Peninsula to host star-studded centenary celebration

Peninsula Cricket Club will play a major role in the centenary celebrations of the Warehouse Cricket Association (WCA).

Filmer Park, at Woody Point, is to host a Centenary Gala Day on Saturday August 7 with three Twenty20 (T20) matches, under the ground’s new floodlights.

C Grade and Over 40s matches will be followed by a WCA side taking on the Queensland Bulls Masters, playing their first match in the Moreton Bay Region.

Test stars

The Masters are former Queensland and Australian Test players, many of them legends in the game, who turn out to support organisations and cricket development.

Foundation members included internationals Jimmy Maher, Andy Bichel, Martin Kent and Michael Kasprowicz. Ian Healy was the first chairman, Maher the first managing director.

Facing them will be a WCA side including eight selected from the association’s first grade sides and two from Peninsula, Pine Rivers, Mater Hill and Gold Crest.

Peninsula players:

James Smith – a Redcliffe junior player now in Peninsula’s Warehouse side who has captained the A1 side.

Hayden Marks - opening batsman, grandson of Jim Marks who founded Peninsula CC in 1975 and son of Brett Marks who also played for the club.

Phoebe Smith – one of two women in the squad. Phoebe is representing the future of the game. Plays for Redcliffe Cyclones and took 6-14 for Sandgate-Redcliffe last year.

Chris Allison – from the Lewis Land Group, a major sponsor who opens the bowling.

Bruce Hintz – one of two “Golden Oldies” in the team. Played in the Warehouse Association's first Webb Shield-winning team and has collected a number of Premiership since then.

The WCA v Bulls Masters match will be at 6pm under Filmer Park's new floodlights.

Entry to the Centennial T20 games will be free. Food vans and children's rides will be available.

100 years of Warehouse

Warehouse Cricket Association (WCA) of Brisbane was formed on August 8, 1921, under the banner of the Queensland Cricket Association.

Seventeen teams played the first season, representing founding businesses in Brisbane such as Howard Smith, McWhirters, Rhoades and Tristrams, to name a few.

On the 50th anniversary in 1970-71, those numbers had risen to around 200 teams per season – summer and winter.

Peninsula Cricket Club joined in the early 1970s and in the 1990s won the FJ Bardwell Trophy for seven successive seasons from 1993-94 and 1999-2000 in the Summer A Grade.

By 1996-97, the 75th anniversary, team numbers had grown to more than 300 with many local clubs from the area competing.

Now, 100 years on, there are more than 400 teams in Junior age groups 12 to 17 years of age in Winter, Senior teams across A, B and C Grade levels on Saturdays in Summer and Winter for male and female players.

There is a female Sunday T20 competition and wider 20/20 and a 50 overs competition on Sundays. All teams are graded into various levels of A, B and C grades.

Visit facebook.com/WarehouseCricket or bullsmasters.com.au

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