Tasmania University Cricket Club

Latest News (6th. July 2005)

All the News from the 2005 AGM

The Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday, 6th July 2005 at the clubrooms.

PRESIDENT'S REPORT
The 2004/2005 season provided many highlights for our club. We welcomed back Enrico DiVenuto as Club Coach and he now becomes the longest serving coach in the history of the club. Former player Gavin Shaw returned to the club as Assistant Coach. Gavin has vast experiences as a first grade player and has an intimate knowledge of the club. He had an immediate and positive impact on our players. We also welcomed Darren McNees to our club. Darren is a fast bowler who hails from country Victoria. He claimed the most wickets in the Cricket Australia Cup in season 2003/2004 playing for the A.C.T. Comets. Popular players Josh Marquet and Shannon Bakes returned to the club after breaks living and playing cricket abroad. Brad Thomas continued as first grade captain and he now becomes the longest-serving first grade captain in the history of our club. On a very positive note, we won the Club Championship which underlines the strength and depth of our club. On a disappointing note, our three teams which made the finals were defeated in the semi finals.

Our first grade team played good cricket throughout the season. Unfortunately, as we approached the finals our batting showed signs of inconsistency. This carried over into the finals where we were narrowly beaten by Clarence, the reigning premiers. Our bowlers did a tremendous job all season and we were always able to restrict opposition teams. Our Kookaburra Cup team had some very convincing victories during the season but a close loss to a star-studded North Hobart team and a loss to a strong South Hobart/Sandy Bay outfit saw us miss out on the finals for the first time in a few seasons.

Kieron Mulcahy took over the reigns as second grade captain and this team played a mixture of enterprising cricket and disappointing cricket. The team made it to the semi final and was narrowly beaten by South Hobart/Sandy Bay on the first innings in a very low-scoring affair.

Rod Purves continued as captain of the third grade team and under his leadership this team played some very exciting cricket and were clearly the best team in the competition throughout the roster season. The third grade team had a healthy blend of experienced and younger players and this team bonded well together. This team were minor premiers but due to many players being unavailable for the semi final we fielded an undermanned team and were beaten by Lindisfarne for the second year in a row.

John Perry took over as coach of the very young Under 17 team and he did a great job in building team spirit and this team played some promising cricket throughout the season. The outright victory against Clarence after losing on the first innings was probably the highlight of the season. A few narrow losses and the unavailability of Hutchins players due to Independent school cricket at crucial times saw us miss out on the finals.

Thanks to Brad Thomas, Kieron Mulcahy, Rodney Purves, Hugh Steven, Tom Arnold, Joe Collidge and Jimmy Hortle for their fine efforts in captaining the various teams.

Individual

During the season Rhett Lockyear and Darren McNees made their first class debuts for Tasmania.

Brad Thomas was appointed captain/coach of the T.C.A. team and this team went on to win the Jamie Cox Plate for the first time. Several of our players competed in this competition.

Rhett Lockyear, Tim Paine, Graeme Cunningham, Darren McNees and Ben Hilfenhaus all represented Tasmania in the Cricket Australia Cup during the season. Ben Hilfenhaus, Darren McNees and Graeme Cunningham all played in Tasmania's inaugural Twenty20 team against Western Australia at Bellerive Oval. Our club was represented by Scott Nichols at the Under 17 Championships held in Hobart during January.

Matt Lister, Scott Nichols and Gordon Kerr were selected in the Tasmanian Under 19 team which competed in the national championships held in Melbourne during December.

Following the Under 19 Championships Scott Nichols was selected in the Australian Under 19 team.

In further good news, Scott Nichols and Matt Lister were selected in an Under 18 Development squad which will train at the Cricket Academy over winter in preparation for the Under 19 World Cup in Kenya in 2006. We wish them all the best as this squad is trimmed over the coming months.

Oliver Robinson and Ross Deans were selected in the Tasmanian Under 15 team which competed in the national Under 15 Championships in Launceston in March. Mark Fenton was selected in a state Under 16 Invitational team which also competed at these championships.

University players again featured strongly at the T.C.A. Grade Dinner. Tim Paine, Rhett Lockyear, Ben Hilfenhaus and Josh Bean all won selection in the T.C.A. Team of the Year. Paul Hudson won the best and fairest award in second grade. Heath Chick won the best and fairest award in third grade. Matt Green won the multi-grade best and fairest award. Heath Chick won the batting aggregate award in third grade. Ross Deans won the Under 17 batting average award.

Significantly, we won the Club Championship Trophy for only the second time in the history of the club.

Junior Development

Our junior development programme continued to thrive. The MiloŽ Have-A-Go programme was enjoyed by many enthusiastic juniors. Many thanks to Tim Steven and Ronan Fenton who assisted in the running of this programme. Our club also fielded a team in the TCA Under 15 competition, a team in the Youth League Under 15 competition and a team in the Youth League Under 13 competition. We also fielded an Under 12 team and an Under 10 team in the Twilight competition.

Nathan King took on the role of Junior Coach and Game Development Officer and with his expertise in this area he proved to be a very positive influence on our players.

