Moonee Valley Cricket Club's Life Members are set to take a bigger role in the future of our club, following an historic meeting at the Moonee Ponds Club on November 12.
Thirteen of our 28 surviving Life Members attended the meeting, with apologies from a further five.
The impetus for the meeting was a decision by our Committee to give the Life Members a key role in putting forward a name for our new pavilion, and the involvement grew from there.
There was agreement between cricket and football that the LMs would have a major say in the name or names that are to be honored on the new $2.5 million pavilion, which is due for completion in early 2019.
A number of names and ideas were discussed, and will go back to the meeting organisers to try and come up with agreement.
Above right: Life Members gather at the Moonee Ponds Club. L-R: Back - Darren Nagle, Mark Gauci, Dean Jukic, John Talone, Michael Cumbo, Bill Nagel, Ian Denny and Kevin Gardiner. Front - Charlie Walker, Danny Terzini, Jim Polonidis, Warwick Nolan and Greg Peters.
The other key action to come out of the meeting was the formation of a Life Members Committee, and Past Presidents Darren Nagle and Sandro Capocchi and Past Secretary John Talone put up their hands to move that proposal forward.
Life Member Ian Denny was the driver of the committee idea, to create a more formalised structure and process for Life Members to become more involved in the future of our Club.
Ian is keen that the LM Committee take on the responsibility for updating the club honor boards, collecting and displaying memorabilia and other key artefacts from our past, having a greater say in the elevation of future Life Members and providing a vehicle for identifying and funding improvements for the Club.

OUR NIGEL MAKES THE REP SQUAD

Moonee Valley's Nigel Cowan has won selection to the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Under 21 squad.

Nigel was among more than 50 hopefuls who tried out for the squad, and strong performances in the trials ensured that he made the final squad of 15.

The team will play the best young talent from associations across the metropolitan area.

At right: Nigel Cowan in his VTCA rep uniform.

Nigel has spent much of the last two seasons in the Moonee Valley First Eleven, as a quick bowler who's more than handy with the bat.

He's also been a mainstay of Moonee Valley's winter comp teams for the past two seasons - which was the foot in the door which got him to our Club in the first place, after our Firsts played against him the season before.

Congratulations Nigel. Your selection is well deserved.

EVERY POSTIE 

A WINNER!

Moonee Valley's Mister Afternoon Tea, "Postcode" Peter Smith played his 200th game for the club in the opening week of the 2018/19 season, and is to be congratulated for sticking to his sport despite injury setbacks and weekend work commitments.
At left: The Sevenths team for Peter Smith's 200th game. L-R. Back - Nigel Cowan, Michael Ozbun, Ben Thomas, Matt Esmore, Shiwantha Kumara, Dishnaka Manoj, Stephen Esmore, Jim Polonidis. Front - Lachlan Smith, Peter Smith, Geoff Smith.
Pete has taken swags of wickets in every grade from the Seconds down, and celebrated his milestone with the inclusion of brother Geoff and nephew Lachlan in the team.
Geoff and Lach live in Maryborough, but were keen to make the trip to play alongside Pete in the Sevenths for the October 7 fixture.
Postcode has been a stalwart for our afternoon teas for a decade, more recently doing the Sunday-only teas because of Saturday work commitments, and is always happy to put his hand up to support our club.
Peter first played for Moonee Valley in 2001/02, having followed younger brother Geoff across after they both played a lot of cricket together at Surrey Hills.
He's taken 303 wickets with his wily off-spin - the ninth-most wickets of anyone at our club - and while his batting his reaped him much more than 700 runs, he's always happy to be selected down the order.
Pete's best bowling is 6/11, and he's taken seven five-wicket hauls for the club. 

For more pictures, click HERE

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THE COACH HAS LANDED

Moonee Valley Cricket Club's new coach Mark Grenville touched down in Australia from Guyana on September 12, and wasted no time in meeting, greeting and assessing players.
Mark and partner Andrya spent their first evening back in Australia in meetings at club sponsor the Moonee Ponds Club, receiving and digesting information on the players that we expect will take us to the top rungs this season - both in the Firsts and the other grades.
At right: Mark Grenville and Andrya at the Moonee Ponds Club.
Mark will also play an important role in the development of our juniors and our younger up-and-coming seniors.
Mark has played at high levels in the West Indies, England and Australia, and has also played in the United States and Canada along his cricket journey, which has netted him more than 12,000 runs and 1300 wickets.
Growing up in the West Indies, he played in the Under 19s and also played 14 first class matches for Guyana in the Red Stripe Cup/Shell Shield - the equivalent of Australia's Sheffield Shield.
Mark has Level 1 and Level 2 Australian coaching certificates, which will help him share his skill and experience across all our grades.
He is excited about being able to further improve the players in their late teens and early 20s in our higher grades, and also assist in developing our junior grade skills.
Mark is now an Australian citizen. He has been in Guyana for the past year doing voluntary youth coaching - a promise he made to return and help out when he was at the height of his own career.
He believes players need to enjoy training, and promises a varied and interesting program to ensure we get the best out of our sessions - with our outdoor training starting at Ormond Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays commencing September 18.
He was Guyana Cricketer of the Year in 1986. Playing for Guyana, he counted Test stars Roger Harper, Colin Croft, Carl Hooper and Roy Fredericks among his teammates.
His opponents were no less daunting, lining up against a plethora of stars including Sir Viv Richards, Phil Simmonds, Richie Richardson, Ian Bishop, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Winston Benjamin and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
The standard didn't get much easier when Mark played Minor Counties cricket in England in the 1980s and 1990s, with teammates and opponents including Australian captain Mark Taylor, Chris Matthews, Darren Berry, Chris Old and Madan Lal.
Mark moved to Australia in the mid 90s and coached and captain-coached teams in the southern suburbs of Melbourne, including Chelsea in the old VTCA. 
His best bowling performance is 9/28 against Honley Cricket Club in England and his best batting is 175 against Guyana Police Force in Guyana.
Above: Meet and greet: L-R Raj Aiyappan, Allan Cumming, Firsts captain Jack Newman, coach Mark Grenville and vice president Mark Gauci.

Senior training - it's on NOW

Moonee Valley Cricket Club runs senior outdoor training at Ormond Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5pm.
We have seven senior sides - four on turf and three on hard wicket, and a range of Saturday and Sunday games to suit all options. Ormond Park is in Pattison St, Moonee Ponds.

Anyone interested in joining our successful and progressive club can phone Club President Charlie Walker on 0411 705 381.
Interested juniors can phone Junior Co-ordinator Peter Pickering on 0414 800 145, email him at pjp@vicbar.com.au or phone Kevin Gardiner on 0417536 896.

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    Main Club contact details:

* Charlie Walker - President 0411 705 381; 9370 1802
* Peter Golding - Treasurer 0419 009 721
* Mark Gauci - Vice President 0457 778 335
* Nigel Cowan Snr - Secretary 0412 410 942 
* Peter Pickering - Junior Co-ordinator 0414 800 145  pjp@vicbar.com.au 
* Channa DeSilva - Membership Co-ordinator 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: November 20, 2018.
For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE