Tara Murray
Twelve months is a long time, just ask Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows Cricket Club.
After a tough few years, the Falcons were on the verge of collapsing last season.
Fast forward to Saturday, the club was celebrating premiership glory after winning the Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 5 premiership.
Falcons president Gurpreet Sandhu said a lot of hard work had gone on behind the scenes to get the club to where it is now.
“It’s exciting for us,” he said. “We almost folded a year ago.
“It’s been a long journey and a lot of hard work put in by the captain-coach Asif Rasool.
“We’ve gone from zero to hero, it’s really special for us.”
The Falcons won game one of the grand final series against the Williamstown Congs, before the Congs hit back in game two.
Sandhu said the playing group wasn’t used to playing successive days and were hurt by an injury.
Coming back on Saturday for game three, the Falcons were able to get the job done.
The Congs made 8-161 from their 40 overs.
Rajan Aiyappan top scored with 40 not out, while Asif Rasool took 3-36 off eight overs.
The Falcons made the runs in the second last over, finishing 6-162
Shahid Mahmood top scored with 36
“This is really a good boost for the club,” he said.
“We were able to chase the runs down. We also had a lot of support from families which we’ve never had before.”
Sandhu said this is what the club needed as they started to grow again. The club is also looking at bringing in new coaches to help grow the junior program.
“We’ve got a lot of new players,” he said.
“Our coach has done a great job. We were looking to hire more coaches for the juniors, as they’re the future.
“Our under-16s won the premiership in the highest grade and the under-18s also had a good season.
“It’s a good sign for us.”
The Falcons are already looking to next season. The first XI will play in division 4 after earning promotion.
The said they were hoping to continue to climb through the ranks.
“We want to work towards senior division in the VTCA,” he said.
“We’ve started planning for next year and hopefully we’ll get some good players. We’ll try and go up every year.”
