Essendon Cricket Club 150th Anniversary Dinner and inaugural Hall of Fame Inductees.
Ken Jacobs | February 05, 2023
A wonderful night last night at the MCG for the celebration of the Essendon CC's 150th Anniversary and inaugural Hall of Fame Inductees.
A club with a very proud history at Windy Hill and it was a wonderful night to catch up with many former teammates and friends.
As President Simon Tobin noted with 150 years of history the ten inductees announced last night is just the beginning and there are numerous other worthy contributors to the Club who will be recognised in the years ahead.
There are many players who have represented both the Essendon Cricket Club and the Football Club over the years including Brownlow Medallists Dick Reynolds and Bill Hutchison, Greg Brown, Graeme Johnston, Barry Davis, Robert Shaw and others who have played cricket with Essendon and VFL/AFL with other Clubs including Simon O'Donnell, Jamie Siddons, Bill Brownless and Ian Monks but to name a few.
A couple of other little-known facts about players who have represented the Essendon CC.
- TJ"Jimmy" Matthews who played with Essendon from 1912-1914 is the only man in the history of Test Cricket to take a hat trick in each innings of a Test match.
- Bill Woodfull, who captained Victoria and Australia and was captain of Australia in the infamous bodyline series of 1932/33 played at Essendon as a middle order batsman from 1916 to 1919 before moving to South Melbourne CC and later Carlton CC.
There were some excellent video messages played throughout the evening including from Bill Lawry, Eddie McGuire (who began his career as a District cricket reporter covering games at Windy Hill and who also won a VCA Media Award for his coverage of District Cricket), Billy Brownless, Jonathan Agnew ( who also played at Essendon CC) ,Robert Shaw, Clint McKay, Simon Davis.
And it wouldn't have been a true Essendon function without an appearance from the Bombers unofficial number one supporter Mark " The Phantom" Doran!
The into the ECC Hall of Fame:
- John " The General " Grant.
- Keith Kirby
- Simon O'Donnell
- George Davies
- Jack Stephens
- Craig Berger
- Mathew Inness
- Harry Nunn
- Jamie Siddons
- Mike Walsh.
Mathew Inness is now Head of Performance for the Western Bulldogs in the AFL but not withstanding his hectic schedule is back at the ECC as bowling coach this year.
Jamie Siddons after a wonderful career as a player for Essendon, Victoria and South Australia embarked on a very successful career in coaching and is currently batting coach for Bangladesh.
The final inductee, Mike Walsh began his career as a scorer with Essendon in 1963 (!) and is still going and hopefully next year at the Boxing Day Test will also bring up his 100th test match as a scorer!
The inaugural inductees (or their representatives) into the Essendon Cricket Club Hall of Fame.
Back - Simon O'Donnell, Bruce Nunn on behalf of his late father Harry, Mathew Inness, Jamie Siddons, Mike Walsh, Craig Berger, Simon Tobin, on behalf of the late George Davies.
Front- Stephen Peter-Budge on behalf of his great uncle Jack Stephens, John Grant, and Keith Kirby.
