Justin Graham departs Kew after accepting assistant coaching role at Premier Cricket club Prahran

KEW has been left shocked after the sudden departure of captain/coach Justin Graham, with the club holding a four-hour committee meeting on Tuesday night to appoint a new skipper.

Justin Graham smacks one down the ground. Picture: Mark Dadswell

STAR batsman Chris Weeks has been appointed the new captain of Kew after the sudden departure of Justin Graham.

Champion all-rounder Graham has accepted an assistant coaching position at Premier Cricket club Prahran, moving on from Victoria Park after four years.

Weeks was confirmed as skipper at a four-hour committee meeting on Tuesday night, while Kew is hunting for a new coach.

WIENER APPOINTED COACH OF PRAHRAN

Since arriving from Melbourne ahead of the 2014-15, Graham has churned out 1265 runs and 93 wickets to help take Kew to last season’s Sub-District Cricket grand final.

“It was all a bit whirlwind, it was all planning to go around with Kew again,” Graham said.

“A casual coffee (with Prahran) turned into a bit more and it kept snowballing and when Julien Wiener got appointed, he’d heard I’d had a casual chat and he was pretty keen for me to come on board.

Justin Graham rolls the arm over. Picture: David Crosling

“I’ve got coaching aspirations to move into Premier Cricket so when this became available, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.”

Graham informed Kew president Peter Sist of his departure on Friday.

“I was feeling sick about it, to be honest, I sat and looked at my phone for probably about half an hour and then finally got the courage up to ring,” he said.

“Peter’s reaction was just outstanding, he allayed all my nerves, he was genuinely pumped for me and excited that Kew has been able to help foster someone getting into Premier Cricket, which is what they’re all about.”

Sist said “it was certainly a shock initially” when Graham resigned but he left on good terms.

“Justin goes with our absolute best wishes for what he has done from our club over the last four years,” Sist said.

“He has picked it up and shook it around, we play pretty good, hard cricket now and that’s basically because of his blue-collar attitude.

“I had nothing but pride and joy for him … he’s a life coach so I wasn’t disappointed at all, I was absolutely wrapped for him.

“’Jussie’ goes with nothing but total respect from every person at Kew and while the timing is probably not as we would like, it was an opportunity that he just couldn’t pass up.”