Sticky Wicket Presentation Night 2015 Edition

Sticky Wicket Presentation Night Edition, 23 May 2015 Newsletter of the South Australian Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association Established 1911

Score a bargain at the Silent Auction

NZ colleague visit to SA

Position Vacant Farewell to our Editor

Officially Good Sports

Blind Cricket Champs Crockett Shield not so sweet at Easter

Your Umpires & Scorers Association SACUSA Committee—Main Contacts

SACA

President: Craig Thomas - 0434 165 310

Neil Poulton - 0416 623 518 or 8300 3211

Vice President: Tony Trist— 0408 828 129

Anthony Jennings - 8300 3244

Secretary: Michial Farrow - 0435 872 215 secsacusa@hotmail.com Treasurer: Lynton Donisthorpe - 0418 317 856 Patron: Neil Dansie

Cody Niemann - 8300 3874 Inclement Weather Information Line - 1900 950 598

Sticky Wicket ‘Presentation Night Edition’ Editor Kristen Thomas

0414 326 978

cricketwidow@y7mail.com

facebook.com/sacricketumpiresandscorers

@SACAUmpires

Thanks to our Presentation Night sponsors St Morris Stationers & Newsagency

COVER PHOTO: 1951 Umpires (from left) - Eric McKay (Secretary), Reg Nelson (VP), George Cooper (President), Keith Butler (Sheffield Shield Umpire), Dick Cocks (Test Umpire)

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES SACUSA SAYS FAREWELL TO FORMER EDITOR It is with some sadness on both sides that SACUSA bids adieu to its longstanding Sticky Wicket editor, Tim Pellew. Commencing in the role in approximately 2009, Tim has shown great innovation and originality in sourcing stories and content for SACUSA’s monthly cricket season publication, and is genuinely sorry to be handing over the reins. But he feels that the newsletter needs a new injection of ideas and that it is evolving in sync with new technologies that require a somewhat different skill set as publishing develops. SACUSA is truly grateful for the significant dedication that Tim has shown to producing Sticky Wicket regularly over the last several years, and extends its gratitude to him for a job excellently done – one which has made a real difference to SACUSA’s public profile in the modern cricket climate.

No stone was left unturned by Tim in his quest to deliver a smorgasbord of cricket trivia and fact.

Like any editor worth his or her weight in literary passion, Tim invested time in establishing communicative relationships with the English MCC, Lord’s, Cricket Australia, umpires and scorers, and other cricket publication editors. He reports that the role provided him with a real sense of satisfaction.

Some big changes for the better came along when Umpiring Manager, Neil Poulton, came on board and offered to print copies for SACUSA. Tim feels that we must pay tribute to Neil for his efforts, and he has more than a couple of amusing memories of his time spent adjusting to the new technology that Neil provided. The story goes that when it was discovered that Neil’s computer files couldn’t comply with Tim’s Apple versions he asked Tim to compress his monthly copy (“whatever that meant”) and transfer it onto a stick (“what the hell did that mean?”). When Tim’s son quickly and bemusedly instructed Tim on how to do the transfer, the result was not a success, so Tim transported his computer to Neil so he could remove the file from Tim’s Apple himself (‘that should be part of Neil’s core business,’ Tim thought - pun intended). Tim says he was “more than embarrassed at [his] skill level” but it could be argued that the incident really illustrated his devotion to the job! For the following issue Tim had mastered the art of transferring the file to a “stick” but he couldn’t work out how to forward the file on. With that, he called his smart car into action and delivered the stick personally to Neil at SACA. From that point on, Tim preferred to send a significant amount of emails to Neil containing different parts of his stories. He was fearful that the deluge may result in a return to the Under 14 White matches from whence he had originally come, due to a perception that he had “lost [his] marbles”!

Tim has endured a lot to bring the SACUSA readership its monthly mag, and we are eternally grateful for his support.

Tim remembers SACUSA’s Secretary printing Sticky Wicket at work in the early days of his editorship. Initially, though, the magazine was called On a Sticky Wicket, having been created by current umpire, Graham Slater, in the 1990s.

