin Stokes 51 and Ken Morgan 7/20). Frankston YCW scored a 7-run victory against us (Les Thomas 52, Bob Bowden 4/29), but two more victories came our way (Geoff Lucas 66, Chas Buccilli 51, Graeme Meadows 54 not out and Kevin Stokes 5/65), before a loss to Sorrento. The last game prior to the Finals resulted in a 3-run victory over the strong Heatherhill team, with Les Thomas scoring 82 not out, Clarrie Swan 53 and Ray Vivian taking 6/54. In the Semi Final, Rosebud was too good, despite Ken Morgan's lion-hearted 4/45 and 3/29. The 4th XI , under John Peacock, too was disappointing, although there was not a great deal of experience in the team. The Season started very promisingly, with Barry Morgan - in his first game with the Club - taking 6/20. Barry was promoted through the grades after that, and while Gary Tagg and Kevin Cook were nearly always among the wickets, the batsmen were not good enough to hit that winning score. Only Barry Cotterell, Les Munro and Alan Morris managed half-centuries. The two Junior teams did excellently, with the Under 14's finishing in the four, but losing the Semi Final to Delacombe Park. The Club recruited three outstanding players in this team, in Mark Ridgway, Kevin Ryan and Mike McDonald - all to play leading roles in future years with the Club. Adding these three players to Graham Vose who scored 257 runs, and Craig Small (20 wickets), it was apparent that Long Island was going to be a force in a few years' time, provided it was able to retain players like these fellows. The Under 12's lost only one match for the Season, but they too lost their Semi Final. Young boys, Cameron Mattingley (161 runs), Mark Watson (160 runs and 34 wickets), Darren Otto (126 runs), Paul Heller (110 runs) Dale McCurdy (19 wickets) and Ben Lucas (13 wickets) showed that the momentum was going to continue through the Junior grades. The following players received awards for their efforts during the Season :
Ray Vivian took a Hat-trick during the Season (3rds), and in the same Grade, Ken Morgan took 7/20. In addition, the Club recognised the Service of players who had played 50 games or more (constituting at least 5 years' service), and Awards were presented to Kevin Cook (50), Andy Gilroy-Scott (58), Brett Harris (59), Les Munro (52), Gordon McLeod (53), John Peacock (53), Dave Phillips (61), Wayne Ross (71), Les Thomas (52), Ray Vivian (54) and Jeff Wheaton (52). Other achievements were : At the end of the Season, the Club conferred it's first Life Membership , on Jeff Wheaton - a former President and Vice President - who left the Club at the end of this Season, as a result of a transfer of employment. Jeff had been a tower of strength on the administrative side of things since joining the Club in it's second year. Not only had he led the Club with distinction, but he had played in the Club's 1st XI, opening the batting, through the good times and the not so good. Rob Dean, who had been instrumental in adding professionalism to the Long Island Cricket Club, was appointed Coach of the Victorian Schoolboys Under 16 team, which won the Australian Championship for 1979/80. 1st XI
2nd XI
3rd XI
Semi Final : 4th XI
Under 12's Semi Final : Under 14's Semi Final : For the Season, the following performances were registered : Runs : Wickets : In his report on the Season, Rob Dean stated that "the Club's fielding of four teams placed a strain on the practice facilities, but the 4ths ended the Season batting out the day, the 3rds did exceptionally well, the 2nds had a poor year but could have won more games and the 1st XI had a strange Season, beginning very well winning tight games, but lack of bowling penetration and poor fielding cost us a place in the Finals. The performances of the Under 14's and 12's were excellent - both making the Four". "We must now stabilise the Under 16's in 1980/81 - have people to look after them - the Club's future ... for the future the Club must recruit younger players ..." |
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