Premier Cricket: local talent the key to success for Frankston Peninsula says Peter Buchanan
This time last year Peter Buchanan was coaching Vanuatu’s national cricket side. Now he’s helping to rebuild Frankston Peninsula, which holds a special place in his heart.
South East
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Peter Buchanan rattles off the names like it was yesterday.
“Wallace, Groves, Mathers, McGain, Dignan, Entwistle, Horvat, Peck, Robinson, Kennedy…
“It was a pretty good side, a decent 2nd XI side,” he says.
Buchanan is talking about Frankston Peninsula Cricket Club’s historic first premiership side: the 2nd XI of 1996-97.
It was a powerful line-up in any level of cricket, let alone seconds.
Bucky was 34 and captain — he was also club coach back then — and says the flag triumph has a special place in his heart, not only because it was Frankston’s first but because of the young men in the side.
“It does,’’ he says.
“The Mornington premierships were great and obviously I played in one at St Kilda, but to win one at Frankston was pretty special because all the guys in that side were all local blokes.
“And if you go through the stats, McGain, Groves and Wallace ended up being three of the best Premier bowlers of all time, with how many wickets they took.’’
Buchanan coached Frankston Peninsula for two seasons, 1996-97 and ‘97-98, and years later was an assistant coach to Nick Jewell.
All these years on, he’s back at Jubilee Park, assisting new coach Paul Boraston.
Buchanan’s cricket journey since those early days at Frankston has been full of highs and lows, with a dash of adventure.
He was a champion at Mornington, scoring thousands of runs and steering the Bulldogs to MPCA premierships.
He coached Peninsula Grammar to good success.
And last year Buchanan took on the biggest challenge of his career when he coached the Vanuatu national side, a nine month stint he describes as “a great experience’’, even if it did have its moments.
“Absolutely it was (a great experience), I’ve coached a national side,’’ he said.
“We went to Papua New Guinea and played against PNG who made the World Cup and we nearly beat them.
“Vanuatu has a population of 250,000, PNG is 8 million.
“We also went to Samoa for the Pacific Games, went to Japan with (Vanuatu) U19s, and we were back and forth to Brisbane, training at Allan Border Field.’’
He’s says the key to good coaching is communication.
“You’ve got to give a bit of love these days, not like the old days when you’d give them a spray,’’ he said.
“A bit more love now…they want to get more out of you, as in coaching, so whether that’s guidance…they’re always asking, they want to get better.
“I love being around cricket, I’ve always had good relationships with cricketers.”
Buchanan wants to make a difference at Frankston Peninsula. He believes the club has a lot going for it and will grow to be a force in Premier Cricket.
“Even though the results didn’t show last year there is some talent there,” he said.
Bucky looks back at his time as senior coach at Frankston Peninsula in the mid ‘90s and remembers having little support in terms of coaching assistants. He’s not bitter: that’s just the way it was back then, he says.
The Heat coaching panel in 2020-21 is brimming with experience and knowledge, with John Hastings and Brad Glenn. And then there is Cameron Wallace as president and Craig Symons and Funky Miller on the board.
Buchanan says Mornington Peninsula’s hotbed of cricket local talent is the club’s absolute priority.
“And we are going to seriously make sure that no players can get through the cracks, at every club,’’ he said.
“We just want to look after our own backyard. It’s hard to attract players from the city because it’s an hour’s drive.
“We’ve got to make sure whatever talent we have down here is playing at Frankston.
“We’ve got a lot of eyes and ears now.’’
Twenty seven years have almost ticked by since Frankston Peninsula took its first tentative steps in District cricket.
Buchanan has watched the club grow. Now he wants it to flourish.
*In 1996-97, Frankston Peninsula captured the 2nd XI Premiership against St Kilda at the Junction Oval in only the club’s fourth season of Premier Cricket.
The premiership side: Peter Buchanan (captain), Cameron Wallace, Darren Groves, Bryce McGain, Stuart Peck, Jason Mathers, Tony Horvat, Craig Robinson, Craig Entwistle and Leon Kennedy.
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