Our tribute to a Valley clubmate

OUR TRIBUTE TO A VALLEY CLUBMATE
Moonee Valley Cricket Club's games on the February 21/22 weekend held a special significance for us, as we used the occasion to honor and farewell our clubmate Alex Ross, who was tragically killed in an accident the previous month.

Players across all grades took the initiative and organised black armbands to acknowledge a fallen clubmate, while a group of Alex's closest mates took to the field together in the Sevenths on the Saturday to play the game that he loved.

Alex had played his club cricket at St Mary's Warracknabeal, and signed up for Moonee Valley with four other mates from RMIT University at the start of this season after they had a kick-to-kick at Ormond Park.

He may have only played two games with the Valleys before returning home to Warracknabeal, but that in no way diminishes the loss for the Club and Alex's close mates.

His mate Paddy Shelton had the honor of captaining the Sevenths tribute side, which also included fellow university sign-ons Shane Chalmers, Justin Trowell and Charlie Jackson.

Other close mates to pull on the whites for Moonee Valley for the first time were Liam Shaw, Ben Peters, James McArthur, Angus Fraser, Elliott Christopher and Noah Dunlop.

Above: The team of mates who took to the field in the Sevenths:
Back - L-R: Justin Trowell, Liam Shaw, Paddy Shelton, Shane Chalmers, Ben Peters, James McArthur, Vishal Chopra.
Front - Angus Fraser, Charlie Jackson, Noah Dunlop, Elliott Christopher.

The Valley tribute team was advancing steadily in the chase for the 105 runs needed to win the game, but a rain delay made batting treacherous and we fell two runs short of Coburg.

Back at the Ormond Park clubrooms after the game, Paddy thanked the Club for providing the opportunity for Alex's mates to play a game in honor of the young 22-year-old.

President Charlie Walker said that Alex had been accepted as a Moonee Valley player, and the short time he was at the club did not diminish the loss to his teammates and clubmates. Charlie pointed out that our greatest-ever clubman, Lindsay Jones had a career of just 22 games before he died.

He said Alex had made an excellent 64 in the Fifths in his first game for our Club, and was a marvel in the field. While we have lost someone who was obviously a talented cricketer, the sadness for our Club was more to do with the passing of a young man who was one of us.

The tribute team's members felt Alex's presence as they played the game, and Paddy named him on the team sheet. And poignantly, Alex was also awarded the Most Valuable Player nomination. We all offer our respects to his family and his close mates.