Acknowledgments by Joe Zaccheo

TPCC Inc Club Secretary

Welcome to the 7th annual Tasker Park Cricket Club Presentation night and Annual Report presentation.

Dear friends, how do we measure success as a cricket club?

Is it by individual performances? Paul Sullivan has become only the second player to have scored multiple hundreds in one season. They were big ones of 135 and 134 not out. His aggregate of 499 is the second highest scored for the club. The club’s top score was finally beaten; twice in one season. The mark of 126 was set in our first season (2000/01) by David Wilson. It was overtaken by Paul Sullivan and then by Andy Mishra. His 167 was spectacular and is the only 150+ score for the club. There were 8 half-centuries scored in total for the season. Amazingly, these were scored by 8 different players. The bowling also had some outstanding performers. Nathan Kelly achieved two 5 wicket hauls (34 wickets in total); whilst Carl Hanebuth also took a 5 wicket haul. Nathan Kelly also quietly went about accumulating runs. He achieved the second highest aggregate with 309. This is only the 4^th time in the club’s history that a player has achieved 300 runs and 30 wickets in one season. That’s why he is the front runner for ‘The Giannini Award for Player of the Year’.

Is it by team performance? We are down on previous years. In batting, this is the 5th lowest team aggregate (2,335), but it is higher than last time we were in 4th division (1,953). We also equaled the lowest number of wickets taken (98) and it’s the least number of catches taken (51). Keep in mind however, that we only played 12 matches, the least in any season previous. In saying that, we won more games than we lost (won 6, drew 1 and lost 5). The maths says that in a 7 team division, more wins than losses means a semi-final spot. We lacked that killer punch. We weren’t able to take the crucial wickets. The two examples are the two more wickets needed to beat Croydon Park in our first match, and not being able to defend 338 against Summer Hill taking only 5 wickets. In batting, we weren’t able to score one 50 in our last 3 matches, considering we needed to win 2 of them. We were generally poor with catches. The two that come to mind are Van Der Weide in round 6. We dropped him on 0 (zero) and he went on to get 153 not out chasing 338. The other is Steve Chakarovski dropped on about 30. He went on to score 111 and the team 197. The record shows we missed the semi-finals by 5 points; just one more win was needed.

Is it by leadership? Paul Sullivan asked me if I would allow him to captain some games this season. I thought about it for about 5 seconds. I contemplated all the extra administration work required in trying to bring two teams together and the superior people skills Paul Sullivan has and would be able to use in this endeavour. I also thought how it would free me up to concentrate more on my game. So I answered by questioning him on why he didn’t want to be the captain for the entire season? He seemed surprised, but accepted. I finally got to bat regularly in the middle order and mostly open the bowling. As a senior player I failed as a leader. I scored only 277 runs, equaling my lowest ever aggregate for the club. I only took 20 wickets, my lowest ever. Luckily we had Paul to lead us. Scoring two big hundreds and a magical 87, he notched up 499 runs at an average of 38.38. He held the team together beautifully, using his diplomatic style to caress squads together whilst leaving out players when required. He was the perfect man for the job.

Is it financial? The club is in good hands financially. We were right on budget this year achieving another small surplus. The two anomalies were the additional revenue from the extra players and the additional telephone expenses. Over the years, it has personally cost me a lot of money in telephone costs, and I thank the Executive for allowing a mutually beneficial compromise on this. In future the telephone costs will be about $120. The additional expense of the balls should be noted. It cost nearly $500 this year compared to $360 last year. We implemented the new ball policy for the second innings and we’re using the superior ‘Tuf Pitch’ ball. Overall, the club is in healthy shape having surplus funds of over $1,100 achieved over 7 seasons. This is whilst maintaining the current registration fee for the past 5 seasons and not receiving any sponsorship.

I reckon it’s about friendships, spirit and sportsmanship. In this regard, we are an extremely successful club. We have open and cordial relationships with each other. The spirit of the club showed in the last match of the year. We knew there was an outside chance of making the semi-finals, and we gave it our all. Except for a couple of unsavoury incidents, we are respected as a club for our tremendous sportsmanship. Please keep it up, because regardless of our individual, team or financial performance, we succeed when we demonstrate spirit and sportsmanship and strong friendships are born.