LIAM DURKIN
CRICKET
LVDCL
By LIAM DURKIN
IT has been a busy few years at Morwell Cricket Club.
Since the announcement of a new pavilion at Keegan Street Reserve in mid-2018, work has been ongoing to see facilities improved.
The Tigers now have a new pavilion, a new oval, new nets, a new turf square and a new synthetic wicket.
Another upgrade was seen recently, with an electronic scoreboard erected within close
proximity to the pavilion.
The scoreboard had a previous life on a portable trolley, but will now stand tall and tell the story of the on-field action at Keegan Street Reserve.
Morwell Cricket Club junior vice-president Mark Smith said the scoreboard would be another great asset for the club.
“It’s a way we can live update those on the field and off the fields,” he said.
“The scoreboard can be live updated on MyCricket so everybody in the world can see at an instant what the live score is.”
A highlight of the scoreboard includes a section dedicated to individual scores, which is sure to provide a boost to junior players.
For youngsters playing cricket it often creates such a buzz when they see their name up on the scoreboard, while there is always a nice photo opportunity if they happen to reach a batting milestone.
The capacity to link the scoreboard to MyCricket is also a great benefit, and will ease the burden on club volunteers painstakingly entering scores post-match.
In the eyes of many local cricket administrators, the time has well and truly come where every single game of local cricket should be live scored due to the technology available.
The scoreboard received backing from Cricket Victoria, Latrobe City Council, Vic Health and a number of local businesses and contributors, all of which Smith said had been a great support.
“The club is enormously grateful to all those businesses and organisations in their part toward it,” he said.
The Keegan Street scoreboard will complement the other electronic scoreboard on the opposite ground at Morwell Recreation Reserve.
While Keegan Street will always be the Tigers spiritual home, the Morwell Recreation Reserve is used as the main ground for A Grade matches.
Thanks to the upgrades, Morwell could now justifiably boast having the best cricket facility in Gippsland.
No other club in the area has two turf wickets next to each other, and the new turf wicket at Keegan Street also has an artificial wicket running alongside it.
Commonly seen in England, having an astro wicket and turf on the same field is a rarity in Australia and it is certainly unique to Gippsland.
Given there are now two turf wickets within walking distance, logic would suggest Morwell will become an automatic choice to host Latrobe Valley and District Cricket League finals.
Although there are many new things at Morwell, the club has ensured it keeps a permanent reminder of the past, with a relic from the now demolished club rooms living on.
A metal sign denoting ‘Morwell Cricket Club’ is up on the front of the new pavilion.
“That was created for our centenary back in 1992,” Smith explained.
“It’s been transported, it’s the last remnant of the old clubrooms which we’ve been able to store in the new clubrooms which gives it a bit of a retro-feel.”
Visiting players and officials to Morwell this season would be well advised to check out the oil painting by Churchill artist David Shields
depicting the Tigers clean sweep of 2017-18.
Morwell celebrated the last season of the Central Gippsland Cricket Association in style, taking out the A, B and C Grade flag.
Not many clubs win three premierships in one season, and such an achievement is usually seen by those heavily involved behind the scenes as a clubs crowning glory.
The federal government committed $757,000 to the Keegan Street Oval redevelopment.
The project was part of the $9 million Morwell Recreation Reserve Precinct redevelopment, of which the federal government committed $5
million and the state government $4 million.
With all the resources in place, it would appear Morwell players are entering an excuse free zone in season 2021-22.
