OUR POLA - HE'S JIMPLY THE BEST

Moonee Valley Cricket Club legend Jim Polonidis joined rare and exalted company on January 28 when he became just the fifth player in our history to reach 350 games.
The milestone snuck up on us - we were expecting Jim to reach it in a fortnight as he was playing game 349 in the current round in the Seconds, but ever the clubman, he answered the call when the Thirds were short and doubled up the next day.
At right: The team which represented Moonee Valley for Jim Polonidis' 350th game: L-'R. Back - Dean Jukic, Chand Shrestha, Sam Carbone, Rhys McDonald, Jim Polonidis, Prashant Hirani, Mark Gauci, Amolak Singh Saini and Eddie Wadera. Front - Sagar Bhatia and Maks Rahman.
Jim joins Danny Terzini on 350 games, and there is only club royalty in front of him - Mark Gauci, Ian Denny and Darren Nagle.
Jim has made more than 4500 runs and sits second on our all-time wicket list with more than 460 scalps. A magnificently consistent bowler, it was fitting that Jim took the first wicket in his milestone match, played at home.
A miserly bowler, Jim has been named in our Wisden Team of the Year six times in the 16 years we have been selecting it.
Jim's late wife Tien was one of our women's team pioneers, playing 46 games. She passed away in 2021. Their daughter Lexi often accompanies Jim to Ormond Park for matches and functions.
*****For more pictures, click HERE . For Jonty's vision of the guard of honor, click HERE

Tickets are $50, and $35 for anyone under 18.
Entry includes a sit-down meal, four complimentary drinks and three raffle tickets - for a wide range of prizes.
The prizes and details of the guest speaker will be announced closer to the date. You can buy your tickets through the club's online shop - https://mooneevalleycricketstore.com.au/ 

Valleys win the Barooga title - our 10th year

Moonee Valley celebrated its 10th year at the Barooga Over 35s cricket competition by winning the tournament - a feat we also achieved in 2019.
The Valley was represented by a group of past and present players and we won all three of our games - all played on excellent turf wickets for the January 8-11 tournament.
At left: Our team for the big win in Round 1: L-R. Back - Vaib Deshpande, Amit Chaudhary, Mark Gauci, Brendan Rhodes, Daniel Phillips and Dean Lawson. Front - Sean O'Kane, Allan Cumming, Peter O'Kane, Tony Gleeson and Charlie Walker.
We had a big win in our first match - the feature game under lights at the Barooga No. 1 oval on the Tuesday, compiling an imposing 3/304 from our 40 overs batting first before rolling the opposition for just 174.
Our next matches were day games at Barooga and Cobram and we also finished them strongly.

At right: Moonee Valley's Brendan "Jonty" Rhodes (left) receives the Barooga trophy and a signed bat from organiser Tony Tranter.
Another team, Castle Hill also won three games, but Moonee Valley took out the trophy due to a superior net run rate.
Our Vaib Deshpande won the batting award for the trophy, batting in all three games for 157 runs without losing his wicket.
Our squad was Mark Gauci, Allan Cumming, Daniel Phillips, Vaib Deshpande, Amit Chaudhary, Sean O'Kane, Peter O'Kane, Craig Pridham, Dean Lawson, Tony Gleeson, Brendan Rhodes, Charlie Walker and Leigh Adkins - representing six MVCC Life Members and eight Premiership players.
Mark Gauci sat out the final game of our fixture due to general soreness - the only match he has missed in our 10 years at Barooga.
As well as Vaib's award, our star performers with the bat were Amit Chaudary with 105 runs @ 105, Sean O'Kane with 70 @ 70 and Peter O'Kane with 64 @ 64.
Amit and Shaun each took 5 wickets - Amit at 7.8 and Sean at 8.4, while Dean Lawson took four catches behind the stumps in our third game. 



Senior training - Tuesday/Thursday

Senior training is held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, starting 6pm.
Moonee Valley is open to new senior and junior players as the season progresses.
Our senior training sessions are at our home ground at Ormond Park, Pattison St, Moonee Ponds.
We field men's teams on both turf and hard wicket, and both Saturday and Sunday grades.
Our premiership-winning women's cricket team plays in a Twenty20 competition on Sundays.
We have juniors at Under 16, Under 14, Under 12 and Under 10 level, and these teams play Friday evenings.
Anyone interested in playing for Moonee Valley - seniors, juniors or our women's team - can phone or text Coach Mark Gauci on 0457 778 335 , Junior Co-ordinator Paul Sevenson on 0407 556 950 or President Charlie Walker on  0411 705 381.
* Players now have to self-register through a new cricket registration system, PlayHQ. Here is the link to get into the system. Only register for one association - not all the associations we play in.  

Buy club clothing, pay your membership, buy tickets to club functions - do it all at www.mooneevalleycricketstore.com.au

Junior Registration - link here - https://play.cricket.com.au/club/moonee-valley-cricket-club/147223ea-86d8-eb11-a7ad-2818780da0cc

     Main Club contact details:

* Charlie Walker - President 0411 705 381; 9370 1802
* Allan Cumming - Treasurer 0438 380 990
* Brendan "Jonty" Rhodes - Secretary 0419 491 174
* Mark Gauci - Vice President 0457 778 335 
* Paul Sevenson - Junior Co-ordinator - 0407 556 950   

Emails: mooneevalleycricket@gmail.com
        charlie.walker@optusnet.com.au 

For more contacts, see " Office bearers & Officials " under "Club News & Info" at the top of the page

Last updated : January 28, 2024.
For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE