Help Gauch to Mark his 400th game

Club legend Mark Gauci will become the first Moonee Valley player to 400 games on the December 9/10 weekend, and we want as many current and past players and supporters to come and celebrate with him.
While we won't know for sure where he will bring up the incredible milestone until Thursday night, indications from the selection committee are that the Gauch (pictured right)will be playing in our Second Eleven at home on the Saturday, against East Coburg.
So it will be a fitting opportunity for a crowd to gather to honor one of our greatest.
What can we say about the man who is currently our Senior Coach and Vice-President?
Mark is a First Eleven premiership captain, breaking a decade-long drought of senior flags at any level in 2009/10.
He was honored with Life Membership in 2013/14 and was the recipient of our greatest honor, the Lindsay Jones Best Clubman award in 2018/19.
Gauch was Club Champion in 2005/06 and has won our best player award for all other grades four times, including in 2018/19, the year is was renamed the Sean O'Kane Award to acknowledge one of his best mates.
He's scored more than 9000 runs - the second-highest in our 53 year history and at season start had 312 wickets - 12th-highest at the club.
Gauch, who started his career at Moonee Valley in 1998/99, has won batting awards in the Seconds and the Fourths and a bowling award in the Thirds.
He's scored 13 centuries, equal with the great Warwick Nolan, and a high score of 155.
Gauch has been selected in the Moonee Valley Wisden Team of the Year five times and has also been one of our Wisden Players of the Year five times.
Gauch also led from the front with the introduction of the new concept of Twenty20 earlier this century, and played in both our T20 Competition premierships. He has a high score of 150 in the format. He has played 36 games - second-most of all time, and is our leading run-scorer and second-highest wicket taker.
So watch for selection confirmation on Thursday night and come along to honor this great man when he reaches his 400 milestone.

Past players cook up a pre-Christmas treat

The rain on December 2 may have washed out the day's cricket at Ormond Park, but it didn't dampen the enthusiasm for the pre-Christmas function organised by the Moonee Valley Cricket Club Past & Present Players & Supporters group.
Led by John Talone, Dean Lawson and Tony Nilsson, the group put on an excellent meal and day of enjoyment at the clubrooms.
Moonee Valley greats: L-R Mick Harvey, Ian Sutherland and Betty and Rod McLeod.
It had been planned to coincide with Day 1 of the First Eleven's last home game before the Christmas break, but with the rain it wasn't to be.
Special thanks to Dean Lawson for the magnificent pulled pork and roast meats. More than two dozen people attended including 12 life members. We're planning the event as an annual occasion to coincide with the First Eleven's December home games.
***For more photos from the event, click HERE


OUR FOURTHS GET THE JOB DONE AT HOME

They have got close plenty of times, but our Fourth Eleven - our Mercantile C Sunday side - finally broke through for their first win of the season on December 3.
They were scheduled to play away, but with pitches unavailable due to the weekend rain the team was transferred back to Ormond Park for a Twenty20 double header with the Thirds.
At left: Our happy Fourths team in the rooms after their win: L-R. Back - Harish Sekar, Adeel Babur, Kevin Rodriguez, David Lubansky, Muhammad Soofi, Jasbir Rana, Naga Chaitanya, Rohit Srinivas and Bharath Lalam. Front - Rahis Baig, Abdul Fawnoon and skipper Prem Janarthanan.
Plenty of hard work all morning on the pitch and outfield enabled our two games to proceed, and the Fourths were first up and recorded their win - passing Melbourne City's 5/133cc with one ball to spare - notching up 8/134. Congratulations guys - we're proud of you - many of you playing for Moonee Valley this season for the first time. 


Moonee Valley's first-up win in T20 turf

Moonee Valley recorded a strong victory in our opening match in the VTCA Twenty20 competition, beating Royal Park Brunswick on their home turf.
RPB are two grades higher than us in the VTCA this season, but we were in control all match in the December 5 opener.
At right: Our first-up winners: L-R. Back - Mitch Higgs, Sam Younghusband, Tain Piercy, Will Blair, Ruwan Jayaweera, Luke Brock and Brayden McGregor. Front - Suraj Weerasinghe, Jack Newman, Zac Nilsson and Luca Nimorakiotakis.
We saw a strong game from our "guest" player Will Blair, who plays with Premier club Northcote. Will is o stranger to Moonee Valley, as he played 90 junior games with us and is often found training in the Ormond Park nets.
Our bowlers stifled RPB to restrict them to 9/98 off their 20 overs, and Moonee Valley was always in control with the bat as we built up a score of 2/101 off 15.3.
Ruwan Jayaweera took a miserly 3/8 from his four overs, while Will Blair (2/18) and Mitch Higgs (2/17) were both impossible to get away off their four overs.
We only needed the four bats, and Sam Younghusband, Luke Brock, Luca Nimorakiotakis and Brayden McGregor all made double figures.
This is our first time in the VTCA T20 since 2019/20. We are also playing in the NWMCA Twenty20 competition this year - a comp we played since 2008, when we were one of the inaugural clubs.


Senior training - Tuesday/Thursday

Senior training is held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, starting 6pm.
Moonee Valley is open to new senior and junior players as the season progresses.
Our senior training sessions are at our home ground at Ormond Park, Pattison St, Moonee Ponds.
We field men's teams on both turf and hard wicket, and both Saturday and Sunday grades.
Our premiership-winning women's cricket team plays in a Twenty20 competition on Sundays.
We have juniors at Under 16, Under 14, Under 12 and Under 10 level, and these teams play Friday evenings.
Anyone interested in playing for Moonee Valley - seniors, juniors or our women's team - can phone or text Coach Mark Gauci on 0457 778 335 , Junior Co-ordinator Paul Sevenson on 0407 556 950 or President Charlie Walker on  0411 705 381.
* Players now have to self-register through a new cricket registration system, PlayHQ. Here is the link to get into the system. Only register for one association - not all the associations we play in.  

Buy club clothing, pay your membership, buy tickets to club functions - do it all at www.mooneevalleycricketstore.com.au

Junior Registration - link here - https://play.cricket.com.au/club/moonee-valley-cricket-club/147223ea-86d8-eb11-a7ad-2818780da0cc

     Main Club contact details:

* Charlie Walker - President 0411 705 381; 9370 1802
* Allan Cumming - Treasurer 0438 380 990
* Brendan "Jonty" Rhodes - Secretary 0419 491 174
* 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 : December 6, 2023.
For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE