Sport
28 September, 2023
Carisbrook to return to MDCA A grade competition for season 2023/24
The Maryborough District Cricket Association (MDCA) is back to a six-team competition for the 2023/24 season, with Carisbrook returning to the A grade fold for the first time in five years. Fresh off winning back-to-back A reserve premierships, and...
The Maryborough District Cricket Association (MDCA) is back to a six-team competition for the 2023/24 season, with Carisbrook returning to the A grade fold for the first time in five years.
Fresh off winning back-to-back A reserve premierships, and with a strong junior contingent across boys’ and girls’ cricket, the time was now for Carisbrook, who are looking to re-establish themselves in Maryborough’s elite.
Their last foray in the competition was in the 2017/18 season, where the club scored two victories on their way to a sixth-place finish out of seven teams.
However, according to club president Caleb Cluff, it was the right time for Carisbrook to step back into the competition, and are very much looking forward to making their return when they host Beaufort in their first game on October 7.
“Like everyone else, we struggled through COVID, and it’s a credit to Jarryd Coghlan, our A reserve captain, and the club executive that we’ve kept the club together with a core of players that play well together. Some of them have been with Carisbrook for 20 years, perhaps longer. So we always wanted to play in A grade,” he said.
“Most of us have played in A grade and played pretty good cricket in A grade, and we’ve never been happy to sit back in A reserve.
“We wanted to have a team that would be competitive in the top grade. I just love cricket, it’s a great game and it’s good to be back in A grade in the MDCA, playing on turf.”
The club has made a big splash to get a coach, securing the services of well-known MDCA cricketer Chris Lee, who had previously been with Laanecoorie Dunolly.
“Chris Lee has come back to coach us, give some advice and some leadership. He is a first-class state level cricketer, but in the conversations we’ve had prior to the competition starting, we said that the only thing we expect is to get out and have a good time,” Cluff said.
It’s an exciting time all-round for sport in Carisbrook, with the cricket club raring to use the new facilities that were recently opened.
“It’s one of the best grounds in the district, we believe,” Cluff said.
“Everyone will understand what an amazing job Kevin Koop has done for 50 years in delivering a first-class wicket.
“The old facilities served the football club, netball club and cricket club well, but they were very run-down. It will be a pleasure to welcome teams to Carisbrook, allow them to use the modern facilities that are clean and properly built.
“We haven’t been in there yet as the footy club has just finished using it.
“We can only thank everyone who supported it, the State Government, council and the people who invested in Carisbrook. As a cricket club president, I’m pleased we’re going to offer these facilities to our opponents, as well as our own players.”
Cluff hasn’t set any expectations on what he’d like Carisbrook to achieve in their first season back.
“We don’t necessarily think we will win the competition, or perhaps many matches, but we want to play the way Carisbrook does, which is a strong team ethos, playing as a team, supporting one another and getting behind one another and play at our best,” he said.
“It won’t be easy, I don’t think anyone’s pretending that coming from A reserve back into A grade, and while cricket is struggling for numbers generally, is going to be a walk in the park, but I guess we can only see what happens.”
However, the future of cricket in Carisbrook appears to be secure, particularly with the amount of work being done behind the scenes to ensure there are juniors playing for the club.
“I can’t give enough credit to everyone who has supported the juniors. Martin Mark has done amazing things, as well as the likes of Simon Morrison and Dave Willis. They came together and made sure the core of the club is the young kids who have come through and enjoyed their cricket. That has been a really strong part of Carisbrook’s ethos, supporting junior cricket,” Cluff said.
“We’ve gone to huge efforts to take Carisbrook to Castlemaine this year to play in the 16s as there isn’t enough local teams. We want to keep it going not just for cricket in Carisbrook, but cricket in Maryborough in general.”
That also extends to the work Leigh Koop has done to ensure the MDCA’s junior girls’ program flourishes.
“It’s not an extensively privileged area, but Leigh as the MDCA’s girls’ cricket manager, has done an enormous amount of work in making sure that form of cricket is available,” Cluff said.
“Carisbrook was quick to get girls to play cricket with us, and we’d love to see it again. I don’t think the game is rooted in the male idea that women can’t play senior cricket, and I’d love to see it across the league, it’d be a strong thing to encourage.
“But in the juniors, we’ve made sure women’s cricket is strongly supported, and we’ve worked closely with Cricket Victoria to make sure that it happens.”