RAIN NO DAMPENER FOR OUR LADIES

DAY

The rain might have washed out most of the cricket on the February 15/16 weekend, but it was no dampener for our annual Tien Polonidis Ladies Day.
Almost 60 players, partners, friends and family attended the function at the Ormond Park pavilion, enjoying an afternoon of feasting, celebration and listening the two key speakers with inspiring presentations on the growth and involvement of women in key roles in sport.
Above: Teresa Basile gives an insight into her role at Cricket Australia leading the promotion of cricket, with MC Sarah Fenn listening.
Thanks to the key drivers and organisers of the function - First Eleven captain/committee member Jack Newman and Women's captain/Club Secretary Sarah Fenn, with help from plenty of others including Senior Coach Brayden McGregor, Luke Brock, Nicole McLachlan, Kevin Gardiner and Andreas Skiotis.
The day celebrates the contribution to the Moonee Valley Cricket Club of the late Tien Polonidis and raises funds for the McGrath Foundation.
The First Eleven had been due to play at Ormond Park on the February 15 fixture, wearing special pink Moonee Valley caps and using pink stumps and boundary markers. But alas, the rain put an end to that.
But that didn't slow the proceedings.
Sarah Fenn was host and master of ceremonies and interviewed the key speakers, who did excellent presentations and insights into their roles.
The first key speaker was Essendon AFLW football coach Natalie Wood, who is set to become the first woman to coach for five AFLW seasons after recently signing a two-year extension.
She was followed by Teresa Basile, Cricket Australia Head of Brand & Marketing.
Teresa's role has been instrumental in launching innovative campaigns that capture the excitement and passion of cricket.
Teresa also has her own connection to the Moonee Valley Cricket Club - her daughters Chiara and Bianca were part of our Blast program this season.
****More pictures - click HERE




OUR SARAH SETS A NEW RECORD

Moonee Valley Women's captain has become the most-capped female player at our club, notching up her 54th game in a big win over Keilor Park Brunswick on February 9.
Playing at home, Sarah's teammates chaired her off the ground after the victory.
Moonee Valley batted first and set a solid target of 4/140. Keilor Park Brunswick got off to a quick start, but Sarah enticed a faint edge from their big-hitting skipper with her first ball and that put the brakes on. KPB was all out for 62.
Sarah overtook the record held by Clare Ardern, who played in our first iteration of women's cricket which commenced in 2007.  Tanya Intagliata, who played in our initial women's years and again when we returned in 2020, is third with 52 games.
A two-time Premiership player, Sarah has an insatiable cricket appetite. As well taking over the captaincy of our top-of-the-ladder Women's team this season, Sarah has played winter cricket at Moonee Valley and played a number of games in our men's teams.
Above: Sarah Fenn is hoisted to the shoulders of teammates (L-R) Sarah Pamment, Katherine Baker, Mackayla Coote, Siobhan Donohoe, Abby Pruijmboom, Yasmin King and Fiona Bathie.
She first played for us in the 2021/22 season - lured back to the sport after playing a bit of cricket in primary school teams.
And Sarah's passion for cricket isn't just onfield - she became Club Secretary this season and in that role has a crucial involvement in the overall development of our club, as well as ensuring that the views and interests of our women members - both players and families - are part of any decision-making.
Before this season Sarah had scored 260 runs @ 13 and taken three wickets. She spent a couple of seasons as wicketkeeper, winning the comp-wide award for dismissals in 2022/23.
**To see a video clip of Sarah being chaired off the ground, click HERE
**To see more photos from the day, click HERE  

