Randall Woodley
The football finals are about to be played and local cricketers, young and old are checking their whites and rolling their arms over.
This season promises to be one of the best the Sunshine Coast Cricket Association has conducted for some years and Tewantin-Noosa Thunder Club is lining up for a successful year in seniors, juniors, master blasters and hopefully in the women’s competition.
Trial matches
With the commencement of the cricket season only three weeks away, the club has arranged for a series of trial matches at Read Park next weekend, 26 and 27 August.
They will play three T20 matches against the Gold Coast Club, Nerang-Mudgeeraba First Grade team. The first match will be under lights starting at 5.30pm Friday 26 August, (First Grade), the second will be on Saturday afternoon at 1pm (First Grade) and after a barbecue, the combined lower grades side will play the visitors under lights at 5.30pm.
This will be a very important hit-out for the players as they will need to start the season in the same form, they finished the finals in March.
The First-Grade boys are confident they can bring home the three association trophies again this season. The second-grade team is aiming to improve on last season’s performances and with some new faces at the club, there will be competition amongst the players to be selected.
The season fixtures commence for First Grade on Saturday 17 September and for Second Grade on 24 September.
Other grades will commence in early October. This year the fixtures will again start with a series of T20 matches, then 50-Over matches against all other clubs then later in the season the format will change to two-day games.
Women come and try
This event was held last Friday afternoon 19 August and although the organisers were a little disappointed with the turnout, there were some very positive vibes amongst the girls and women who attended the briefing and activity sessions.
The afternoon was organised by the club’s women’s sub-committee chairman, Ben Shaw and his hard-working team and run by Queensland Cricket.
Mayor, Clare Stewart attended and spoke positively about girls being involved in sport and encouraged those attending to join a team.
Queensland Cricket north manager, Geoff Thomas, ex-international player Nicole Brown and Under 19 Queensland player Mikayla Wrigley put the girls, young and old through some practice sessions.
The club is encouraging all girls to be involved this season, either in the Master Blasters group or for those older to be drafted into one of the junior teams.
The club is hoping to find enough senior players to form a women’s team to play in the Sunshine Coast women’s competition.
Junior cricket
Training will commence for all juniors (Under 11 to Under 17s) on Tuesday 30 August at 4pm at Read Park. All prospective players need to register before that date as there is a fair amount of planning to be done before the season commences on 8 October.
With the new A & B competition starting this season in U13 & U15, grading will be held during the first three training sessions on 30 August, 1 and 6 September. More details will be issued closer to the first training session.
Vets world cup
Veterans cricket is growing around the world at a fast rate and many Sunshine Coast players are involved during winter in the Queensland Veterans competitions.
This year, the Over 60 World Cup is to be played in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast from 2-15 September.
Matches will be played on the Sunshine Coast at Buderim (Maroochydore Cricket Club), Caloundra and Yandina.
The teams involved include Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan and Canada.
More information about matches will be published in the next few weeks but a visit to one of these matches will be well worthwhile.
