Juniors (1996)

Saturday mornings for us meant heading down to Seamers, playing indoor cricket and having a BB (lollie bag) with our mates, so it was the highlight of our weekend. Every third week we got to play a double header which made it extra special.

The apparently under 16's juniors competition at Seamers started with just three teams: The Glog Boys, the Funky Squad and of course the Sultans. The Glog Boys were all a couple of years older than us and we were a little concerned when they drove to the first game of the season. But we soon got used to the age difference and had some great matches against them. They were led by now Seam-it Babies and Seamers player Damian Van Der Meer, who also wore his hat backwards in the early days. The Funky Squad were mostly our age and many of them played district cricket for Bayswater-Morley. They were led by now Sultans and Seamers star Peter Lewis. And for a little over a month in the middle of the season the Folstars, a bunch of Sultans wannabe's from our school, joined the competition but pulled out due to lack of numbers after not too long.

Throughout the season Ranga #35 and Howesy #5 were our regular opening combination with Gilly #7 and Damo #8 to follow in second. Tim and Pazz, who never progressed further with the Sultans, batted third while Browny #1 and Trevor Gillam (brother of Greg) saw the team home. Whilst in the field, Howesy #5 was in at point and Browny #1 played at the backnet like they still do for the Sultans now. Gilly #7 kept wickets while his brother Trev took legside. It was this outfit that won about half of their games against the Glog Boys, all but one against the Funky Squad and all games against the Folstars. We finished the regular season in second position on the ladder.

We now faced our arch enemies the Glog Boys in the final. We won the toss and elected to bat. A good all round batting performance saw us reach 86 after our 16 overs. The Glog Boys got themselves to 87 after 15 overs with Gilly #7 left to bowl the final over. But with no 3rd ball rule in existance they blocked out the whole over and won the grand final by one run.