| 1980/81 BOB KENT stood down as President, and his place was taken by Geoff Lucas who had only been with the Club for one Season, but had already shown a willingness to get involved. Clarrie Swan was elected Vice President, while two of the originals, Wayne Ross and Andy Gilroy-Scott were still at it as Secretary and Treasurer. The Committee comprised Peter Kerley, Danny Quinn, Chas Buccilli, Ray Vivian, Armin Otto, Les Munro and John Garrick. The Membership Fee was $30 and the Match Fee was $1. Junior Fees were $10. On the field, the Club struggled, although three teams reached the finals - two of those being the Under 16's and Under 14's. Rob Dean was again re-appointed Coach - this being his fourth Season. Rob often stated that two to three years is probably the life-span of a Club Coach, and took the job because of his respect for the Club. But the Club was now in the doldrums - unable to recruit sufficient genuine 1st XI standard players to take the place of those in that grade who were finding that age was now becoming a burden. The Club was aware that the Juniors were starting to flourish, but also knew that we were about two to three Seasons from seeing them ready for senior representation. Wayne Ross was appointed Junior Coach, looking after our three Junior teams, and that two of these finished in the four, was a great credit to his organisation and coaching skills. In 1980/81, the Club fielded two additional teams taking its number of teams to 8, being 5 Senior teams, an Under 12 team, an Under 14 team and an Under 16 team. During the Season, 16 new players represented the Club.
Of these, five went on to play over 100 games with the Club : Ray Harley,
Ron McWilliams, Geoff Sargant, Norm Stickland and Peter Watson, while
Trevor Bailey retired only 4 games shy of the coverted aggregate of games.
Of the other players, Max Burrows (Karingal), Alan Danks and Gavin Harry
played in the 1st XI, and Peter Enness and Mick Mitic (Baden Powell) both
played for a number of Seasons. However the player who probably created
the most interest, and not through his cricketing prowess - although he
was a very handy player who did well in the 1st XI grade - was Dermot
Brereton. Dermot was on the verge of selection for the Victorian Under
16 Cricket Team (under Rob Dean), and naturally, being a local boy, Rob
helped him with his cricket. Dermot's only Club representation was with
the Heatherhill Club, but he was unable to break into the 1st XI team
because of his perceived unavailability after Christmas because of football
committments. At that time, Dermot had not broken into the Hawthorn team
(in fact he was still playing Under 19 football), and he came to Long
Island to play 1st XI Grade cricket. Other new players were Doug McIntosh
(Heatherhill) and Bob McDonald, while Nick Crossley and Trevor Griffin
resumed playing. In addition to the 16 new players, 14 Junior players
played in the Senior ranks - most filled in whenever a vacancy occurred
- but Andrew Hanson, Simon Lucas, Mike McDonald, Mark Ridgway, Kevin Ryan,
Graham Vose and Mark Watson were regulars. The 1st XI won 3 games, lost 7 and drew one. There were no real highlights - even the victories were hard-fought, dour wins which kept us clear of relegation. The low-light of the Season came in the 3rd Round when we lost outright to the eventual Premiers, Frankston YCW, being dismissed for 63 and 61. The team was hindered throughout the Season by unavailability of players, with Rob being forced to use 7 different combinations to open the batting. The bowling was steady, but generally lacked penetration. We used 5 combinations of opening bowlers. Alan Danks, in his only year with the Club, won the batting average scoring 234 runs at 23.40%, Gordon McLeod took out the Bowling with 23 wickets at 14.09% and Alex Kosub (20 wickets at 15.80%) was awarded the Captain's Trophy. Other good performances came from skipper Rob Dean - 247 runs and 11 wickets, Ian Cookman - 204 runs, Dave Phillips - 17 wickets and Wayne Ross - 11 wickets. Season's Details :
