Moonee Valley by numbers

Moonee Valley’s famed player production line was in evidence again after the Christmas break, with an incredible 11 players making their club debut over two weeks.

And as amazing as this sounds – there would have been a further five debutants had not we been given a forfeit in the Sixths, and shuffled regular players across to the other teams.

Our debutants and intending debutants included junior players and parents – and is further evidence that when it comes to a family club, Moonee Valley has no peer.

Despite our spectacular growth over the past five seasons, only once have we not been able to select a full eleven players in every team we have entered – when we gave a forfeit by our Ninths earlier this season.

With our list of talented juniors and dedicated parents, we seem to have a seemingly-inexhaustible roster of players on tap who are ready, willing and able to proudly wear the Moonee Valley colors if and when required.

Our debutants included four players in the women’s team – the formation of which this season is yet further evidence of the commitment of our Club to cricket and to encouraging sport and participation.

Our VTCA teams returned after the break on January 5, while our debutants were counted on the January 12 and 19 weekends, when the MMVCA, NWCA and VWCA teams returned.

Our 11 first-time players were Lily King, Adele Walker, Erin Cowley and Sharon Nicol in the women’s team, and Shyamol Bansal, Jim Morton, Rupoj Sarbaswa, Cam Scott, Garry Sturrock, Cameron Sturrock and Phil Horner in the men’s teams.

We had already done our team selections on the Thursday night leading up to the January 19/20 round when we got the call of the forfeit by Westmeadows to our Sixths.

Our preliminary teams – which were then reselected to take in regulars from the Sixths – had included five other new players – Rod Gorham, Andreas Panousieris, Kurtis Tankard, Andrew Cook and Ibrahim Neshabe.

Pen-pictures of our debutants:

Lily King is the daughter of girls/womens coach Phill King, who is vice-captain of the Fifths. She played Under 14 and Under 17 cricket at Moonee Valley. This game was her senior debut.

Adele Walker is the wife of junior co-ordinator and Eighths captain Charlie Walker, and mother of senior players Murray and Nigel.

Erin Cowley works with Adele Walker.

Sharon Nicol is the wife of senior player Jeff Nicol. She watched Jeff represent Moonee Valley in the MMVCA Twenty20 team, and decided to have a go herself.

Shyamol "Sam" Bansal is a friend of Thirds captain Sunny Sharma, and has a squash background as well as cricket ability.

Jim Morton is one of our Under 12 coaches and father of junior star Alistair. Jim last played as an A Grade batsman for Buckley Park around 1990.

Rupoj Sarbasawa is one of our Under 14 stars. He played Grade cricket junior representative matches in Adelaide before coming to Melbourne and joining Moonee Valley.

Cam Scott worked previously with Charlie Walker and is a senior media adviser for the State Government. He lives in West Brunswick, and can see Ormond Park from his home.

Garry Sturrock is a past Moonee Valley junior coach and is father of Sean, who plays Firsts at Melbourne in Premier Cricket and is in Victoria’s Under 19 team.

Cameron Sturrock is Garry’s son and Sean’s brother, and is in our Under 16s as a quick bowler and promising batsman.

Phil Horner played at the now-disbanded Princes Hill Cricket Club in the 1990s with Paul Comino and Tony Gleeson, and his Moonee Valley debut gave him a chance to take to the field again with them. He’s now team manager of the First Eleven at Carlton in Premier Cricket.

Our intending debutants:

Rod Gorham is dad to Daniel (Under 14s) and Alex (Under 12s). Daniel made his debut earlier this season.

Andreas Panousieris is in our Under 14s, and has been at Moonee Valley since 2004.

Kurtis Tankard is in our Under 12s, and is the son of women’s team player Belinda.

Andrew Cook is a mate of our Garth King, and decided to come to Moonee Valley over Christmas from Middle Park CC.

Ibrahim Neshabe is a workmate of our Sharafat “Sash” Ali, who is having a spectacular season.

While we’re proud of all the people who want to play their cricket at Moonee Valley, it’s a headache for one of our stalwarts – vice-president and Wisden editor Jim Polonidis.

Including the weekend of January 19 and 20, we’d had 181 players in our senior teams so far this season, including 72 debutants. That’s a lot of work for Jim to incorporate into Wisden!