Avondale Heights will not return to the VTCA this year but is determined to still play senior cricket
Just days after trumpeting Avondale Heights’ return to VTCA cricket, president Rashid Bashir has mysteriously resigned but the club is determined to pick up the pieces and take the field this season in a different league.
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Avondale Heights’ return to the Victorian Turf Cricket Association has been put on hold.
The club had been set to return to senior turf competition for the first time since 2015-16 only for the new leadership group to pull out.
Just days after spruiking the Heighters’ return to Leader, president Rashid Bashir mysteriously resigned and the majority of the high-profile recruits announced have walked away.
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Bashir did not respond to Leader’s requests for comment and the club’s Facebook page has been shutdown.
In his absence, it’s been left to a committed band of clubmen to pick up the pieces.
While the return to the VTCA will not happen this season, the club will run two senior men’s teams in the North West Metro competition.
Avondale Heights junior Will Guy will co-ordinate the men’s teams this season.
Guy committed to return to the club from VTCA outfit Grand United and hopes to continue rebuilding the club.
“The plan is to build a platform so the club has a senior side and in the next five to 10 years becomes a powerhouse,” he said.
“We want to build a strong platform for the cricket club and bring grassroots cricket to the Avondale Heights community.
“Our plan is to get a lot of former members back to the club and expose a lot of new people to cricket.
“We want to give our junior cricketers coming through our ranks a look at senior cricket in the next two or three years.”
Despite dropping out of the VTCA four years ago, the Heighters had still played senior men’s cricket.
The club competed in and won premierships in the NMWCA Girolami Shield and Knight Shield in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively.
Avondale Heights junior co-ordinator Dean Campbell hopes the club will be able to achieve its goal next season.
“Rashid and his group have departed but the club will survive and will kick on with three junior teams and two synthetic cricket teams,” he said.
“There’ll be no VTCA turf cricket this year but we’re very hopeful of next year onwards.
“There is a lot of young families in the area and we want to be a community-based club.
“We’re building (our juniors) every year, I reckon this year we’ll have 35 kids, after starting with Milo Cricket and now we’ve got two under-10s and under-12s.”