Season 2009/10 marks the seventeenth anniversary of the induction of the Geelong Cricket Club into the Victorian Cricket Association Premier Cricket Competition
The Geelong Cricket Club had to wait nearly 50 years before its admission into Victoria's most elite cricket competition.
The Geelong Cricket Club was originally a sub-district side, entering the VSDCA in 1964/65, before making it's debut as an amalgamated side with North Melbourne in 1985/86.
This joint venture lasted for three seasons before disbanding, with North Melbourne continuing in the association on it's own.
Geelong was re-admitted as a single entity prior to the 1993/94 season with Michael King as club president, and former North Melbourne, St. Kilda, South Melbourne and Victorian Shield representative Peter Cox as the first XI captain.
The club originally used the St. Mary's Football Club rooms as it's headquarters during the season before the move to it's current location on Geelong Cricket Ground in January 1996.
The Geelong Football Club played a major role in developing the club to what it is today after the move off Shell Stadium, with the building of the Ford Stand with seats facing the Geelong Cricket Ground. The two clubs still have a strong working relationship from which both parties benefit. Throughout this time, St. Mary's Football Club has continued to be the venue for the clubs third and fourth XI matches.
Eight players have been chosen to represent Victoria since the clubs inception. Jason Bakker, Clinton Peake, Kevin Neville, Brad Stacey, Daniel Lowery, Ben Oliver, Grant Lindsay and Aaron Finch have all played at the highest level, while many others have achieved state and national representation in junior and invitational XI', each with a photograph to mark their achievements hanging in the Bruce Moore Room of the Ford Stand.
In the clubs first nine seasons, eleven premierships have ventured down the highway to Kardinia Park, starting with a Third XI flag in the very first season. This success was followed in 1994/95 when the Fourth XI and Dowling Shield sides both took out the honours.
1995/96
Saw the Fourth XI make it back-to-back titles, before the Dowling Shield and Third XI sides both took out their second titles in 1996/97. The Second XI won the flag in 1997/98 before the Dowling Shield team beat Camberwell Magpies in the 1999/2000 final to be the only Geelong side with three premierships to its name.
1999/2000 Saw the induction of the VCA Veterans competition. Geelong is yet to lose a game in this competition, however with no finals series and only three games per season, ladder positions are based on net run rate. Geelong claimed the inaugural premiership, finishing ahead of South Melbourne.
2000/01 Saw the Dowling Shield side successfully defend its crown with an emphatic victory against St. Kilda at the Albert Ground under the leadership of Matthew Harrison.
2001/2002 Saw the Cats Second XI down Richmond in a thrilling final at the Junction Oval. Chasing 172 for victory, the Cats powered along on the back of a enduring partnership between captain Aaron Croft and Paul Gloury to claim its second premiership. Croft becoming one of only two Geelong captains with two premiership medals to his name (the other is Peter McCoombe), while Damian Koliba joined Justin Miller with a club-record three premiership medals. 2002/2003 Concluded with Clinton Peake being the competition’s highest scoring batsman with 777 runs @ 64.75. resulting in a 5th place in the Ryder Medal. The
3rd X1 under the captaincy of Gareth Haeberle defeated Essendon to win the Club’s third, 3rd X1 premiership and the Club’s 7th, while the 2nd X1 snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Melbourne in its grand final match. Against Footscray-VU Luke Muller (70) and Ian (Junior) Redpath (135) established a record 1st wicket partnership of 168 and Marc Carson established a season aggregate with 37 wickets.
2003/2004
The 1st X1 finished the season in 9th place after defeating both grand finalists St Kilda and Hawthorn Monash during the home and away rounds. Shaun Dean and Joel Davies made impressive debuts with Joel scoring 652 runs and Shaun winning the 2nd X1 batting ave with 417 @ 46. Jason Bakker, Aaron Croft, Brendan Meagher and Sam Loftus were long serving players who retired at the end of this season. On Melbourne Cup Day Ben Smiljanic “filled in” in the 3rd X1 and smashed 135 and took a hat trick. Four Sundays later in a reserve day 45 over match against Hawthorn Monash on West Kardinia , he again entertained team mates and spectators with a brisk innings of 212. Daniel Fanning played his 100th 1st X1 game in round 9. The Club finished 8th in the Club Championship. Aaron Randall won the President’s Award.
