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Our Annual General Meeting details
The Moonee Valley Cricket Club held its 39th Annual General Meeting at the Ormond Park bowls club rooms on Thursday, June 23, and it was very much steady-as-she goes.

Our Executive members were returned unopposed, and we have a few fresh faces on the Committee to ensure we have some new ideas, new views and new voices to help guide our Club over the next year.

It was our first AGM as our new entity of the Moonee Valley Cricket Club Inc., although we remain committed as a section of the Moonee Valley Sporting Club.

About 20 members attended, and heard from Treasurer Stephen Tassos how we fared financially in a season characterised by washouts and adverse weather, which impacted on our ability to generate revenue.

Kevin Gardiner stepped down as Junior Co-ordinator. While we do not have a formal nomination at this stage for this role, Life Member and junior coach Darren Nagle has volunteered to oversee a group of parents who will perform the functions required to keep a vibrant junior section going.


Anyone interested in taking on the position of Junior Co-ordinator should ring Charlie Walker on 0409 237 543.

Details of the elections for the Club committee were:
*President - Charlie Walker returned unopposed.
*Vice President - Simon Thornton returned unopposed.
*Secretary - Peter Golding returned unopposed.
*Treasurer - Stephen Tassos returned unopposed.
*Assistant Treasurer - Pat Taylor elected unopposed.
*Canteen Manager - Peter Fenaughty returned unopposed.
*General Committee Member - George Pearson returned unopposed.
*General Committee Member - Kevin Gardiner returned unopposed.
*General Committee Member, with a focus on functions and events - Tien Ha elected unopposed.
*General Committee Member - Victoria Thorneycroft elected unopposed.

We also have unfilled positions for Sponsorship Manager and Merchandising Manager. Anyone interested in these roles should also ring Charlie Walker. 

For more details on the reports tabled at the AGM, click on the item in the news bar above. 

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Here's the score on our Senior Wisden
Who's the Captain of our Wisden Team of the Year?
Who are the players who make up the team? What's our balanced attack? Are the quicks or the spinners going to be our front-line attack?
Who reached milestones during the course of the year? Who's leading the pack in terms of most-ever ducks for Moonee Valley?
All these questions and more are answered in our eagerly-awaited 2010/11 edition of Wisden, compiled and edited by Charlie Walker and Phill King.
Click on the link HERE to see all this and more - here's the 2010/11 Wisden.
Printed copies can be arranged by ringing Charlie Walker on 0409 237 543 or wait until pre-season training. Our pre-season starts with indoor sessions on Thursday nights from the start of August. Watch here for more details.
Our Wisden Team of the Year captain is First Eleven captain Mark Gauci (pictured right). To see all the rest of the team details, go to the link above.

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Introducing our new coach Vic Hodge...

Moonee Valley Cricket Club is pleased to announce the appointment of Vic Hodge as our senior coach for the 2011/12 season.
Vic, who last season coached the Melbourne Cricket Club Fifth Eleven and trained his squad part of the time with the Premier club’s top four sides, has played representative cricket in England.
He has also been a player-manager with semi-professional soccer teams in England.
Vic played Under 19s rep cricket for County club Warwickshire as an opening bowler, and had the distinction of being a net bowler at Edgbaston for the 1981 Ashes series.

Accepting our coaching role, Vic said he was excited to be coaching a club as big and diverse as Moonee Valley.
“My cricket philosophy is to make the most of what you have and look for continual areas of improvement, however small; in order to sustain performance and extend one’s playing career,” he said.
As a player/coach with Melbourne’s Fifth Eleven, which is one of 10 teams in the MCC Club Eleven competition, Vic coached a team of mainly MCC cricketers, many of whom have represented the Club at Premier level and sometimes even State or national level.
He plans to play with Moonee Valley this season in combination with his coaching role.

Vic is shown above with Vice President Simon Thornton at the North Suburban Club,

where we did the coach interviews.

“I decided to apply for the job as coach in recognition and acceptance that my playing career will end at some point,” Vic said.“
This is coupled with my commitment and desire to stay involved in the game, and to give something back to the sport.”
Vic said he was very interested in having some input into Moonee Valley’s junior program, with a view to helping advance the players to senior cricket.
He also has an interest in our women’s section, as his mother had played cricket in St Kitts, in the West Indies.

Moonee Valley Vice President Simon Thornton and President Charlie Walker, who interviewed Vic twice at our sponsor the North Suburban Club, said they were impressed at Vic’s commitment to the challenge and his eye for detail.
“He’s got us excited already – and pre-season hasn’t yet started,” Simon said.

Lou Raffaele, who coached Moonee Valley for four seasons, including to our First and Second Eleven flags in 2009/10, advised at the end of last season that he planned to step down because of the demands of his young family.
Lou intends to keep playing at Moonee Valley.
And Pakistani player Ihtisham Uddin, who played in our Firsts for the first half of last season, has reached agreement to come back to Moonee Valley this season. Ihtsi will take on an assistant coaching role.

Valley's Presentation Night - and Amit wins everything!