100 game mark comes up in style for our Big

                      Geoff

The 100-game milestone has been a long time coming for Big Geoff Smith, but he celebrated it in style in our Fifth Eleven on February 8.
Geoff - long a lion-hearted stalwart of our First Eleven - snared a five-wicket haul as the Fifths rolled top-of-the-table East Coburg at Ormond Park.
To make it even more important, he celebrated the match playing with his son Lachlan and brother Peter.
As well as Geoff's 5/44, the milestone was marked by an unbeaten century by Mark Gauci - a long-time close mate and skipper of Geoff's time in the First Eleven.
At left: Geoff Smith celebrated his 100th game playing with son Lachlan. 
Geoff first pulled on the Valley whites in 2001/02, but family and work commitments meant he was unable to string a long sequence of games together. At different times he played in the bayside suburbs and then as Esperance in WA as his work took him around Melbourne and across the country.
He was initially reluctant to bowl in his milestone game - he had played just once this season - but The Gauch impressed upon Geoff the need to send a few down.
Not as quick as he was at his peak, Geoff has replaced pace with guile and made the ball talk - wickets in each of his first two overs, and then ripping through the East Coburg line-up.
Geoff has been a great clubman throughout his time at Moonee Valley, and we all celebrate his milestone.
Before this season Geoff had taken 160 wickets @ 19.52 - a fair swag of them in the Firsts - and scored 1179 runs @ 16.61. He has won the First Eleven bowling award twice - in 2004/05 and 2005/06 and was Club Champion in 2004/05.
Well done Big Geoff!
****For more pictures of the game, click HERE

Thirds bring up winning milestones for Sagar

and David

The big win for our Thirds on February 2 helped to celebrate two important milestones - the 100th game of skipper Sagar Bhatia, and the 50th senior game of young gun David Lubansky.
Sagar took three wickets to celebrate his milestone and David took a sharp catch. David was stiff to be given out caught to a ball which flicked his pads, and Sagar didn't need to contribute much with the bat as Chand Shrestha, Maks Rahman and Vinny Singh scored the bulk of the runs in the match, which saw Melbourne City fall almost 70 runs short of the 8/220 target which Moonee Valley set. 
        

In the Ormond Park rooms celebrating the double milestone: L-R. Back - Amolak Singh Saini, Joshua Norsetter, Vinny Singh, Sunny Singh, Chand Shrestha, Maks Rahman, Pankaj Chohda, Sukhi Jaiswal and Andreas Skiotis. Front - Sagar Bhatia, David Lubansky and Logan Shrestha.

***GOOD FOR CRICKET? YOU'RE

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT IT IS

Fancy a chance to win a Rav 4 hybrid wagon, a Corolla Cross or a Yaris Cross and help the Moonee Valley Cricket Club at the same time? If you want a crack at a total prize pool worth more than $233,000, click the link here .
The Moonee Valley Cricket Club is participating in the Toyota Good For Cricket Raffle this season, and all the proceeds from your ticket purchases go direct to our Club.
That's right - tickets are $5 each, and every $5 sale comes to our coffers.
The link above is exclusive to the Moonee Valley Cricket Club, so click on it and you're ready to go.
You will see from the info in the link that we're not exactly on the leaderboard yet in terms of ticket sales, but we've got through to March 3, 2025.
Apart from the cars, prizes include coaching clinics for club members with Cricket Australia players, special experiences at cricket matches and signed memorabilia.
There are no costs for the club and no need to organise permits or prizes. Toyota has everything organised, so it's free, easy and contactless. So hop in now, buy some tickets and support Moonee Valley.

Junior and Senior Registration - link here - CLICK

*SENIOR TRAINING - THE DETAILS 

Coach Brayden McGregor and assistant coach Tony Gleeson run senior training each Tuesday and Thursday at our home ground, Ormond Park in Pattison St, Moonee Ponds.
Training starts at 6pm.
Moonee Valley has five senior men's teams - four of which play on turf - and a women's team, as well as juniors across all age groups and a Blast program for the younger players.
We still have spots available in all teams. Anyone interested in joining Moonee Valley can phone Brayden on0429 559 797, junior co-ordinator Paul Sevenson on 0407 556 950 or President Charlie Walker on 0411 705 381.

     
Main Club contact details:

* Charlie Walker - President 0411 705 381; 9370 1802
* Allan Cumming - Treasurer 0438 380 990
* Sarah Fenn - Secretary 0438 141 179
* Mark Gauci - Vice President 0457 778 335 
* Paul Sevenson - Junior Co-ordinator - 0407 556 950   

Emails: mooneevalleycricket@gmail.com
        charlie.walker@optusnet.com.au 

For more contacts, see " Office bearers & Officials " under "Club News & Info" at the top of the page

Last updated : February 16, 2025.
For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE