Bonogin Bulls On The Rampage

WORDS: Jake Savage PHOTOGRAPHY Emily McLeod

Celebrating a successful end of season for the Bonogin Valley Boys

The Bonogin Valley Bulls Cricket Club recently held their Annual Bonogin Valley Medal Night at Hotel CBD in Varsity Lakes.

The event was extremely well attended with over 120 people packing out the venue.

The Bulls were coming off their most successful season to date with 4 sides making Grand Finals and 2 winning the ultimate prize.

The big winners on the night were Ashton Delamare and Eligh Fermor who shared the Junior Player of the Year award.

Matt Sawkins and Sam Van Nes shared the Club Person of the Year award for their amazing contribution assisting the club.

The Under 13s who finished minor premiers and runners-up were awarded the Spirit of the Bull Award.

Veterans Player of the Year was shared by Sam Hunt and Nick Stone who both won a Premiership in the First XI and were part of a very successful over-40s campaign.

Dyson Smith took home an incredible 9 awards on the night which included club’s most wickets, First XI MVP, and he was also crowned the 2022-23 Bonogin Valley Medallist.

Everyone had a great night and they now set their sights on Season 23-24.

What a season it was.

The Bonogin Valley Bulls Under 17 side rode the highs and lows of a roller-coaster season to eventually prevail on Grand Final Day, to become the first Junior side to taste Premiership success at the Bulls.

After playing the perfect game in the semi-final the Bulls entered the Grand Final against minor premiers Burleigh CC as the underdogs.

Burleigh boasted a strong lineup which included the competition’s leading run scorer Campbell Dixon, but the Bulls were ready and their side seemed to be peaking at the right time of the season.

This was evident from the first ball of the day when Bulls young gun Eligh Fermor had Burleigh opener and danger man Dixon out first ball with a perfect yorker that rapped him on the pads. The Bulls were up and about after ball 1.

The action didn’t stop there though, as the Bulls claimed another scalp through Fermor on the first ball of the 3^rd over.

Burleigh were in a bit of trouble early and the Bulls were gaining confidence with every ball.

The game steadied out a little but runs were hard to find for Burleigh.

All of the Bonogin Valley Bowlers played their part through the middle overs with Eligh Fermor taking 2/6 off 7, Charlie Eltis taking 2/11 off 4, and Brodie Cook and Caleb Williams claiming one wicket each.

Harry Eltis, Annika Bjorkman and Louis Gunter bowled extremely tight and were unlucky not to get a wicket, but played a massive role in restricting the score to 7 for 90 before young Tyler Cook came onto bowl.

Tyler then produced a great spell of bowling to snare 3 wickets in 3 overs to bowl out Burleigh for 96 after 41 overs.

The Bulls had half an hour to bat on Day 1 and openers Eligh Fermor and Brodie Cook were keen to keep the foot on the throat.

This was evident by some of the shots on display in that half-hour period.

The Bulls raced to 0 for 40 after Day 1 with 57 runs remaining to win on Day 2 and create history.

Day 2 came around and a few kids would have had sleepless nights thinking about what they needed to do to secure the win.

The two openers strode to the crease and before too long they were both back in the sheds with the Bulls 2 down.

Fermor out for 30 from 39 balls and Cook out for 12 from 35.

Bulls Skipper Annika Bjorkman and Hamish Noending steadied the ship and batted sensibly before both were dismissed.

Caleb Williams and Harry Eltis put on a great partnership to help the side past Burleigh’s total before Harry fell for 10.

2 more quick wickets fell soon after, Louis Gunter for a duck and Hunter Usher for 7.

It was all up to Charlie Eltis and Caleb Williams to get the team home and that is exactly what they did.

The Bulls finished 7 for 109 after 35 overs before both captains agreed to close the game and the Bulls were crowned Premiers.

In a historic day for the club, there were many highlights but four had a little extra meaning to them as follows:

• Annika Bjorkman, a young female cricketer who started her journey at the club back in the Milo cricket days in 2017, leading a side of boys all year and ending up as a Premiership Captain.
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• The Coach and Vice President Jarrod Eltis winning a Premiership with his 2 sons Charlie and Harry.
• The 2 Cook boys, brothers Brodie and Tyler playing major roles throughout the season and in the Grand Final.
• Caleb Williams, Hamish Noending, Mils Lennie and Louis Gunter were all part of our first junior side at Bonogin four seasons prior…they’ve gone through many ups and downs over the journey but finally tasted Premiership success.

 

In what was the Bonogin Valley Bulls’ most successful season, this group of kids overcame adversity, worked their butts off, grew as human beings and tasted the ultimate success.

The club is a better place having all of these kids at the club.

Team:

Coach: Jarrod Eltis

Captain: Annika Bjorkman

Brodie Cook, Tyler Cook, Hunter Usher, Caleb Williams, Eligh Fermor, Harrison Morrissey, Louis Gunter, Harry Eltis, Charlie Eltis, Mils Lennie, Hamish Noending, Zander Bailey