Some of the early issues, it is claimed, contained a variety of jokes (some harmless, some a little ‘crude’), but as the issues became publicly available on the internet it was thought that perhaps some of those ‘questionable’ ones should be curbed (“probably wisely’” says Tim).

Tim has pledged to provide some occasional submissions to Sticky Wicket so that some of his unrealised ideas for the publication can still come to fruition.

Many thanks, Tim, for the efforts, the articles and the memories.

Tim states that he loved almost every minute of putting each issue together. Frustrations could sometimes slightly rise to the surface when promised content from well-meaning volunteers didn’t arrive, but that is the nature of the role.

With Tim’s many years of experience in the world of cricket he was able to overcome deadline threats by scouring his field of contacts for new cricket insights, and also fill the pages with gems he had discovered through mates, in books or while surfing the web.

Latest Lowdown POSITION VACANT Editor of Sticky Wicket Are you creative and want to promote cricket umpiring & scoring in SA’s sporting landscape?

This unpaid role is responsible for coordinating the monthly publication of SACUSA’s magazineformat newsletter. Ideally, the new editor will have a passion for discovering stories relevant to cricket officiating and be able to work with the Microsoft Publisher program to create each issue.

Did you know that SACUSA now have Good Sports accreditation ?

It means we advocate and model healthy club practices in relation to alcohol management and community.

“I sincerely urge members to be very serious in considering taking over Sticky Wicket. Once seated at a computer preparing matter for print, ideas start to flow and hours quickly pass pleasantly.”

Tim Pellew, Retiring Editor

If you are interested in fulfilling this role please email our Secretary, Michial Farrow, detailing your ideas for our publication , at secsacusa@hotmail.com

Generous sponsors throughout each season

Visitor from across the Tasman

by Paul Welbourn I recently had the pleasure of umpiring a day of cricket with a visiting umpire from the Auckland Cricket Association. His name is Akshay Sureka and he was visiting Adelaide for the India v Pakistan One Day World Cup match. He thought it would be a good idea to see if he could secure an opportunity to umpire a day's cricket while he was here and so he contacted Neil Poulton prior to his arrival.

After receiving a phone call from him on the Wednesday night, and after a few emails back and forth, I decided that what better way could we welcome him and his wife, Mehak, than with a Friday night out in the city.

I also thought

accommodating to our guest umpire.

The game went as smoothly as could be expected, considering the temperature stayed around 39 to 41 degrees for most of the day.

Akshay even said that it felt like home, as he is originally from Jaipur in India.

Afterwards we said our goodbyes, and the impression I received from Akshay was one of enjoyment, as he had never expected this level of welcome. So he will head back home, after watching some more world cup games in Melbourne, with really positive and happy experience of his time in Adelaide.

inviting our President, Craig Thomas, and his wife Kristen, would be a nice touch, as we could all sit over a dinner and talk cricket – South Aussie and NZ.

After many stories about cricket and umpiring (most hilarious) from here and across the ditch, our thoughts turned to the Saturday Men's B grade match.

So on the Saturday morning I

collected my guest from his accommodation and

Footnote: In this age of social networking, connecting with our colleagues from around the world has never been easier and can allow us to work together whenever the

headed down to Park 25 Oval No. 2.

opportunity arises, learning from each other for the betterment of cricket. If you’d like

While getting ready for our match I was able to

to connect to Auckland Cricket Umpires &

introduce Akshay to Lynton Donisthorpe and Cain Kemp, who were umpiring A Grade on Oval No. 1, and who were both very engaging and

Scorers Association to see how our New Zealand cousins approach the officiating role you can do so via Facebook.

Our Steve

By Tim Pellew

At a recent dinner meeting of ‘Cricket Lovers (South Australia)’, SACUSA’s International Elite Panel Umpire, Steve Davis, was guest speaker.

Easter Hijinks in Melbourne

Steve was fresh from his involvement in the recent West Indies—England series.

The biennial Crockett Shield fixture was this year played in Melbourne within the beautiful grounds of Wesley College, Glen Waverley.

