Cricket club marks milestone anniversary

LAST Saturday evening was a big one for the Inverleigh Cricket Club community, with members and families coming together to celebrate the team’s one-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday.

More than 100 people gathered in the club rooms at the Inverleigh Recreation Reserve to reflect on the club’s century-and-a-half stand, which president Marcus Warton said was a great night for everyone.

“It’s the best night I’ve ever been to since I’ve been in a club and a lot of people were saying the same,” he said.

“Our historian Alan Hart gave a talk about the club’s history from about 20-odd years of research from The Geelong Advertiser.”

The evening saw the inaugural induction of club legends, with 11 past members announced spanning the team’s entire history, including club retirees Alan Wishart and Geoff Oliver.

Newspaper clippings, photos and premiership trophies were put on display throughout the function area, while member David Peel was announced as the seventh life member in the Inverleigh CC’s history.

Mr Warton has been president of the club for 10 years, and said it was incredible to look back on the Inverleigh’s legacy and its impact on the community.

“I know it meant a lot to our club because it’s been such an old club and it has such an amazing history through post-World War One especially,” he said.

“There was a 50-year period between 1923 and 1971 where they won 22 premierships. We’ve won 23 premierships.”

“To look back and reflect on some of the insane statistics of some of the legends was just amazing.”

Inverleigh Cricket Club currently has about 60 members between the junior and senior teams.