The 2nd XI won four games and lost 7. Wayne Ross was re-appointed as Captain, but was required in the 1sts for the first match, and that was the last the 2nds saw of him. Clarrie Swan took over, and despite being thrashed in the first three games, the team got itself together, and with new players, Ron McWilliams and Doug McIntosh, and the good form of Les Thomas and Peter Worland, the 2nds became a pretty useful combination. Les Thomas scored 197 runs at 32.83% to win the Batting Award, Peter Worland won the Bowling with 24 wickets at 13.92% and Doug McIntosh won the Captain's Award after scoring 124 runs and taking 10 wickets. Other good contributors were Wayne Carter - 214 runs, Peter Worland - 144 runs, John Denton - 18 wickets and Kevin Stokes - 14 wickets. Season's Details :
The 3rd XI , captained by Geoff Lucas, was again the Club's most successful team, reaching the Grand Final, but lowering its colours to Balnarring. We started the Season fairly quietly, winning only one of the first 5 games, but winning the next 7 games, including the Semi Final. Season's Details :
The Semi-Final was a tremendous match (against Hastings) - we scored 145 with Chas Buccilli - 19, Graeme Meadows - 45 and Gavin Harry - 23, the only players to get a start. The Hastings batsmen were not able to take control, that is not until the last pair put on 31 runs, only to see Mark Ridgway claim the vital last wicket with the score at 139. Bob Kent - 3/45, Peter Watson - 2/8 and Andrew Hanson - 4/32 were the main wicket-takers. In the Grand Final, we scored 128 - Armin Otto 26 and Gavin Harry 54, before Balnarring scored a mammoth 366, with Mark Ridgway and Clarrie Swan picking up 3 wickets apiece. The Batting Trophy was shared by Bob Bowden and Gavin
Harry, both scoring 169 runs at 33.80%. Andrew Hanson won the Bowling
with 25 wickets at 12.80% and Mark Ridgway, who took 28 wickets, won the
Captain's Award. Other good performers were Chas Buccilli - 188 runs,
Armin Otto - 302 runs and 23 wickets, Geoff Lucas - 166 runs, Bob Kent
- 26 wickets and Clarrie Swan - 10 wickets. Season's Details :
The 5th XI was known as the Club Eleven, and under John Garrick, did a great job in winning 5 games. This was a fine achievement considering that the majority of them had not played much cricket. Over the next few Seasons, this team was to prove one of the most successful the Club has had, although the Premiership was to prove elusive. Trevor Griffin won the Batting Trophy with 320 runs at 24.62%, Kevin Cook took out the Bowling Award with 29 wickets at 15.00% and Danny Quinn - 280 runs and 26 wickets won the Captain's Award. Good performers during the Season were Kevin Cook - 210 runs, John Garrick - 124 runs and 20 wickets, Peter Enness - 159 runs and Trevor Bailey - 140 runs and 12 wickets. Season's Details :
The Junior teams did exceptionally well, and Long Island was starting to get a name as a progressive Club with a strong Junior base. The Under 16's lost their Semi Final, in a tight game which saw two vital decisions (by the Official Umpire, then by the opposing Manager, who was umpiring at Square Leg - as is the case in Semi Finals) off the same ball go against us. Still, that's cricket, although the passing years have still not taken the sour taste from some mouths! It should be noted that the majority of the Under 16 team should have been playing Under 14 Cricket, but to accommodate Mark Ridgway, Mike McDonald and Kevin Ryan, the Club asked the more-experienced Under 14's if they would play in this higher Grade. In this Season, Kevin Ryan - his first with Long Island - won the Batting Award with 332 runs at 47.43%, Peter Mills won the Bowling with 14 wickets at 13.79% and Aaron Brew won the Fielding Award. Other good efforts came from Mike McDonald - 245 runs and 8 wickets, Graham Vose - 175 runs and 13 wickets, Peter Mills who scored 168 runs and Mark Ridgway - 18 wickets. During the Season