Season 2023/24 Review

Leichhardt Wanderers has just completed a successful 2023/24 season and we had a great time at our end of season Presentation Night at Blackmore clubhouse.

Thank you to all our volunteer coaches, managers and umpires throughout the season, and thank you to the committee and the parents who helped out on Presentation Night with food preparation, bar work, serving, taking payments and the dreaded cleaning up at the end.

Playing Numbers

The number of players grew from 284 registered last season to 303 registered this season, including 38 female players.

We fielded two mens’ teams (in A Grade and D Grade), four girls’ teams (U11s, U13s, U15s and a combined team with Concord Briars in U17s), and twenty boys’ teams from U8s to U15s.  We also had our youngest members join us on Friday afternoons for "Cricket Blast" activities.

Premierships

In one of our most successful seasons, we reached nine Grand Finals (one adult, three junior female and five junior male) and four of our teams won premierships (U15 Sat PM, U15 Division 1 Spring competition, U15 Division 1 Summer competition and U15 Division 2 Summer competition).

Representative Honours

Leichhardt Wanderers was once again had players selected in the female and male representative teams for the Inner West Harbour Junior Cricket Association.

We also had a number of players in the NSW Pathways system (at the State Challenge competitions) and one of our players (Hayley Zauch) was the wicketkeeper for the successful U19 NSW Metro team which won the National Championships.

Individual Honours

The male and female Champion Players for the season were Oliver Lista and Elizabeth Coughlin. The Noella Merrick Medal winner was Hayley Zauch.

Disciplinary Matters

Leichhardt Wanderers had no disciplinary matters throughout the season.

Committee

The Cricket Committee this season consisted of Ian Aitchison (President), Emma Wakeling (Registrar), Gavin Zauch, Christine Hawkins, Dr Krishna Ghosh, Mudge Wakeling, Gabby Russell, Brian Stout, Adam Ferguson and Tim Nelson.

There will be a number of changes over the winter as some of the members have now completed their time on the Committee. 

Chris Hudson will be the new club President next season and Gabby Russell will be our new Registrar.

Future Challenges

·       Ensure Blackmore can be used by more teams for training (lighting at the nets).

·       Grow junior female participation (50 female juniors).

·       Build a solid base of sponsors (aim for 25% of club revenue from sponsors per year)

·       Enter a team into the Twilight Cricket League (social adult female cricket).

·       Create a third mens’ team.