Modbury Cricket Club

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:10): It was my recent pleasure on 4 April to attend the Modbury Hawks Cricket Club 2013-14 presentation dinner at Sfera's on the Park at Modbury. Being patron and enjoying an association with this section of the Modbury Sporting Club is one of my greatest pleasures as the member for Florey. They are a great group of people supporting a fine group of young men, who really impressed at the presentation night in the way they handled the event. Cricket is certainly in good hands—or should I say 'safe' hands—with a very bright future ahead for this local cricket club.

Thanks go to outgoing president Sue Russell, who took over from past president Dean Anderson three years ago. Sue has done a marvellous job and has set a fine example for Mark Hickey and the new committee. Sue faced the daunting role of locating grounds for this very big club to use for competitions and practice while major works have been going on at their home oval on Golden Grove Road, which is very close to the member for Newland's boundary as well.

Volunteers play a huge and very important role in the management and smooth running of any club, and the Modbury Cricket Club is no different. We have Michael Wood with tea and selection night sausage sizzles. Tanner Claessen-Smith has assisted collecting subs and assisted Paul Summerton with team management of the under 17s. Special thanks go to Sue's right hands Keldyn Radan and Aaron Summerton and the wonderful Gayle Summerton, of course, who has been a mainstay and stalwart of the club for many years.

Murray Duthie and Mark Galliford as coach and senior coach to the five senior sides are rebuilding teams and experiencing great early successes, with many juniors coming through the ranks. C grade made the grand final and the young side fell just short to the very experienced Ingle Farm team in their final game. Congratulations and thanks go to all the junior coaches. Junior teams made many finals this year and every age group won a flag, which is a remarkable achievement and augurs very well for the future of the club and cricket in general in our area.

Sue has developed the relationship between the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association, with the Modbury Cricket Club winning third place in the 'Spirit of Cricket' award. While on the ATCA  achievements, Steve Bryan won C3 bowler of the year with 31 wickets and Brayden Nicol was equal winner of the under 17s bowler of the year with 23 wickets.

We also have the under 17 Bank SA reps Venusha Halahakoon and Brayden Nicol being selected to play. In the under 15 SAMCA we have Jashanprect Singh, Isaac Hewson and Jai Kite being selected, as well as Mark Hickey being coach. For the under 13 NEJCA we have Kyle Brazil making the team. Kyle also made the SAMCA under 13 team of the year. For the under 11 SAMCA team, congratulations go to Hayden Cesaro, William Morris and William Radan. Hayden was captain and made the under 11 team of the year.

While on special mentions, we have hat tricks, which are very difficult to get in cricket: Randil Gunasinghe bowled a 3/9 in the under 13 brown team twenty20 knockouts against Modbury Gold, and Hayden Cesaro bowled 5/2, which is an amazing figure, in the under 11 browns against the Eastern Suburbs #1 Dragons. There are too many other career milestones to go through. We had a huge list of firsts in the Modbury Cricket Club this year.

I know the club would also like me to mention Glenn 'Kanga' Brakmanis, who sadly lost his battle with cancer aged 45 last year. He has been a stalwart of the club, starting his junior career in the 1980-81 season as a 12 year old and winning the junior cricketer of the year and playing in the premiership, before progressing to the seniors where he excelled as both a player and an administrator. He served seven consecutive years as secretary of the Modbury Cricket Club, including holding the dual role of secretary/treasurer in the 1989-90 season at the tender age of 21.

In that same season, Glenn also produced one of the most outstanding individual performances that will probably never be matched, picking up the A grade bowling award, senior cricketer of the year and the prestigious clubman of the year award. Among the many highlights of his 141 games, he played in two B grade premierships and collected 169 wickets, highlighted by a 7/51 versus ETSA in the A grade. He amassed 1,541 runs, with a highest score of 84, and shared a record opening C grade partnership of 220.

In 1998, just when he was due to hit his prime, Glenn prematurely retired, aged 30, to further his career interstate with the National Bank. He tried to play a few games in Melbourne but never really stuck at it; he was truly a Modbury boy with one brown eye and one gold eye. He was a true legend of the Modbury Cricket Club and will be sadly missed by all who have known him. Although he has been called away far too early, his legacy will live on in the club and his name will remain forever in the hearts and memories of all involved.