Unfortunately, SA wasn’t able to balance the tally at 19 all, losing to our Victorian friends with a final score of 112 runs, after having chased 195 to win. An unexpected SA collapse which saw the score recorded at 8/23 in preparation for a humiliating defeat was avoided by some savvy batting from David Little and captain, Cain Kemp, who did much to limit the damage.

It was a different story on Easter Sunday when the ‘K C Butler Trophy’ was contested via a thoroughly enjoyable trivia quiz.

SA comfortably beat the host’s score to ensure that the award returned to Adelaide. It was celebrated with an all-inclusive high five from the legendary Mick Aworth to every SA contestant (which had to be seen to be believed).

All the finer details of the traditional Easter contest will be published in the SACUSA Annual Report, available at the upcoming AGM on 12 August 2015.

Those of us who know Steve would not be surprised to hear that his talk was entertaining and informative, and the audience could have happily listened to his long discourse all evening.

It is a busy business umpiring international cricket, explained Steve, proven by him having only thirteen weeks in his year back home in Adelaide. The recent West Indies— England Test finished early, giving Steve an extra day back home in Adelaide.

News from SA’s cricket world Cricket Lovers is a fully incorporated n o n - p r o f i t organisation for anyone who loves the game of cricket.

The A us t r a l i a n parent body, the Australian Cricket Society, has been around for over forty years. It holds dinner meetings usually every other month in North Adelaide.

Guest speakers over the years have included Roger Wills (ABC Radio commentator), Terry Jenner, Jonathon Agnew (English radio commentator), Darren Lehmann, Harsha Bogle (Indian radio commentator), Paul Wilson, Fazeer Mohammed (West Indian radio commentator), and Daryl Harper.

Other sportspeople also guest speak when appropriate, as did Pat Mickan (basketball).

Local young male and female Cricketers of the Year awards are also made, and at the last dinner Patrick Page (Tea Tree Gully) and Shae Daly (East Torrens) received those awards.

At the same dinner Ayden McGregor (East Torrens) and Emma Debroughe (Sturt) received Encouragement Awards.

On Saturday 2nd May, SACUSA President, Craig Thomas, attended the SA Blind Cricket Club (SABCC) Presentation Night after having been invited by SABCC President, Eugene Negruk. It was an honour to have received an invitation as it was the first presentation night that had been held by the club in several years. The reason for the change was that the club has recently won the national title at the Australian All Abilities Cricket Championships earlier this year.

Several people who attended the dinner told SACUSA’s historian, Kristen Thomas, who also attended, that ideally the club would like to have a match scheduled every weekend during the cricket season so that they can develop their skills. SACUSA has, in recent years, played one match per season against SABCC. Participants report that the experience playing the different format is challenging and awe-inspiring.

If you know of a cricket club which would like to face these wonderful national champions next season, please contact Kristen, or alternatively, Eugene Negruk at : president@blindcricketsa.org

Interested? It’s only $20 for a joining fee. Check it out at cricketsa.org.au or call Rosemary Penn on 8261 6171.

Tim Pellew

SABCC Umpires - Paul and Luke, who umpire the majority of the SABCC matches

Silent Auction Items Many thanks to our Presentation Night sponsors for the following items for SACUSA fundraising: Framed print of ‘Australia’s Finest Australian Cricket Team’ compilation photo, sanctioned by Cricket Australia - donated by

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Unframed ‘Adelaide United’ Team Shirt, complete with 19 signatures, including that of Manager/Coach, Josep Gombau - donated by

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One night’s accommodation for two in a Superior Room at the Grosvenor Hotel, including buffet breakfast in the Federal Restaurant—donated by

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SACUSA Centenary Cap, signed by SACUSA Centenary Season first class umpires Daryl Harper, Simon Fry, Steve Davis & Paul Wilson—donated by

Raffle  

Variety of wines donated by Nepenthe Wines Ryan Harris autobiography and signed cricket ball 

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‘Kangaroo Island’ Hamper

Lottery Tickets donated by St Morris Stationers & Newsagency