there were a number of fine individual performances - Mark Ridgway 4/33, 3/27 & 4/19 - Graham Vose 65no & 42 - Peter Mills 33, 5/32 & 3/31 - Kevin Ryan 87no, 35no & 91 - and Mike McDonald 38, 5/25 & 40no. The Under 14 team also made the Finals, and with all of the boys playing their first Season of Under 14 cricket, their loss in the Semi Final was not so disappointing, because we could sense that something special was about to happen. How right we were! The team was managed by Peter Watson who came to the Club to watch his son, Mark, play with the Under 14's. Peter was not only coerced into looking after the boys - he was talked into "filling-in, just for one day", and soon made a name for himself as one of the Club's top administrators. Mark Watson - 170 runs at 24.29% won the Batting Trophy, Grant Cording took 19 wickets at 8.53% and won the Bowling Award and Paul Heller won the Fielding Award. Other good contributors were Paul Heller - 103 runs and 7 wickets, Simon Lucas - 135 runs, Mark Watson - 17 wickets, and Cameron Mattingley and Craig Small who each took 10 wickets. Good performances came from Mark Watson 3/4 & 6/4, Grant Cording 5/4 & 3/3, Craig Small (3/12) and Cameron Mattingley 30 and 35. The Under 12 team won half of their games, and we accommodated 30 boys in this Grade. Better players were Brett Cook, Ben Lucas, Trevor Ryan, Cameron Park, Clint Otto, Peter Peerless Ridgway and Glen D'Alton. Again it was Kevin Cook who looked after the boys, doing the job in his usual tireless manner. Brett Cook won the Batting Award with 164 runs at 18.20%, Ben Lucas won the Bowling Trophy with a sensational 29 wickets at 4.28% and Trevor Ryan took out the first of his many Fielding Awards. Others who did well were Clint Otto - 131 runs and 13 wickets, PeterRidgway - 85 runs, Glen D'Alton - 15 wickets, Justin Quinn and James Findlay who each took 7 wickets and Cameron Park - 8 wickets. Ben Lucas had a sensational Season with bowling efforts
of 6/12, 3/2 & 5/19, Clint Otto - 28, 33 & 5/5, Brett Cook - 29,
33 and 40no, Trevor Ryan - 2/13 & 3/16, Justin Quinn 2/2, James Findlay
5/2, Tony Graham 2/1, Peter Ridgway - 23 & 21no and Glen D'Alton -
2/3 were good performers also.
Armin Otto scored the Club's only century (100 - 4ths) for the Season, while Peter Worland (2nds) and Ray Vivian (4ths) both took 7 wickets in an innings - 7/25 and 7/52 respectively. In addition, medallions were presented to players who reached 50 games during the Season - Chas Buccilli (55), Bob Kent (50), Graeme Meadows (60), Armin Otto (58) and Clarrie Swan (52) Other Milestones achieved were : 150 wickets : A special award was presented to Ron McWilliams who represented each XI during the Season, starting with the 5th XI and representing the 1sts on a couple of occasions. During the Season the following performances were recorded : Runs : Wickets : In his report on the Season, Rob Dean stated that "it was a very unsatisfactory end to the Season. The 1st XI won three games and maintained it's District status - about the only good thing that came out of it. We did this with part-time players, using numerous opening batting and bowling combinations, and consequently the side couldn't be settled down. Problems will continue until there is a full-time committment by players, and more dedication. The 2nds were a chopping block through most of the Season, none that came up to the 1sts were able to perform - there is too big a gap. All in all the Season was most disappointing and was a very hard one personally." Life Memberships were awarded to stalwarts Andy Gilroy-Scott and Wayne Ross. Both Andy and Wayne were foundation members of the Club and Andy had been Treasurer of the Club since its inception, while Wayne had been Secretary. Not only had these two gents started the Club, but they continue to be a driving force behind it, and there were no signs of their committment waning (or andying for that matter!!). |
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