Passing of our Club's first leader

Moonee Valley Cricket Club has lost an important link to its early history with the passing of our founding President, Alex McLeod.
Alex, whose sons Rod and Ken were legends of our Club, passed away on December 16. He was 93.
Players wore black armbands on the February 6/7 weekend to mark his passing.
Alex took the reins when our Club was founded in 1971 by his son Rod and by Ray Storey, in a breakaway from the Moonee Ponds Salvation Army Cricket Club.
The club set up base at Ormond Park, and we've been here ever since.
 In our foundation year we had a single team playing under the name of Moonee Ponds, and from these beginnings came the club that would grow into the Moonee Valley Cricket Club. Alex was president for our first two seasons.
Alex had a memorable gathering at Ormond Park almost three years ago, when the Club gathered with our bowls colleagues in June 2013 to farewell his son Ken - the first player to pass on from our inaugural team.
Alex had a chance to get together with players from our founding era, with other past presidents in Darren Nagle, Ray Storey and Peter Gardiner, and with current president Charlie Walker.

On be-half of the Moonee Valley Cricket Club, Charlie Walker records his appreciation for the immense legacy created for our Club by our founding President Alex McLeod, and passes on our condolences to the McLeod family.

Above right: A gathering of greats: At a 2013 gathering at Ormond Park, founding president Alex McLeod is flanked by (L-R) past president/club founder Ray Storey, gun fast bowler from our first-ever team Colin Netherclift, son and club founder Rod McLeod, and past president Peter Gardiner.


At left: Players in our Third Eleven wearing their black armbands. L-R: Rear - James Beilken, Paul Hobbs, Brett Curran, Jesse Felle, Norm Wright, Brendan Powell, Jordon McDonald, Kevin Gardiner. Front - Michael Cumbo, Charlie Walker.

250 up - congratulations to our Gauch

Moonee Valley coach and past First Eleven premiership captain Mark Gauci continues to rack up the accolades at our Club - with his latest great achievement being his 250th game.
Gauch captained the Thirds at home at Ormond Park on January 30 to bring up his milestone, and led the team in a great defence of our total before being overtaken in the last over of the day.
A collection of Life Members came down to watch his milestone match, including Ian Denny, Darren Nagle, Joe Ansaldo, John Talone, Bob Sciacchitano, Dan Terzini, Jim McKenzie, Sandro Capocchi, Jim Polonidis, Kevin Gardiner and Charlie Walker.
Gauch came out all guns blazing with the bat to set us off to a bright start, then when we set about defending our score against Burnley CYMS, he bowled a tight spell along with Kevin Gardiner to make things hard for the opposition.
Mark has made more than 5000 runs for the Club - a good proportion of them in the Firsts - and taken 200 wickets.
He captained the Firsts for eight seasons, including our North A premiership team in 2009/10, and was Club Champion in 2005/06.
He took on the coaching role this season, after captaining our Sixths to a flag in 2014/15. Gauch, well done!
Above: We may have missed out on the win, but the team did Mark Gauci proud in his 250th game. From left: Vishal
Chopra, Kevin Gardiner, Peter Whebell, Mark Gauci, Dean Lawson, James Beilken, Sam Carbone,
Ben Skok (front), Brendan Powell, Dylan Wright and Mick Bannister.

CHRISTMAS CHEER AT THE VALLEY

Moonee Valley players, family and members gathered at the Ormond Park clubhouse on December 20 to celebrate the last day of play before the Christmas break.
And what a strange final weekend it was!
After having our juniors cancelled for extreme heat on the Friday night, and the same result for our seniors on the Saturday - we battled wet weather on the Sunday of our Christmas party - to see the Thirds finally forced off the ground for a draw!
Right up until we were forced off, we looked the goods.
But no matter - we all gathered for a few drinks and to celebrate the half-way mark of the season.
The highlight of the early evening was the big raffle draw - with the $500 cash first prize won by former junior Leo Gardiner.
Thanks the the main organisers of the day - led by the ever-reliable Danny Terzini, who organised the food, the raffle and the publicity. Thanks also to Matt Thomas and Vanessa Riggio for their part in buying food, setting up the meal and making salads, and to the guys behind the bar all day.
Above: Past captain Richard Cooney and wife Vicki enjoy the services of Michael Ozbun behind the bar.

For more photos, click here

Our Barooga adventure: Valley Over 35s do us proud

Moonee Valley Cricket Club sent a team to the Barooga Over 35s tournament over the Christmas break, and the guys did us proud.
While we lost our first match of the January 11 to 14 tournament, we recovered well to win our next to games convincingly and end up with the best run rate of any of the teams.
This is the third year now that Moonee Valley has attended.
Our team was: Daniel Phillips (capt), Jim Polonidis, Mark Gauci, Neil King, Troy Eden and his father Tony, Allan Cumming, Dean Jukic, Sean O'Kane, Adam Patchell, Simon Thornton, Charlie Walker and past Valley player Glen Courts.
Our first game was under lights on the Barooga Sports Club main ground, and we went down to the eventual tournament winner Yarrawonga/Mulwala.
We were admirably led by Daniel Phillips, who as well as captaining the side, scored most runs and took most wickets for our team.
Above: A big win on the final day of the tournament: Resplendent in our bright green shirts are L-R: Back - Daniel Phillips, Glen Courts, Sean O'Kane, Troy Eden, Simon Thornton, Dean Jukic, Adam Patchell and Mark Gauci. Front - the real old blokes get down and can't get up again: Allan Cumming, Charlie Walker and Neil King.

Our 2014/15 Senior Wisden. Note that this document hasn't been final-proofed. It will be taken down and replaced when finalised.
 

Main Club contact details:

* Charlie Walker - President 0409 237 543; 9370 1802
* Adam Patchell - Club Secretary 0407 552 141 
* Peter Golding - Club Treasurer 0419 009 721
* Simon Thornton - Vice President 0417 570 779
* Leigh Holder - Joint Junior Co-ordinator 0423 226 532 allleigh@bigpond.net.au 
* Peter Pickering - Joint Junior Co-ordinator 0414 800 145 pjp@vicbar.com.au 
* Channa DeSilva - Director of Junior Cricket 0402 833 592

Email: mooneev@club.cricketvictoria.com.au


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

Last updated: February 5, 2016.

For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE