Annual Presentation and Awards Night caps off a great ECA/EGWC season
The ECA & EGWC 2025-26 season was celebrated with a wonderful Presentation and Awards function at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club last Friday. We had a great turn-out from our clubs. Players, umpires, officials, volunteers and all other guests packed the main function room at Kooyong and the room was buzzing all night. We extend our thanks to Kooyong for providing us with a great space, and the service and food to match. Thanks to all the clubs who participated in the evening.
The theme of the event was about celebrating community cricket. In his introduction, ECA President Neil Dalrymple expressed his gratitude to the many ECA/EGWC club volunteers, including those on the ECA executive for their dedicated service. He called out the service of two retiring ECA Club Presidents, Gavin Collopy (15 years) from Balwyn Saints and Graham Bond from St Andrews Gardiner for his extraordinary 36 years of service as President of his club.
Our keynote speaker was Ross Hepburn who is the Chair of Cricket Victoria. Ross spoke highly about the importance of community cricket and the significant role the ECA plays in the health of our great game in Victoria. He reminded us that our biggest sponsors are the respective local municipalities who provide the facilities and grounds on which we get to enjoy playing, and he thanked Manningham Council's Peter Bain for his attendance at the function.
Later in the evening when Peter addressed the room, he spoke about his close connection with community cricket - growing up playing cricket and sharing his passion for cricket with his father who was also a lifelong committed club cricketer. He urged ECA/EGWC Clubs to maintain strong connections with their respective local municipalities. Peter talked about the authenticity of connection to community that cricket brings.
Our other guest speaker was Steve Lefebvre from Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association (MACCA). Steve spoke about the great work his organisation & Taveners Victoria are doing in bringing cricket into the lives of players who may not otherwise get to enjoy playing the game. They want to raise awareness and establish more MACCA clubs in the Eastern Suburbs. Nick Coker who is the CEO and Executive Director from the Inner East Community Finance (ie Bendigo Community Bank) couldn't hide his delight at the success of his beloved Trinity Willison just prior to his formal announcement of the Best Administered Club Award — which was Glen Iris CC.
For the second consecutive year we had the good fortune to have Daniel Harford from Deepdene Uniting Cricket Club as our host. Daniel's trademark humour and professionalism were all on show as he navigated us through the evening of formalities and the many award presentations. His personal connection with cricket as an ECA player is a bonus and added a tremendous amount to the success of the evening. It was great to have ECA volunteers Jenni Dyson (also a life member of the ECA), Barry Cull, James Paterson, Michael Bingley, Damien Cleary, Andrew Hind, Chris Angus, and Mike Slattery all on hand to present the various awards to the players, club representatives and umpires. We also thank Shashikala Siriwardena, former Sri Lanka Women's captain for her attendance and for presenting the EGWC awards. Finally, we would like to thank Michael Mirabella for his brilliant slide show presentations that formed the backdrop for all the respective awards. The photos that he (and this author) captured throughout the season tell the ECA/EGWC story of the season so well. We would also like to thank the many photo contributors from our clubs that helped us fill the gaps so that we could put a face to (almost) everybody who received an award.
After the formalities were finished, a sizeable proportion of guest stayed around to enjoy the atmosphere, catch up with their on field adversaries, share their stories and celebrate and unwind after another great cricket season. Well done to the ECA General Manager Peter Simpson for his organisation and giving us a fitting finale to the season.
Photos from the Eastern Cricket Assocation and EGWC Annual Awards Presentation Event at Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club on Friday 17 April 2026. All photos Copyright © Chris Mirabella 2026