Without the support of our parents and senior players who take on the roles as scorers, team managers and umpires for our junior teams we would not be able to field teams. Thank you to Ronan Fenton for managing the Under 13 team and Mick Hortle and Paul Lovell for their assistance. Thank you to Ian Colvin, Martyn Hagan and Lynne Romeo for their efforts in managing the twilight teams.

Thank you to Tim Steven and Martin Collidge for managing the Under 15 teams and Ian and Brigid Ritchie, Peter Robinson, Mick Hortle, Mick Arnold and Richard Dobosz for their assistance with the Under 15 teams.

Thank you to John Perry for coaching and managing the Under 17 team and Peter Robinson for his support of the Under 17 team.

Coaching

At the start of the season we appointed Enrico DiVenuto as Club Coach and he immediately 'took up where he had left off' a couple of seasons ago. We are fortunate to have Enrico back at the club and we look forward to his further input into the club next season. We are confident that the players will repay his faith in the club in the very near future.

As mentioned earlier, the club appointed Gavin Shaw as Assistant Coach. He combined well with Enrico and immediately gelled with all of our players. He gained a lot of respect because of the individual attention he gave to players and his advice was always received well. Gavin has made a great contribution in his first season and we look forward to his continued involvement next season. We should also single out Graeme Blundstone for special thanks who was at most training sessions conducting fielding drills. He wasn't paid for his services by the club. He simply gives of his time freely for the betterment of our players.

Finances

As our Treasurer reports, our finances are in a very healthy state. This is largely due to the increased support from the TCA, the ongoing support of the Healthsense pharmacies of Katie and Paul McNamara, the support of Paul and Karen Jubb of the Customs House Hotel and the support of the University of Tasmania. In addition to this the club conducted a very successful underage event at Isobar which raised valuable funds for the junior development program at the club. We are very grateful to Paul and Tony Jubb who made this event possible. A major raffle also raised valuable funds. Peter Shepherd from Harvey Norman furniture in the city should be singled out for organising this raffle and providing the major prizes for the raffle.

Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to the TCA for their support of the game at club level. In particular the tireless work of Scott Godfrey as Grade Cricket Manager makes running a TCA club a lot easier.

The sponsorship made available through the TCA by Vodafone, Cascades and Coca-Cola Amatil is invaluable, and eases pressure on us as a club.

We survive as a TCA club largely due to the support of the University. Lidija Apostoloska at the Sports Council, Tom Beattie and Barry Russell at University Maintenance and Jenny Arthur, Andrew Verrier and Nadia at the University Sports Centre should be thanked for their support of the club.

We thank the Ground Contractor, Nick Hansen, and our groundsman Jason Britten for maintaining the ground, the practice wickets and the centre wickets to a good standard. The centre wickets that Jason prepared towards the end of the season and for the first grade semi final against Clarence were of an excellent standard.

A special mention should be given to Steve Kerr for his outstanding work in maintaining our website. It is the best and most informative club cricket site in Tasmania and would be amongst the best in the country. Thank you also to Steve for his assistance around the clubrooms particularly during the Under 17 Championships.

Thank you to Steve and Paul McNamara for their hard work on the club's statistics.

Thank you to Penny Patterson for scoring for first grade during the season. Thank you to Steve Kerr for scoring in Penny's absence.

Thank you to all parents and friends who have acted as scorers in lower and junior grades. John Barley (second grade) and John Perry and Peter Robinson (Under 17s) should be singled out for their contributions to the club.

John Paine is doing a terrific job as clubroom manager and Peter Robinson, Stan Davis, Jon Lister, Peter Shepherd, Tony Sim and Rod Purves should be thanked for assisting around the clubrooms.

I would like to especially thank the committee who have been a tremendous support to me during the season. Everyone on the committee has contributed strongly to the off-field strength of the club and as a group we have worked well together.

I would like to thank the players who always pulled their weight and tried to do the club proud when they stepped onto the field.

The former players, life members and supporters should also be thanked for their continued support of the club particularly in relation to the establishment of the T.U.C.C. Scholarship. The University of Tasmania Foundation are also supporting the club in establishing this scholarship. I would especially like to thank our Patron, Bob Cotgrove for organising the very successful T.U.C.C. Reunion Dinner and for taking on the role of coordinating the T.U.C.C. Scholarship appeal. To all those parents and friends of the club who have assisted in so many ways, please accept our sincere thanks.

Winning the club championship demonstrates we have the depth to start winning flags. However, we will have to improve in many areas. Most importantly, our batsmen will need to apply themselves to learn how to work through tough periods and to capitalise later in the day when they are well and truly set in their innings. Rest assured that the committee will work very hard in the off-season to ensure we have the best chance of ultimate success next season.

MICHAEL GRAHAM-SMITH

President

Other Reports.

First Grade Captain's Report
Second Grade Captain's Report
Third Grade Captain's Report
Under 17s Coach's Report
Twilight Cricket Report
Player of the Finals
Season 2004/05 Milestones



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