President's welcome

With a premature end to the 2019/20 season, due to COVID, who would have believed we would be in November and still waiting for the season to start!!!

It seems incredible that we are some 8 months into COVID-19, with numerous lockdowns and changes to our everyday living.

First and foremost I hope that all of you, your families, and those close to you are safe and well. As outlined earlier in the year, please know you all have a family in PCC, that you can reach out to for support and assistance at any time.

It has been exciting to see everyone back to practice mid-week, as well as the intra-club and practice matches over the last two weekends. Thank you all, for taking the time to understand and accommodate the new normal requirements for practice and practice matches so we can all be safe.

Our 2020/21 planning has taken on a slightly different dimension, but both our women's and men's coaching staff have been busy planning and recruiting and it’s wonderful to welcome Damon Eagan, Nick Boland, Oliver Gunning, and Courtney Neale to Prahran. On the back of the 2019/20 cricket season, which was another strong step in the continued direction of achieving our vision of being the “Premier Club of Choice”, these additional recruits will further build our depth of talent at the club.

The committee has kept working hard off the field, in ensuring we are implementing plans to deliver to our strategy. Our new net facility has been a key topic of focus, Council has given us a timeline of mid-December for completion, which will make an incredible difference to our practice facilities. Our Junior Development Program for boys has been the other key area of progress. Matt Dutton will take accountability for this program as well as captaining the 4th XI and we believe this will enable the club to have a leading Junior Development Program for boys to compliment the girl's program.  

We have been very thankful that the majority of our sponsor’s have continued to invest in the club and we have been able to welcome Quantuim and UMS as two new sponsors. We thank all our sponsors for their ongoing commitment and involvement in the club, which will enable us to re-invest in key strategic areas.   

I also wanted to acknowledge and congratulate Annabel Sutherland on making her Australian ODI debut against New Zealand last month, on the back of her Australia T20 World Cup debut. Also a massive congratulations to Will Sutherland, “Chief”, for being selected in the Australia A squad to play India later in November/December. Will has performed exceptionally well for the Vics since debuting 2 seasons ago and fully deserves his elevation to the Aussie A team. PCC is incredibly proud of both of you.

I am looking forward to personally seeing you all at the club in the coming months and I wish all the players, coaches, parents, committee and volunteers a very safe return to cricket and every success on the field during the season.

Playing with Covid-19

Training

• Designated entry and exit points are located at each ground.
• Players and coaches must check-in and check-out to all sessions.
• An attendance register is to be maintained
• Temperatures will be checked and hands must be sanitised on entry and exit.
• Players to arrive no earlier than 10 minutes prior to the start of the session.
• Face masks must be worn up to the point of training by players, but all others must wear masks. 
• All players have been provided with an information pack and a commitment form which they must sign and return prior to beginning group training.
• Training must be conducted in groups of up to eleven, not including coaches.
• Appropriate social distancing must be observed by all players, coaches, club officials, and parents.

Match Day

• Change rooms can be open on match days but area quotient rules will apply which may mean sharing access amongst the playing group.
• All match participants, match officials, club officials, volunteers, and spectators who may spend time near players or officials are required to check-in.
• Please observe the designated entry and exit points at each ground.
• Masks are optional while participating in the match but must be worn at all other times.
• Practice social distancing.
• Bring your own food and drink as the club will not be providing canteen services.

Men's squad update: steady as she goes

Welcome to season 2020\2021.

Firstly, I trust you and your families are healthy and getting through these remarkable times we’re experiencing.

The past two seasons have given us a strong platform to continue our journey to being the Premier Club of Choice.

While we recognize and enjoy that improvement, the coaching panel has now firmly challenged our playing group to be crystal clear about what they, as individuals and us as a total club, must do to ensure we continue that momentum – and then we fully commit to the work required to deliver on that challenge.

We’ve bolstered our playing list with a number of outstanding recruits including Nick Boland, Damon Egan and Ollie Gunning as well as a number of new, younger players.

A warm welcome to you all and please know that you’re in an environment where we hope you enjoy and get the most from your cricket, build great relationships with your new clubmates, engage in everything we do and become long-term members of the PCC community.

Fortunately, our highly qualified and skilled coaching panel remains intact, except for the departure of David Hemp, who, of course, has recently taken up his new appointment as the Head Coach of the Pakistan Women’s team. We wish him well and appreciate how fortunate those players are to have David looking after them.

Our playing list also remains stable and the coaching panel thanks our players for their continued support, enthusiasm and commitment to the work required to maintain progression and improvement.

The construction of our wonderful new training facility continues and we very much look forward to taking full advantage of what it offers.

From a personal perspective, I couldn’t be more excited about what this season and future holds for PCC.

With much hard work and thought from all parts of the club: committee; support staff; volunteers; sponsors; supporters – the players have access to all they need to continue their march forward, on a path of continuous improvement and having loads of fun together while doing it.

Best wishes to all, stay well, and here’s to an enjoyable, successful and entertaining season

Women's squad update: a point to prove!