West Torrens District Cricket Club

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (15:31): This morning, we debated the select committee report on the SACA-forced merger proposal. It is an excellent report, and as I spoke on it this morning I will not cover those issues that I or others raised this morning. However, today want to focus on the magnificent successes of the West Torrens District Cricket Club during this current season. This success needs to be viewed in the context of where we have been over the past couple of seasons, a time when we were facing a forced merger and threatened with expulsion from the premier grade or remaining in the premier grade without the same level of support provided by SACA to other premier league clubs should a merger not occur.

In the face of this threat, and in the face of this adversity, how did the West Torrens District Cricket Club and, for that matter, the excellent Port Adelaide District Cricket Club respond? I know that you are sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for this answer, Deputy Speaker. The clubs responded magnificently. I could not be more proud of the West Torrens District Cricket Club and Port Adelaide, but my focus today of course will be on West Torrens.

West Torrens has had a season that on any other assessment is unprecedented. Before detailing these achievements, I first want to pay tribute not only to all the players who represent the club across all grades but also to the coaching and support staff, the committee, the many volunteers, our members and supporters and of course the club sponsors. To have witnessed the growth of the senior players this season has been amazing. I do know that this growth would not have been achieved without the support of those others I just mentioned. Now on to the season.

The premier grade lost only one game across all four forms of cricket this season. They were undefeated premiers in the Twenty20 competition, beating Glenelg. They were premiers in the one-day competition, again undefeated in that competition, again defeating Glenelg. I must pay tribute to Glenelg for the season they have had as well. We played a semifinal against Port Adelaide. That was a magnificent game where either team could have won. People were sitting on the edge of their seats, but we were able to defeat Port Adelaide. As I said, victory could have gone to any of those teams. We finished up being premiers in the two-day competition. We lost only one game for the season against Glenelg and defeated Kensington quite convincingly in the grand final at Woodville Oval on the weekend.

We were also grand finalists in the men's D grade competition. Our women's teams were finalists in both the A and B grade women's teams competitions. They did a magnificent job. We were grand finalists and premiers in the under 13 community cricket competition. All our other teams performed well, representing the club as well as they possibly could and doing the club proud, but they also need to be acknowledged in the context of what has happened this year. What has happened is that it is a success that can be quite rightly shared by all people associated with the club.

Let's have a look at some of the other achievements and individual achievements. In the men's team of the year, Daniel Drew and Benjamin Williams were named in the team of the year. Daniel Drew also won the Bradman Medal for this season. Coach Mark Harrity, the West Torrens coach, was the coach of the year in the premier competition. Quite interestingly, our last A grade premiership was in 2006-07, again defeating Kensington. Mark Harrity was a member of the club during that stage and was actually asked to stand down from the playing side of it (he was assistant coach as well) to allow younger players to play in the grand final. He was not happy about it, but of course took it on the chin, as decent people do, and continued his association with the club.

He made way for young bowlers at that stage, very good bowlers, Peter George and Trent Kelly. Interestingly, Trent Kelly took five wickets in the 2006-07 grand final and took four wickets in the grand final on the weekend. Angela Treloar was on the women's team of the year, but she was also the 1^st Grade Wicket-keeping Trophy winner for that competition. Ellen Falconer, Lauren Ebsary and Brooke Harris were also on the team. I think I forgot to mention previously Leigh Drennan, who has been the heart and soul of the club this year. In the senior division, he won the Wicket-keeper of the Year, an outstanding effort from him.

A lot has been made about the local players, and I am proud to say that of the 20 players who represented the West Torrens District Cricket Club in Premier Division during the season, only four of them came from other areas. They were Callum Ferguson from Prospect; Kane Richardson from the Northern Territory via Woodville, East Torrens and then to West Torrens; two English chappies, Dominic Bess and Zac Bess—they are decent people; and Leigh Drennan, who I mentioned earlier, who came from Queensland and joined West Torrens as his family had played there. What I can say is that I and everyone in my electorate, and indeed the cricketing public of South Australia and cricketing supporters, are very proud of the achievements of West Torrens this season.