Aussie cricket starlet signs up
Fly fishers get hooked up
18 Village Voice March 2014
FOR many clubs, living on past glories can be a burden to the current teams. However, Elvaston Cricket Club, winners of the National Village Cup over 20 years ago, are managing to combine celebrating the past whilst planning for the here and now. Having laid down a marker two seasons ago with the re-structuring of their coaching team, the club has beaten off fierce competition to sign Matt Gawthrop, a young Australian from New South Wales, as a player /coach for the 2014 season. Gawthrop (22) is a prolific batsman who has opened the batting for the ACT Comets in Australia’s Futures League for the past three seasons. Last summer, he scored 223 runs at 31.85 for the Comets with consecu-
tive 50s against the Victoria and South Australia Under-23 sides respectively. At club level, he has starred for ACT Grade side Eastlake, last season hitting 652 runs at 26.08, whilst also taking some handy wickets with his right-arm off-spin. Gawthrop is an ambitious cricketer looking to break into the professional game and is hopeful a run-filled season with Elvaston will push his claim towards higher honours back home and help Elvaston in their push for promotion to the Premier League. He is also looking forward to being an integral part of the coaching team at Elvaston and will be joining current coaches Naeem Akhtar and former Derbyshire stalwart Paul Aldred.
THE 2014 fly fishing season at Foremark Reservoir started on Saturday, March 1, and will run until the end of November. At the time of going to press only two season permits were available but the fishery will continue as a day ticket venue throughout the season. The lodge opens at 7.30am and bank fishing starts from 7.30am, with boats from 8.30am to 4pm. Pictured on opening day are (l-r): Nick Rowan, Emma Drinkall and Mike Braddock.
Melbourne beat the weather – and Casuals
MELBOURNE RFC continues to be thwarted by the inclement weather. Finally, Melbourne played a home league game on February 22 against Notts Casuals (albeit at Coalville). This was a vital game with Casuals only one place behind Melbourne in the league table. The match ball was sponsored by Wendy Jennings-Crocker. With a heavy pitch and a strong wind, Notts had the wind in their favour for the first half. The first exchanges were tight. Melbourne gained an early penalty only to miss touch. Theo De Vies (for probably the first time this season) dropped a kick return. An early knock on from Casuals saw Melbourne gain possession, with Ash Stringer unable to find Tommy Howard with the pass behind. Dan Walker was penalised at the ensuing scrum to give Casuals a penalty. The following lineout came to nothing. Melbourne won another penalty but missed touch, rather fortuitously gaining a scrum from a knock on.
Another penalty was conceded at the scrum but that was the last one Melbourne conceded at the scrum. Both sides were struggling with the wind and mud, and Melbourne were definitely rusty. Long passes went astray and balls were knocked on at regular intervals. Melbourne opened the scoring, despite spending most of the time in their own half. Melbourne won good scrum ball. Second phase ball saw Stefan Greenhalgh release Jack Fisher, who made ground. The ball was quickly recycled through the hands from Stefan, Ash Stringer and finally Tommy Howard, who finished impressively from the half way with Euan Holden converting, 7-0. Notts Casuals continued to press and were rewarded with a try, converted, to make the score 7-7. Melbourne pressed and had 10 minutes of good pressure in the Casuals’ half. Melbourne eventually conceded a penalty after a high tackle from Will Judge, but they fought their way back into
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the Casuals’ half with good work from De Vies, Will Judge, Pop Lakin and Tommy Howard. Casuals fought their way back after an end to end counter and from the Melbourne line-out, a mix-up saw Casuals steal the ball for a simple try and a 12-7 half-time lead. A much better second half saw Melbourne come through with better hands and decision making, the players reacting well to the half time advice from the coach. With Melbourne camped in the Casuals’ half the scrum was efficient and the line-out was good with Ash Corden and Jacob Watts taking good ball. The handling improved and Melbourne scored again. A scrum was won against the head, but Melbourne could not score. From a Casuals lineout Melbourne stole the ball, and set up a driving maul, from which Will Judge scored. It was 1212 with a missed conversion. Minutes later a turnover on the Melbourne 22 saw quick hands to Tommy Howard. Tommy kicked and Jack Fisher won the race for another
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try (17-12). Melbourne were now in the ascendency. A strong scrum was won in the midfield. Rob Foster popped up cleverly off his wing and, with the defence fixed on Howard, sliced through to score under the posts, for the bonus point score. Euan Holden converted for a 24-19 scoreline. Casuals had the best of the final minutes and scored a try to secure a bonus point. Final score 24-19. The Second XV also had their first game in February postponed. They played a friendly against Belper 2nds, currently a Pennant league above Melbourne. Their game was played in mud, wind and rain and Melbourne prevailed with a 10-5 victory with tries from Rob Foster and Tom Line. The seconds had a long trip to Meden Vale in the Pennant with a scratch side, winning 45-35. Man of the Match Dale Bilson scored a hat-trick and five conversions, with tries for Tom Line, Kurtis Robinson, Nathan Bishop and Matt Walker.
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Melbourne Parish Council are pleased to welcome
Mr Ben Hamilton-Baillie
As Guest Speaker to a
PUBLIC MEETING The Assembly Rooms (Melbourne Room) High Street, Melbourne
SOUTH DERBYSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL
Councillor Linda Chilton, Councillor John Harrison and Councillor Jim Hewlett
ADVICE SURGERIES
at Melbourne Assembly Rooms - 11 am to 12 noon
Saturday 5th April Saturday 3rd May Saturday 7th June
MELBOURNE DENTAL LABORATORIES
“Listening to Local People”
Thursday 17th April, 2014 at 7.30pm
PIANO / CLARINET TUITION
Ben will describe and illustrate some of the new ideas emerging to help maintain and restore traffic flow and safety to streets and spaces in towns and villages. His talk draws on case studies from around the UK and mainland Europe, and sets out some guiding principles of value to any community faced with growing pressure from traffic and parking.
Theory of music
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