Muckleford Cricket Club hit the field for pre-season training earlier this month in preparation for the 2023-24 season.
At 158-years old, Muckleford is one of the state’s oldest continuing cricket clubs and one of the Castlemaine District Cricket Association’s strongest teams.
In the past year, Muckleford lost two of its legends with the sad deaths of club and Castlemaine District Cricket Association Life Members Chris Cole and John Bassett. Thanks to the work of Chris, John and a crew of committed supporters over decades, Muckleford enters the new season with four senior teams, an Under 16 side and an Under 13 squad. The club also runs a Blasters program for 5 to 10-year olds.
Club co-president Stu Finlay said there has been good numbers hitting the Old Muckleford Ground he was encouraged by the early enthusiasm.
“We have a great base of young players coming through the ranks. Last year our A Grade side made the semi-finals and A Reserve lost the final by a single run. Both our B Grade sides performed well and our Under 16 side had a great win in the final,” Stu said.
Finlay’s fellow co-president is Callan Hough, the popular owner of new local business Axedale Irrigation. Callan said that the club’s culture was focused on family involvement in a relaxed rural setting.
“Muckleford tends to feature in finals cricket every season. But on the field is not the only place we want to succeed. We have carefully cultivated a strong family club over many years, and we have plans to strengthen that this year,” Callan said.
One of the club’s innovations for this cricket season will be to have senior players training with the Under 13 and Under 16 teams every Tuesday afternoon.
Muckleford coach David Envall explained “We want the junior players to feel safe around our senior players and to know that their place in the club is just as important as the guys who have been around for 20 years or more. We don’t want to leave it to just a few parents to help the kids. We want to integrate them into the whole club so that their path into the senior teams is an easy and natural one.”
Muckleford is looking for senior and junior players of all levels to join the club this season. Anyone interested in playing for the season or just a few games is invited to contact the club at Mucklefordcc@hotmail.com