Moonee Valley's 1000th player

Xavier Brooks from our Under 14s took out his place in the Moonee Valley Cricket Club history on November 25, when he took to the field in our Fifth Eleven.

Xavier, who plays under the expert eye of Life Member and Past President Darren "Spud" Nagle, became the 1000th senior player for our Club

Xavier made his senior debut in the One Day Sunday Turf game against top-of-the-ladder Craigieburn, and while the result didn't go our way, he took a smart catch to celebrate his achievement.

Xavier's game has been coming along steadily under the tutelage of Spud, and he made known a couple of weeks ago that he was keen to test himself in senior ranks when a spot became available.

Moonee Valley Sixths captain Allan Cumming, who was also having a hit in the Fifths on Sunday, made up a cardboard plaque to help celebrate Xavier's achievement.

It's quite an achievement for the Club to have 1000 senior players, dating back to when the Moonee Valley Cricket Club was formed in the 1970/71 season.

Every player who has played senior cricket for the Club is listed in the Moonee Valley Wisden, and so the name of Xavier Brooks will also be forever listed in the annals, no matter what path the rest of his senior career takes.

Our senior player list includes the women who have played either in the men's teams or the women's competition - with our women's teams in recess for the time being.

Xavier was part of a run of senior debutants in recent weeks, with four other players - Aaron Grutteria, Jaidyn de Niese, Saeed Akram and Sam Bishop - also pulling on the Moonee Valley whites for the first time on the November 24 & 25 weekend.

And there were eight debutants the previous weekend, including seven players who were in two-day games which finished on the weekend of Xavier's achievement.

The November 17/18 debutants were Murtaza Khaliq, Troy Smith, Shan Amunugama, Sam Carbone, Muhammad Naveed Khan, Charles Aitken and Shannon Hood in the two-day games, and Kilian Cusack in a one-dayer.

We wish all our debutants a long and successful career at Moonee Valley, and special good wishes to Xavier Brooks for his unique place in our Club's history.