Gday All,

And welcome to the start of the new season as we strive to go that one step further than just make the Grand Final this year.

There wil be some major changes this year with the new pitches being laid and up and ready for the start of the season in October and new playing tops with new major sponsors.

Matthew Bennett has been appointed playing coach again for this year with Chris Maney as an assistant and hopefully we will announce a Junior Development coach in the not too distant future.

I am not going to write anymore as a newsletter will be mailed out in the next week from the time of writing this post detailing all that is happening for the start of the year.

***ALERT****

TRAINING STARTS WEDNESDAY THE 16TH OF AUGUST AT THE DEVONPORT HIGH SCHOOL GYM FROM 6pm.

Please make every effort to attend.

Well the season is done and dusted for 2009/10 and it wasn't the end that we would have liked.Both the A Grade and B Grade sides lost their respective Grand Finals in similar matches.Both games ebbed and flowed but in the end both teams couldn't chase down the required runs to win.

Congratulations must go to Sassafras in A Grade,Spreyton in A Reserve and the Mersey Colts in B Grade.

We had our annunal dinner and trophy night on the 27th of March and well done to all the award winners for this year.Chris Maney took out most of the awards for A Grade winning the Best & Fairest,Cricketer of the year,most wickets,most runs and both the batting and bowling averages.After the great year Chris had,all the accolades where fully deserved.

The A Reserve awards where shared with Mark Smith winning the Best & Fairest,Daryl Marshall taking out the Cricketer of the year,most wickets and the bowling average and Dion O'Mahony winning the most runs and batting average award.

The B Grade awards where also shared with Josh Smith winning the Best & Fairest,Gary Evans and Mick Ashdown sharing the Cricketer of the year award,Troy Cornick took home the most wickets award,Mick Ashdown the bowling averages and last but not least Brett (Ducky) Crowden winning the most runs and batting average awards.

Again congratulations to all winners and hopefully to go with these awards next year we will have a premiership flag or two.

I would like to thank everyone (I am not going to name names but you all know who you are),the players,committee,ladies committee and all who volunteered their time to make the year as successful as it has been both on and off the field.

Last but not least I would also like to thank our sponsors be it in kind or monetary value,if it was not for their valuable support over the year,the club as we know it would not function as well as it has.

If I have missed anyone or anything please accept my apologies.

Here's hoping for a great 2010/11 season and hope to see you there.

GO STEAMERS

Cheers

Mick 

Well,it's that time of year,Grand Finals are upon us and training has been bright and sharp so far.With 2 teams in the final (A & B Grade) all the lads are looking keen as mustard and looking forward at having a huge crack for the premiership.Best of luck to everyone and hope things go our way this Saturday.

**Remember to be at the club by 10am on Saturday for the team photos.**

A few upcoming dates to remember is the Best & Fairest count on Sunday the 21st of March,kick off at midday with a barby and then onto the count at about 2pm.And then on Saturday the 27th of March is the Annual Dinner & Trophy night which starts at 7pm,get your rsvp's into the Moth by this Saturday so we can confirm numbers to the caterers.

And last but not least is the player's trip to Hobart,numbers are tight so those that are keen to go please confirm with those in charge asap.

Well dudes,B Grade and A Grade have made it through to the last match of the year in 2 weeks time with victories in the 2nd Semi Final.Batting first the Bees were in a fair bit of strife at 6-52 against the Colts with Ducky and a Truckie at the crease hoping to rectify the problem.The boys put on a very impressive 168 partnership to help the lads get to a competitive total of 222(Richie would have been impressed).Ducky Crowden(92) and Holla Marshall(68)batted superbly after Holla was given not out off the glove early in Ray Masters day which he was quoted as saying he was deaf in one ear,lol!

Apparently Ray never heard the Power Boats racing at the Regatta the other day when he was drinking at the Eli,he thought there was something wrong with the young kids in Devonport and their cars!LOL!Anyway back to the cricket,after making 222 the Bees backed up their total with an excellent bowling performance restricting MCCC to all out 110.Josh Smith continued his improvement in season 09-10 with 3-25 off 10 overs,Mick Ashdown(3-15) and club Hippy Neil Cornick with 2-29 fought back after an early pasting.

Fev said to mention he took a catch which was in the classic department but with a red nose like his(we think he's bullshitting)LOL!Well done boys and all the best in 2 weeks!

In the A Grade match it was a typical finals match with many a twist and turn.After winning the toss and batting first the boys got off to a decent start with a 47 run opening stand between the oldest opening combo in the Valley before BT was out LBW for a quickfire 32.MCCC dropped a few catches during the innings and apart from a few small partnerships it was the score on the board that counted with the Steamers sneaking up to 185 in the 50th over.Manes(49) and Schuey(38) put on 50 in the middle order,Brad Arnold(20) and a handy 10 from Real including a 6 that was the difference at the end all got starts.

The Colts got off to a shonky start with a Nige Feral run out helping the first wicket to fall which presented us with Flipper and Honk Clark at the crease.They put on 85 and were looking dangerous but once Honk was bowled it was the start of a game of twists and turns.

Manes(4-20),Plumb(2-24),Matty(1-38),Moses(1-45)and Fen(1-8) squeezed the match from the colts and apart from a couple of dropped catches the boys showed the fire in the belly required for finals cricket and never gave in till we booked our trip to have a crack at the Holy Grail in 2 weeks.Well done both teams A + B,1 to go now!

Well dudes,with B Grade having a last minute bye,the A Reserve having a bye as well it was left to the A Grade to fight out the last roster match at the Nook.After losing the toss again the Nook boys decided to put us in.After 10 overs we were 1 for 96 with BT smashing 70 and smoking the ball to all parts of the "Paddock".I then called for a single and the man with the club foot limped down to the other end and was unfairly run out and robbed of 200.

Brad Arnold(62),Manes(37),Matty(21),Schuey(92),Man of the Match Aaron"Uni Nige Feral" Fennell(53 not out)and Doug Bellinger(40 not out) all helped the Don to 5-402 off 50.The Nook made 153 in reply with Nick Sallese(93)contributing more than 3 quarters of their score.Manes(2-21)Fen(4-38)made inroads with the ball and more to the point the boys fielded excellent and now have to keep up the pressure on the Colts this week in the 2nd semi as well as the Bees who also play the Colts.Go Steamers and lets bring home the double this week and book a spot to have the crack at the "Holy Grail".PUMPED!!!!!!!!!

The annual Darren Weeks Memorial match was held at the Don Cricket Club tuesday night.Darren played for both Devonport and Don Cricket clubs and in respect after Darren sadly passed away,both clubs play a match each year in memory of the man.His parents,brother Shane and best mate Simon Langworthy attend and Shane and Simon participate in the match.

This year it was the Don running out winners in a close match,decided on the last ball of the match with Wade Hodgetts french cutting the winning runs to see the Steamers home.Devonport batted first and made a competitive 141 with Sam Mazurek making 49 to top score for the Orions.The key to Dons win was an impressive 39 from Aaron(Nige Feral)Fennell and a few handy ones from Langers that enabled the Don victory.Next year its at the Devonport Oval and hopefully the Steamers can keep their impressive record intact.