WELCOME TO THE BERWICK SPRINGS TITANS!

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT GOLD

In the season of our inception (2007/08), nobody could imagine how important those first few seasons would be on our young club. 

A debut season premiership (U13-4) was a dream beginning, but more importantly, looking back at our first 2 Junior seasons, no less than 14 boys would go on and play at least one game for our 1st XI on turf.   

Our progression to Turf cricket did not occur until the 2013/14 season, with all games played away until our own Turf square was ready for the start of 2015/16.

After our 12th season in 2018/19, that number has swelled to 30.

Of course, many boys have been or are now regular 1st XI players.     Some have moved on to other clubs for more opportunity at Sub District or even District level and more will undoubtedly follow.

The list of 30 reads as one of extreme talent.   It would be almost impossible to select a ‘best of’ team and probably unfair to those who missed out, so I will simply list all 30, in order of their 1st XI Turf appearance.

2013/14 - Ben De Koning, Imran Laghmani, Matt Ferguson, Braydon Hillman, Lachlan Marie, Corey Roberts, Brent Urwin, Liam Venables.

2014/15 – Akaati Pupuke, Vinay Mudumbi, Rivin Rajapaksa, Chris Johnson.

2015/16 – Muneem Alam, Mitch Mason, Josh MacKenzie, Jack Marie, Hayden Johnson.

2016/17 – Archit Vora, Riley Hillman, Ash Adihetty, Matt Briggs,             Harry Whitehead.

2017/18 – Trent Symms, Lochlan Brooks, Lachlan Chugg, Nick Brooks, Brayden Tisdale.

2018/19 – Lachlan Ballingall, Munir Safi, Josh Sawrey.     

To help put things into perspective consider these facts.

Since our arrival in Turf cricket, Berwick Springs players have struck 7 centuries and 52 half centuries in our 1st XI (6 seasons).

Boys that came through our juniors contributed 6 of those centuries and 31 of the half centuries.   That’s almost 63% of all scores above 50 were made by a Berwick Springs junior player.   Lachie Marie (2 100’s & 3 50’s), Akaati Pupuke (1 x 100 & 9 50’s), Arch Vora (1 x 100 & 6 50’s) and Imran Laghmani (1 x 100 & 6 50’s) making the bulk of these scores between them.

The bowling paints a similar picture.   Berwick Springs bowlers have taken 5 wickets in an innings on 15 occasions, with 9 of those taken by former junior players (60%).  Josh MacKenzie 3, Akaati Pupuke & Ben De Koning 2 each.

A further positive is the fact that there are another dozen or so current and former junior players in our 2nd & 3rd XI’s waiting for their own opportunity at the higher level.    The outlook is certainly very bright.

In addition to the previous article is the amazing record of Josh Sawrey...........

Josh began at Berwick Springs as an Under 11 player in 2010/11 when just 8 years old.   I was fortunate enough to be Josh’s first coach at BSCC.  I have vivid memories of this skinny young boy turning up on Friday evenings with his adoring parents, Shaun & Jeana.   Shaun recently informed me that I asked Josh to open the batting in his very first game on that October afternoon in 2011.  The event escapes me, but I can imagine that Josh rushed to put on his new gear for the very first time without any hesitation whatsoever.   I do recall that he had a very correct stance and defense.  What he didn’t have was power, but this was compensated by a deep desire to succeed.   He soon learned that he could score runs by pushing the ball into gaps and taking off as fast as he could.   Yes, there were mix ups with his batting partner, but hey, it’s under 11 and you can’t be dismissed.   

Josh played Under 11 for 3 seasons, but early in the 3rd season, the U13/2’s were taking the field with 10 players.   Josh was dominating the Under 11’s and I asked Shaun if he could fill in for a game or 2.  Once again he took to it like a pro and before long, he became a regular in the team alongside fellow Under 11’s Bailey Paroissien (who soon moved up to U13/1) and Caleb Pedro.   At the end of that amazing season, Josh & Caleb became valuable regulars in a Premiership team that went through the season undefeated.

Since then, Josh has built a record, which is blossoming before our eyes.

In 61 junior innings since debuting in the Under 13’s, he has finished not out on 39 occasions.    He has reached compulsory retirement on 26 occasions.

Josh made his Senior debut in the OD Comp in 2016/17 (alongside some old hacks) and in 27 Senior Innings, he has another 12 not outs to his name.  

He now holds a career batting average of 56, countless batting awards, he is a regular at Rep. Level having captained the DDCA in his age group and he has come under notice of Richmond (Monash Tigers) at District level.

Add to these individual accolades the 4 Premierships he has been part of and it’s easy to see that BSCC has been blessed with a generational player.

                                                                                          

 Andrew Read