South Melbourne Districts launches a Girl’s Cricket Team


South Melbourne District Sports Club is fielding a girls cricket team for the first time in our 97 year history.

Our girls have watched their brothers play cricket for the club for many years, and now they can have a go too in their own Girls cricket competition. We participate in a small but quickly emerging CMCA generated competition with 5 other clubs. It is strongly encouraged and supported by Cricket Victoria. Games are played at 5:30pm every Friday night at King George Reserve in Bentleigh.

The girls play 20/20 games each week. The girls get to bat for 20 overs and bowl for 20 overs every game, which maximises participation and involvement.

They proudly march out onto the field all kitted up with pads, gloves, helmets and bats like the best of them. And they bowl on centre stage as if they are on the Australian cricket team (no offence to our Australian bowlers intended).

Girls on the team include Sarah Olney-Fraser, Natasha Copolov, Marylou O’Brien, Arty Wilson, Isabella Nielson, Julia Bellote, Sarah Hamilton, Freya Laursen and Celeste Osborne.

Although we have not won any matches yet (we will win a match one day!) our girls are having a lot of fun learning about the great game and developing their cricket skills.

Many thanks are due to our sponsors Logie Smith Lanyon Lawyers and Hocking Stuart Real Estate. Logie Smith Lanyon Lawyers have supplied our team shirts and caps.

Also, we greatly value the guidance and support provided by Cricket Victoria in organizing this competition and making sure everything runs smoothly each week.

Any parents who have girls who want to join the team should contact Darren Olney-Fraser on 0438 092 054.

Go girls!

Dante Otto achieves Representative recognition…
Congratulations to Dante Otto (Under 14s Twilight A Team) on being selected by Elsternwick CC to represent it in January 2010 in the Under 15 RM Hatch (turf) competition. This is an outstanding achievement by Dante at the ripe young age of 13! It is also well deserved reward for tireless effort and determination. In the last 3 years since Dante joined the Club from his native South Africa, he has battled away at every Representative try-out he could. He always just seemed to miss out. At last, his considerable cricketing skills have been notes with this wonderful call up. As if to celebrate his achievement, Danto took 5/24 in his last Club match!!

Few players have worked harder on their game over the years. Dante is a terrific example to all boys at the Club that if you do not first succeed you just keep battling away until you do. Congratulations Dante. South Melbourne Districts are mighty proud of your achievement and wish you a successful Hatch tournament in January.

We can also announce (full stories to follow) that a record number of our players are being recognised out there and are winning Representative selection. George Hurley and George Hiotis have been selected in the Under 14s Seagulls squad (turf) and a number of other players are working their way through respective try-outs as we write. We will celebrate each and every story in the coming weeks.

Brilliant weather helps us launch junior Cricket Season
October 2009 - Brilliant weather helps us launch junior Cricket Season. What a brilliant start to the season. The weather was perfect on Friday evening and Saturday morning as our record 11 teams and Milo 'In2Cricket' players walked onto various ovals and launched our season.

Over 200 players were supported by many committed parents as Team Managers, Match Coaches, umpires, scorebook marshals, refreshment managers or importantly, positive encouragers. The sidelines were full of eager and proud parents.

It was impossible to miss the excitement that had built up over the preceeding four weeks of diligent training. The sheer joy of our children playing with their mates and living hopes, dreams and heroics of our Summer game was clearly evident.

On top of all the fun,there were great battling performances by all of our teams as well as individual efforts that contributed to those teams successes. Our players have clearly benefitted from their weekday coaching and we hope to keep seeing their collective and individual confidence grow.

Special thanks go to a legion of parents that have voluntarily given up their time in the preceeding 2 months to help organise the season. Enormous thanks to those parents who have agreed to help run teams, however they get involved - it simply does not happen without your help.

The Club and all of the players owe you big thanks.

Here is to a great season! What a positive start.

Chris Garschagen
South Melbourne District Junior Cricket - President