The coach has landed

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.