Bonbeach Cricket Club
Bonbeach Cricket Club has a long proud history, and although there have not been copious amounts of success, the club has built strong family and social traditions in the Bonbeach community. The atmosphere at Bonbeach has always been one of a friendly and welcoming nature, and it is this culture that has made the club so attractive to play for. There have been many great players to play at Bonbeach, including; Peter (Nifty) Neville an awesome bowler who also coached the club with success. Murray Wells was an outstanding servant, an intelligent cricketer whether it bowling or batting and ‘Muz’ also played a prominent role in junior development over the years. Scott McLean was a dominant batsman in the late 80’s, whilst his brother Trevor was the most devastating batsman in the competition for over a decade. A big, burly left handed opener, Trev terrorized bowlers with his immense power, regularly hitting bowlers into the houses and golf course at Cannes Ave. Paul Jones, David Sell and Craig Fussell were also prominent players through the 90’s. Brothers James and David Gough were outstanding members of the club for many years, Dave was at one stage the premier fast bowler in the competition and won the league champion player award in 1999, while ‘Jimmy’ was one of the leagues’ most consistent all-rounders. More recently young stars Mick McCabe, Shane McDonald and Ben Sharland put their talents on display and given the club some real highlights. Some of the other personalities that have made Bonbeach a great club are Peter Hogan, Chris Sturrock, Wayne Newman, Tim Zebaneh and David Russell. The history of the Bonbeach Cricket Club will not be forgotten.
Tangy Lightning Cricket Club
Founded as a part of the Tangasseri association of Australia in 2001, the Tangy Lightning cricket club entered the YCW Competition that played one-day cricket on Sundays. Although the club only ran for three seasons, Tangy become well known for the spirit in which they competed. Mark D’Rozario was outstanding as captain during the club’s first year, and with the support of the experienced players Karl Cooper, Corey Martin & Peter DeCouto, and youngsters Michael Gonzalvez, Mervyn D’Rozario and David Fernandez the foundation was set. Mark then led the team to its first finals series in just the second year of the club, which saw the arrival of Joel Fernandez, Tim McDonald, Rodello Peters, Manny Coomaraswamy and Chris Allen. Unfortunately in what was to be our last season in the YCW as injuries and unavailability’s hurt the clubs performance, but the spirit was always present. After the season, all players at the club agreed to look at expanding the club, and building the tradition. Bonbeach Tangy was created.
Bonbeach Tangy Cricket Club
It was formed in 2004, with the amalgamation of the Bonbeach and Tangy Lightning cricket clubs. The merger has been extremely beneficial to both clubs. Bonbeach has had a proud cricket history but due to low player numbers was in a precarious position, Tangy Lightning on the other hand was a small club that was looking to grow. The combination of the solid infrastructure, facilities and support base already in place at Bonbeach and the player talent and enthusiasm available from Tangy excited everyone concerned. Corey Martin was the inaugural coach of the club, bringing with him an abundance of experience and success at both a junior and senior level. The club immediately found success playing in the Grand Final in its first season together (2004/05). That first season was memorable with four players starring, Trevor McLean returned with a bang recording the first century (129) and amassed over 500 runs. Young star Rodello Peters was captain and took out the club champion award, making nearly 400 runs and taking 30 wickets. His heroic 103* in the grand final was as good an innings many have ever seen. The arrival of Mel ‘big bird’ Francis was announced with 35 wickets as spearhead of the attack, he was possibly the catalyst for our success. In the seconds it was captain Karl Cooper dominated with 20 wickets costing around five runs each, an amazing performance. There were also plenty of contributions from other players in that foundation season, players who went on to become the cornerstones of the clubs success. We have since played in three grand finals in 4 seasons and spent one season in South A, a truly great achievement and vindication for the merger. Names like Paul Jones, Corey Martin, Merv D’Rozario, Dave Fernandez, Ben Sharland and Mel Francis. We have also formed a strong alliance with our feeder club Chelsea YCW (the most prolific junior club in the area). The future certainly looks healthy at Cannes Avenue.