Blackburn Cricket Club

Captain: Brad Byrnes

Season Review

Having a good mix of experience and youth we were really looking forward to the 2009/10 Season. I think all the players, the club and myself were really looking to playing finals again, something we hadn't done in about 5 years.

We started with a nail biting good win against Vermont in the first one dayer then were comprehensively beaten by newly promoted Forest Hill, which hurt.

We then went on to beat every side comprehensively that was below us, and get beaten by Heatherdale, Bulleen Templestowe, East Box Hill and Vermont South, sides that were in the top four and above us.

When I say comprehensively beating lower sides, I mean it. We beat Mitcham and Park Orchards outright, and fell agonisingly short against Eley Park to also winning outright. So it was pleasing they way we played against sides we should beat, but on the other hand we lost relatively convincingly against sides we should've matched it with above us.

As fate would have it, Vermont South fell over towards the end of the season and left their spot in the top four open for us to take which we did with both hands. By the end of the season, we were playing some really good cricket with really strong wins over East Burwood and Park Orchards.

We played the semi final against Heatherdale at their ground, it lasted the whole 3 days over the long weekend due to ordinary weather. We managed to scramble to 180 in our innings. This was mainly due to the batting at the start of the innings by Heath O'DWYER and then a magnificent lower order partnership by Jay TAYLOR and Reggie KUNST in some really tough batting conditions.
180 was always going to challenge them, we held our nerve with the ball most of their innings. Unfortunately we dropped a couple of chances which would prove to be costly. They plodded along at a slow run rate finding it hard to score. Unfortunately with about 20 overs to go the ball turned to a piece of soap and was hard to hold. They then made the most of this and got away with some lusty hits and beat us with only balls remaining. The pick of the bowling was Andrew STEELE bowling 37 overs unchanged.

Heatherdale went on to win the grand final quite easily. I have no doubt if a few things had've gone our way and we beat them in the semi we too would've won the grand final. The amount of belief and spirit we played with, especially after Christmas was amazing and as a Captain you couldn't have asked for more.
I guess the way we finished the season goes to show we have got enough talent to mix it with anyone, if we can keep that belief and feeling for next year and beyond I think we are going to have a successful future.

I would just like to comment on some outstanding contributors for the year:-

Andrew STEELE at 44 won not only the bowling average for Blackburn but for the whole competition, a fantastic effort, highlighted by 12 for 70 in the outright win against Mitcham.

Heath O'DWYER was superb with the bat making 480 runs and winning the batting average easily. He regularly kept our innings together with excellent concentration and placing value on his wicket. His keeping was also second to none.

Benn TAPLIN made some really useful scores and was our best fielder by a mile all year, his value in the team was enormous.

Matt YEO established himself as a top quality opening bowler in the competition, especially after Christmas, he bowled accurately and quick.

Reg KUNST bowled consistently and accurately every time he got the ball, he was a really valuable weapon for us and always gave his all for the BCC. Nothing made me prouder than the partnership with his good mate Jay TAYLOR in the semi final where they really batted us into a winning situation in that game.

Along with these guys I am looking forward to the guys like Arjuna LE GROS and Dave MORLEY really stamping themselves as quality 1st XI players over the next year or so. Both of them showed some really promising signs this year and are both going to be excellent players for a long time.

I would like to thank the other captains Jay, Warren and Shane for their help and support over the year. Further to that I would like to thank Steve SWEENY and Mick LONG for their help with a heap of issues. They both have excellent cricket brains and were great for me to bounce ideas off.

Finally I would like to thank the Blackburn Cricket Club, in particular the Committee and especially Tommy for the opportunity to coach the club over the last few years. It's something I have really got a lot out of and hopefully some of the boys have got something in return from me. Sadly I have to resign. Over the next year or two I will have some commitments that won't let me give it 100%.
I look forward to continuing with all the boys next year as a player. Hopefully we might be able to snare a good cricketer from outside the club to look after us and take a step further and bring home the big one.

Thanks Again

Brad Byrnes

Notable Performances