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Cricket makes the world go round at Moonee Valley
Moonee Valley's latest cricket import, Ihtisham Uddin, has arrived in Australia from Pakistan, and has lost no time in settling in to training.

Ihtisham, who as recently as a month ago was playing first class cricket back home, is match-fit and raring to go.

He joins a veritable United Nations vying for spots in Moonee Valley's First Eleven.

And while there are tensions between the countries on the sub-continent, that's just not the case at Moonee Valley - as the picture here shows.

Welcoming Ihtisham are our champion Arosha Perera (left), from Sri Lanka, and chairman of selectors Amit Chaudhary (right), who came from India.

When you include Joel Wilford, Kris Garland and Simon Thornton from England, you can see cricket really does make the world go round at Moonee Valley.

Amit Chaudhary played a key role in liaising with Ihtisham as he worked through his visa application, and was the first person from our Club to welcome him when he arrived on November 10.

Players, parents, partners, supporters and friends again enjoyed themselves at our annual Moonee Valley Cricket Club Melbourne Cup Day across at the bowls pavilion.

About 60 people joined in for a day of fun, along with an excellent roast cooked by maestro Peter Fenaughty on a wood-fired spit.

It was fun all around as Joe Ansaldo took on the job of bookmaker this year, and at the end of the day returned a small profit to the Club coffers.

At least this year our much-loved player Michael Cumbo didn't clean up the bookie - and indeed Mick made a $50 donation to the Club after he won one of the sweeps.

Thanks also to Dan Terzini for running the sweeps, Peter Smith for his time behind the bar and the members and supporters who provided salads. An excellent day was had by all.

Shown above keeping a close eye on the figures and on the books are Club treasurer Chris Micallef,
life member Darren Nagle and life member and bookie for the day Joe Ansaldo.

For more photos of the day, 

Join Mickster in the 250 Club
There’s no more a committed clubman than Michael “Mickster” Cumbo and he is the official number one ticket holder for your Valley’s 250 Club this season.

Mick Cumbo - No. 1 ticketholder! (right)

250 Club members will gather at the Ormond Park Club rooms on Saturday evenings when we have a game result night. Membership includes full complimentary themed drinks and food! Your membership of $250 helps our club in a number of ways, so please consider joining Michael and other committed members by the 250 Club.

To sign up, just see Simon Thornton, Sandro Capocchi or Charlie Walker.

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Season's memberships
due now:
See the item in our News Pages, or go to the memberships page under the "Club News & Info" heading on the menu bar above. 

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Season 2010/11 - new players welcome at the Valley
New players for all our senior and junior teams are still welcome for the current season.

We have again entered 10 senior men's teams - four teams on turf, two two-day matting teams and four one-day teams.

Two turf teams and several of our matting teams play Sunday home games, so we have a range of options to suit our players in terms of availability.

We also cater across the spectrum with our senior players, from top-grade cricketers in our highest teams through to occasional and social cricketers wanting to have a hit or roll the arm over in our one-day teams.

Seven of our 10 men's teams played finals last season - four through to Grand Finals - with flags in our Firsts and Seconds.
MVCC Committee member/Junior Co-ordinator Kevin Gardiner said Moonee Valley also fields a team in the Victorian Women's Cricket Association one-day grades, and new players of all levels of experience, starting from beginners, are welcome.

We also field Under 10s, 12s, 14s and 16s. Under 10s: (Friday evening games);Under 12s: (we have grades that play home games on Friday evenings, Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings); Under 14s: (both Saturday morning and Sunday morning grades); and Under 16s: (also Saturday and Sunday grades).

Anyone interested should phone Kevin Gardiner on 0417 536 896 regarding juniors, or MVCC president Charlie Walker (0409 237 543) or Senior Coach Lou Raffaele (0433 383 387 or 0450 181 948) for all other teams.