One-day name: Port Stephens Pythons Official website: www.portpythons.com.au | Established: 3rd June 1986 Location Port Stephens | |
Chairman: Michelle Moxey 2015-present Home ground: King Park 5 - The Snakepit | ||
The Port Stephens Pythons cricket club is an amateur sporting organisation which represents the shire of Port Stephens in the Maitland and District Cricket Association One Day Cricket competition and is widely accepted participating in club cricket. The club evolved from its roots as the Port Stephens Shire Council cricket side which was formed on 3 June 1986.
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The club is renowned in the region for being one of the most successful One Day cricket clubs. They were the first club to achieve 10 club Championships in the One Day competition and their current A grade (1st XI) side is undoubtedly the most successful side to compete in the Maitland Competition.
Off the field the Port Stephens cricket club has as being an innovative club, usually adopting sweeping changes to the way the competition is played.
Coloured clothing had been around cricket since the late 1970s with the inception of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket however in club cricket circles and at the local level many organisations dared not steer away from the traditional whites that have been seen gracing cricket grounds for almost two centuries. In the 1998-99 season the Port Stephens cricket club did just that and boldly went where no other club had dared, into the coloured clothing realm. Adopting a Sky Blue shirt adorned with Navy plackets on the sleeves the Shire side initiated an image that would resonate nearly two decades on. With this new image the club needed a new identity and the Port Stephens Pythons were born.
Early History
The Port Stephens cricket club was established on 3 June 1986 at the Muree Golf Club in Raymond Terrace. The club was formed at the inaugural meeting held by the founding members of the club where they elected the first office bearers, agreed upon the name of the club and discussions on preparing their home ground at Williamtown Oval.
Present at the meeting were David Kedwell, Richard Kedwell, Ron Stewart, Gary Anderson, Russell Towers, Jeff Krah, Dennis Huckstadt, Bob Walters, Ray Harding and Mark Dean.
The first officer bearers elected were Dennis Huckstadt - President, David Kedwell - Secretary and Mark Dean - Treasurer. The name of the club was unanimously agreed upon to be known as the Port Stephens Shire Council Cricket Club (P.S.S.C.C.C). This name was to stay with the club until the mid 1990s where the Shire Council portion of the name would be dropped out.
The club in its inaugural season in the Maitland Competition was successful in securing the Major Premiership in the C2 competition. This would prove to be the first of many major premierships the club would secure over the next 30 seasons culminating in the club being the current top grade premiers in the 2015-16 season.
Cricket in the Top Grade
Even though the Port Stephens Cricket club has tasted success on numerous occasions in the lower grades, the spoils haven't been so great as the current crop of A grade successes. No other team in the history of the Maitland and District Cricket Association has experienced such a run of domination. First Grade side Northern Suburbs in the District (Two Day Cricket) went close between 2005 and 2012 but that is where it ends. The season prior to the Port Stephens Cricket Club adopting the Pythons moniker it was determined the club would enter a side into the A Grade competition to compete in the Premier One Day competition. During their inaugural season the side captained by Warren Clarke had a less than successful showing. Winning their first 3 games played things looked promising, but the spark was soon to be extinguished as the Port Stephens side slumped to 6 consecutive losses and finishing their season after 18 matched played with a total of 7 wins one being a forfeited match.
The following season coincided with the creation of the Port Stephens Pythons, accompanying new attire and an entirely different attitude toward the top grade competition. The Pythons acquired a number of players from the Clare Castle Cricket side and now being captained by Brett Cox there was inspired optimism. The A Grade team appeared in the Grand Final being defeated by Bowthorne, but had turned their previous season win percentage of 39% into a respectable 73% with 14 wins from 19 matches. The Pythons had arrived and began leaving their mark on the competition.
The side would be a prominent feature in the finals series in the following 2 seasons, bowing out in the Preliminary Final to Tea Gardens/Karuah in 99-00 and losing the same side in the Grand Final of 2000-01.
In 2001-02 the Pythons signed two batsmen, Jarrod Moxey and David Robertson from the Newcastle and District Cricket Association First Grade competition. Along with established batsmen Brett Cox and Darren Morrison the Pythons now had a top order that would rival all sides that they would come up against. David Robertson was a destructive opening batsmen who in only his 4th innings at the club set the record for the Highest Individual score by a batsman with 175. Jarrod Moxey also proved pivotal in his debut season with the A Grade side with both the bat and ball going on to claim jointly the A Grade Player of the Year with Tea Gardens/Karuah's Brad Pinch. The batting was the key difference in the success of the season and it led the Pythons to their maiden A grade Major Premiership defeating the Tea Gardens/Karuah Sharks convincingly in the 2001-02 Grand Final.
Once the seal was broken there was no stopping the Pythons as they asserted their reign on the competition winning the Major Premiership in 2002-03 against Hinton, and again in 2003-04 and 2004-05 against Tea Gardens/Karuah. The Grand Final appearances continued, and only minor changes to the sides occurred over this period. Players from lower grades such as Mathew Dorney, Mark Cooper, Shawn Davies and Adam Butler all became feature players of the side. The Pythons were defeated in the 2005-06 decider by the same Tea Gardens/Karuah side they had defeated the 2 seasons previously, but they weren't to be outdone in 2006-07, bouncing back in true Pythonic fashion to hand Tea Gardens/Karuah their 4th Grand Final loss to the Pythons in just 6 years.
The 2007-08 season saw a completely different outfit turn out for the Pythons in A Grade, the only familiar face was that of Jaimes Magnee. This was by far the worst season played by the Pythons in an A Grade competition and marked the delineation between the Pioneer Generation and the current side to date.
The Dawn of a Dynasty
Having been comprehensively humiliated in the 07-08 season, the Port Stephens Cricket Club were looking at rebuilding their once dominant A Grade side. President Stuart Ellis along with some previous A Grade players approached brothers Jarrod and Josh Moxey to help rekindle the spark in the Pythons' team. Having played the previous season with Stockton and Northern Districts in the Newcastle and Districts Cricket Association First Grade winning side, the boys were well placed to put together a winning formula. With the previous A Grade captain Brett Cox and batsman Darren Morrison along with bowlers Ben Longrigg and Shawn Davies switching sides the play with Bowthorne, many younger and lower grade players were given the opportunity to show the potential in the new A grade squad. Craig Hunter and Adam Butler became regular faces in the side, and after some clever negotiations experienced A Grade campaigners Jaimes Magnee and Warren Herbert helped guide the new generation of players.
Jarrod Moxey captained the side in the initial half of the season before a military deployment to Afghanistan would see him leave the team in first place in January. The side being handed to Jaimes Magnee's caretaking captaincy continued its solid performance claiming the Minor Premiership, but falling short in the Grand Final to Bowthorne.
Capped Players
To recognise the achievement of players selected in the Port Stephens Cricket Club 1st XI, the club introduced a capping system. Any player who played five matches in the A Grade team became a capped player upon commencement of their fifth match and was allocated a sequential number as shown below. The player is entitled to display their number on their cap.
The capping system was put in place to authenticate the achievement of playing at the highest level of One Day cricket in the Maitland and District Cricket Association competitions.
The following table is derived from statistics available on the MyCricket website.