Jatinder's wicket - seen
around the world
Moonee Valley's Jatinder Singh (pictured below) was at the centre of one of the most bizarre incidents to take place on a cricket field for many a day, when he was bowled with a ball which knocked middle stump out of the ground.
But the two bails were touching, braced against each other and refused to fall, in the Round 2 match in our winter comp on May 6.
The result has been world-wide publicity for the Moonee Valley Cricket Club, including phone calls from Lord's, from the cricket-mad media in India and intense interest from media and the community across Australia.
***See the photo at right, taken by Nitin Madan.
 Running the show for the Valley and promoting us in our best light has been Moonee Valley Black winter comp captain Michael Ozbun, who's proved himself a consummate veteran in handling the media.
While the general rule of cricket is that you're not out if the bails aren't dislodged, the umpire correctly called "out" on the basis that the stump was removed and the wicket "put down".
Quick-thinking Valley teammate Nitin Madan snapped a photo of the wicket and then the Mid Year Cricket Association capitalised on the publicity, posting it to the MyCricket website and Facebook page.
After just a couple of days it had close to 3000 comments, most on whether or not it was out or not-out. That didn't help poor Jatinder though, who was on his way for just 12. And the Moonee Valley Leader picked it up and sent it viral.
That was just the start of the publicity.
Michael Ozbun was interviewed by Red Symons on 774 radio on May 11, and gave as good as he got. Here's the interview.
The Kashmir Times got into the act, talking to both Ozzie and JT. The cricket.com.au website was on the radar, the Herald Sun took it up, and Sporting News called it the strangest dismissal in cricket history.
Yahoo/Seven Sport got in on the act, the Huffington Post blew in, it made its way across the Ditch to New Zealand and it hit the headlines in the India Times.
The freak occurrence knocked finance off the front page of the International Business Times, was rushed into My Express, shone brightly in the Daily Star, graced the website of Sports Keeda, and featured in the Indian Express, One India and CricSpirit. Jatinder shone brightly in the Sunshine Coast Daily, and even the venerable home of cricket, Lord's, got into the act. The ABC on its website called for Cricket Australia to give us a new set of stumps. We're still waiting.
Jatinder - you're a star!
Valley's among the awards at
Mercantile's big night
Moonee Valley players were among the awards at the Mercantile Cricket Association's presentation night on May 6.
Jesse Felle won the Anthony Burnell award for the best player in the C North Division - Moonee Valley's Thirds - as voted by the umpires on a week-by-week basis.
Sam Carbone (Left) is pictured with his Batting Award trophy.
And Sam Carbone won the batting award in the D Sunday Division - Moonee Valley's Fourths - with 426 runs @ 53.15.
Jesse was also selected in the Mercantile team of the year, batting at No. 8, after his all-round MCA effort across 2016/17 with 541 runs and 34 wickets.
 Sam and Jesse attended the presentation night, at Windy Hill, with Club Treasurer and regular Mercantile player Peter Golding.
The 2016/17 Mercantile season was a solid one for Moonee Valley, making the Grand Final in each of our two grades, but unfortunately not performing to the optimum on the big day.
At right: Jesse Felle with his Mercantile best player award - the Anthony Burnell Award for Best & Fairest.
 The fact that we got so far in the two grades also reflects the contributions made by Sam and Jesse.
Sam had a stellar season, and not just in the Fourths. A cricket fanatic, he took to the field whenever he was able to fit in a game. Across one game in the Seconds, four in the Thirds, 10 in the Fourths, six in the Fifths and one in the Sixths, Sam amassed 686 runs at an average of 34.3, including one century. He was also a go-to man with the ball for Fourths skipper Shane McDonald, taking five wickets at 19.8.
At left: A Medal for selection in the Mercantile Team of the Year. That's our Jesse Felle.
Jesse also ventured out from the Thirds, where he played 15 games - notching up a further two in the Fourths and one in the Sixths.
Jesse's overall tally for the season was 542 runs @ 31.88 and 35 wickets @ 12.69 - including Moonee Valley's first-ever double hat-trick.
OUR WINTER WARRIORS TAKE TO THE FIELD
Our Moonee Valley Black team for the Round 2 win. L-R: Back - Michael Ozbun, Jatinder Singh, Matt Thomas, Anthony Cafari, Junaid Niazi, Jesse Felle, Kunal Balhara, Matt Esmore and Nitin Madan. Front - Chris Pollock, Akshat Sehgal.
Moonee Valley has made a promising start to the winter cricket season, with our Black team winning two from two and our Whites champing at the bit for Round 2 to come around after falling short in the season opener.
We've had some strong batting performances at the top of the order in Michael Ozbun's Blacks team, while Matt Esmore (5 wickets) and Chris Pollock (4 wickets) have been prominent with the ball.
Aidan Kanj was the batting star in the Round 1 fixture for Shane McDonald's White team.
 Our Mick takes a trick:
Life Membership for
Mickster
Moonee Valley's much-loved Michael "Mickster" Cumbo was rewarded with Life Membership at the MVCC annual presentation night on April 22.
Mickster had been counting down all year as he notched up the games leading up to the 200-match qualification, and he celebrated long and hard when he reached that milestone.
Mick is now on 201 games, and shows no sign of letting up on his love for cricket and for Moonee Valley.
His parents, Joe and Carol were on hand to see the honor bestowed on Mickster, who becomes our 26th Life Member.
At left: Michael Cumbo proudly wears his Life Member badge and holds the memento plaque celebrating his honor.
As fellow Life Member Jim Polonidis said in speaking to the honor, few have been as deserving of the honor.
Simon Thornton was awarded Moonee Valley's highest honor, the Lindsay Jones Award for Best Clubman. After joining our Club in 2009/10 "fresh off the boat" from Yorkshire, Simon was elected Vice President the following season.
He has since been tireless in promoting Moonee Valley "back home", and with key money-making activities such as running the bar and clothing shop and ensuring memberships are paid when they fall due.
Chanaka Silva was a clear winner of the Club Champion Award, while Liam Shaw was a runaway in the Moonee Valley Award - based on points for runs, wickets and catches in all grades other than the First Eleven.
 A surprise winner of the Bendigo Bank Most Improved Player Award was Jesse Felle, who took all before him this season.
The award is determined by the Coach. As Lou Raffaele pointed out, in his earlier days Jesse was quite a handful. But the maturity he has shown over the past couple of seasons has reaped its rewards as Jesse has established himself as a legitimate turf player with bat and ball, and a proven matchwinner moving up the grades.
At right: Their just desserts: Nadeera Thuppahi (left) and Chanaka Silva with their trophies. Chanaka was the Club Champion for 2016/17, following on from Tuffy the previous season.
***** To see more photos and details of the night, click on the link HERE
Main Club contact details:
* Charlie Walker - President 0409 237 543; 9370 1802
* Peter Golding - Club Treasurer 0419 009 721
* Simon Thornton - Vice President 0417 570 779
* Peter Pickering - 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: May 18, 2017.
For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE
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