2004-2005 Grant Lindsay won the Club Champion’s Award and the 1st X1 won all 8 one day matches played until it lost to 14th placed Prahran in round 17 to miss the finals by a point and a bit of “percentage”. Matthew Harrison and Aaron Finch toured the UK with the Victorian Emerging Player Team and both received CV Rookie Contracts. Trent Walerys captured 6/74 against Richmond and Joel Davies scored 180 v Richmond and 171 v Dandenong in the 2nd X1. Shaun Dean also scored 153 in the same game against Richmond . Tim Nunn, Jack Clapham, Bennett Merriman and Justin Maher were notable recruits. The outer oval was judged the best 3rd & 4th X1 ground in Premier Cricket.
2005 – 2006 David Breheny succeeded Glenn Ward as Club Coach. Clinton Peake improved on his previous record with 840 runs @ 56. Shaun Dean, Aaron Finch, Tom Elliott and Jake Thorne all scored more than 500 runs while Leg spinner Jeremy Hart captured 40 wkts and Mark Freijah 36. Grant Lindsay represented Victoria in 9 ING One Day matches. Andre Borovec was appointed 1st X1 Captain. Jason Bakker and Ben Oliver returned to captain the 4th X1 in 9 games and No 1 ticket holder Ian Cover fulfilled a dream with a game against Hawthorn Monash. The 2nd & 4th X1’s played finals but no premierships. Brenton Hodges won The President’s Award and Clinton Peake was again Club Champion. Recruits included Matthew Dean, Eoin Flett, Dan Bolton, Matthew Slater, Jake Thorne, Hayden Butterworth and Henry Weddell. Mark Freijah and Matt Dean made 1st X 1 debut. Aaron Finch won CV Rising Star Award and represented Australia in the World Youth Championships in Sri Lanka while Craig Whitehand also represented Australia in South Africa in the International Disabled Cricket Carnival. 2006-2007
How a season is measured I suppose depends on what you set out to achieve. I reckon there is much we can celebrate including our third place on the Club Championship ladder and the 4th X1 premiership as well as the finals games contested by the 2nd and 3rd XI’s. We can also celebrate Grant Lindsay’s regular selection in Ford Ranger games and his selection in a Pura Cup team. It should be recorded that as well as the 4th XI winning a One Day Premiership after defeating Melbourne University in a close fought game, and the 2nd XI were runners up to Northcote in the Two Day Competition Grand Final as were the 3rd XI in their One Day Comp Grand Final match against the Melbourne CC after defeating Carlton in the Peter Cox Group final. The 2nd XI Group Two Day Final will be remembered for a gutsy last wicket stand of 63 between Mark Freijah (20*) and Justin McPhee (40*) that denied Carlton a place in the Competition Grand Final.
2007-2008 Saw the rise of Aaron Finch who plundered all and sundry, he amassed 1085 runs for the summer @ 54.25. This brought him into contention for a place in the Victorian one-day team where he played a handful of games toward the end of the season. Clinton Peake and Liam Buchanan also had big years with the bat scoring 884 and 775 runs respectively, and Marc Carson and Trent Walerys shared 110 wickets between them. Also for the first time all four XI's reached the finals, a truly remarkable feat. The first XI played off in the Final against Ringwood @ the Junction Oval and lost in a game that they were in full control of until a batting collapse on day 2. 2008-2009 A season that promised so much, but delivered very little. Geelong's 1st & 3rd XI's were both bundled out with little play seen in both first finals due to inclement weather. The year saw the emergence of many young talents... the likes of Aaron Garner, Michael Condy, and Tom Elliot. Tom had a stellar yera with the bat amassing 609 runs with two centuries and was also named in the Premier Cricket Team of the Year. Marc Carson again was the best of the bowler taking 35 wickets. The First XI would by seasons end rue One-Day losses to Nth Melbourne and Northcote which were games they should have won and ultimatley cost them a higher place on the ladder. |
