Acknowledgments by Joe Zaccheo
TPCC Inc Club Secretary
Welcome to the 8th annual Tasker Park Cricket Club Presentation night and Annual Report presentation.
Kwaapoc are champions again! After 6 seasons of toil, euphoria returned to this mighty club. The season of 2001/02 was special. Minor Premiers, winning in the final after losing in the first innings, scoring a fifty and my one and only century, winning with only 1 ball to spare and my one and only premiership in any sport. WOW! Hard to beat, right?
In 2002/03, we backed up well, finishing third and making a second consecutive final. In the final however, the bowling and fielding struggled and the batting chocked. 2003/04 was going to be the season. With stars like Greg Giannini, Rob Squillacioti, Patty Marrins, John Neville, Tony Banboukjian and Chris Parks, 5th division was always going to be too small for the team. Another Minor Premiership, the side peaking nicely with a thrashing of Buckland’s Hurlstone Park in round 14. Well, it couldn’t be finished off as the second week was washed out. So we played them again in the semi final, rolled them for 114. As it happens, we were rolled for 111 and then lost outright by 7 runs after bowling them out for only 63 in the 2nd innings. Patty destroyed them taking 5 for 8 off 12. Shattering!
2004/05 was disastrous. Most of out stars left, and we were elevated to 4th division. We won our first match well, but only won one other match before finishing last. This season saw the introduction of club stalwarts Paul Sullivan and Nathan Kelly; the worst possible start to their time at the club. 2005/06 saw a rejuvenation of the club. A combination of a return to 6th division and 3 Indian inclusions to the team, made us very competitive. So competitive in fact that the club notched up its 3rd Minor Premiership. Disappointingly, we lost another close semi final.
2006/07 was a real turning point. Not so much with results, but more of a personnel achievement. We merged two teams; Kwaapoc and 2005/06 ACC 6th division team. This provided for a large playing roster and a large headache. Paul Sullivan volunteered to captain the side, and the seeds of an expanding club were sewn.
2007/08 realised the two team ambition. It was never a vanity issue for me; it was a pragmatic ambition to pigeon hole like ability players together. This would provide all those involved an opportunity to participate more fully at their level. The success of 2006/07 was obvious. All registered players returned; not one player did not return. This was truly an amazing achievement. There were returns of previous players as well; Rob Squillacioti, John Neville, Tony Banboukjian and David Foreman.
2007/08 was a success on and off the park. The club (and Joe Zaccheo) celebrated 100 (consecutive) matches during round 5 with a BBQ at the clubhouse before the match, and a night out the following week. On the park there were some unbelievable performances. The 7th division team started off slowly, but ended up only losing 4 matches out of 15 during the rounds. There were also 3 draws and 8 wins, 1 of which was outright.
7th divisions strength was definitely in the bowling. George Kokotovic took 38 wickets at an average of 13.18. He took three 5 wicket hauls including a Hat Trick. Carl Hanebuth from all reports bowled too well. He took 32 wickets at an average of 12.19, including a 5 wicket haul in the Grand Final. Robert Bosevski only started in round 7. He took 5 wickets or more on two occasions including 6 wickets in the semi final. He ended up with 26 wickets at 13.88. There was good backup from Ahsan Sheikh (16 wickets), Deen Nair (12 wickets, brought up 50 wickets for the club) and John Donohue (10 wickets). Ravi Tailor played 3 matches for 7th division. He took a 5 wicket haul and ended up with 9 wickets at an average of 7.89.
There were some notable batting performances. Deen Nair brought up 1,000 runs for the club by scoring 89. He also scored two scores in the 40’s. He ended up on 250 runs at an average on 25.00 in a season interrupted by injury. John Donohue scored 357 runs which included a 58, a 47 and two scores in the 30’s. Robert Bosevski scored 182 at an average of 26.00. This included two half centuries. In the end, it just wasn’t enough. With Robert Bosevski unavailable for the final, Deen Nair and Drew Donikian out injured, the team did well to make the final, but were just out played on the day.
The 4th division team were Undefeated Premiers, with the bowling the real strength. They bowled teams out for scores like: 5, 9, 16, 24, 35, 41, 41, 46, 64, 72, 94 & 96. In total, they bowled teams out 17 times winning 5 matches outright. The batting saw 5 players score more than 300 runs or more with the averages for those players ranging from 33.85 to 50.17. John Neville took 5 wickets or more 3 times including a Hat Trick. John finished with 46 wickets, which is the second most ever in a single season for the club, at an average of 5.52. Nathan, last seasons Player of the Year, also took a 5 wicket haul and finished with 39 wickets at an average of 10.92, his most wickets ever for the club in a single season. Joe Zaccheo also took 29 wickets at an average of 11.62. Three players scored centuries. John Neville nearly took Andy Mishra’s club record of 167 by scoring 164 (total 395 @ 43.89). Paul Sullivan scored 103 (total 301 @ 50.17), his third century for the club and Andy scored 104 (total 390 @ 43.33), his second for the club.
The 2001/02 win was hard to beat, but going through a season undefeated is also very hard to beat. This was a side full of cricketing knowledge and talent. Up to 8 players could have captained the team. Despite the talent, the side was always hungry and focused. In our narrows wins in round 2 (against Earlwood Wanderers) and round 4 (against Croydon Park United), we could have been forgiven for throwing in the towel. But we fought hard to grinded out tough wins. Both those wins were accomplished with players short. That set the character and the standard of the team for the season. We obliterated teams and never gave them a sniff. The final wasn’t any different. We bowled 67 tight overs for only 108 runs. Croydon Park United were waiting for there pie chucking equivalents to bowl. It never happened. The four main bowlers were stunning. When it was our turn to bat, we gave them nothing. Steve Sim, Joe Zaccheo and Paul Sullivan (c) kept a straight bat and frustrated them. Adam McCarron and Andy Mishra played their natural game and showed their class. With 3 runs to win, Paul Sullivan (c) hit a SIX to win the match and that elusive title. So many of our players had never won a cricket title and it had been a while for others. I’ve been very fortunate to have won 2 titles in different but both in very exciting ways.
