BDCA 2023: Special moment for Marist Cricket Club as the Blues celebrate club and premiership history

A meeting of some of the finest cricketing minds in the South West will take place next Saturday at Forrest Park, as the Marist Cricket Club celebrates two special milestones. Aside from celebrating the club’s 40th anniversary, premiership success from three decades ago will also be acknowledged. An event of this magnitude does not happen overnight — which is why Gary Nicholas, Glenn Buck, Paul Tomasi and the club’s committee have been working hard to ensure it will be a night to remember. Ahead of the big day, Nicholas recalled how the Blues found their feet in Bunbury cricket. Prior to settling into their home roughly two decades ago at “Forry”, the Blues — like all Bunbury cricket clubs — co-shared venues for games, due to the limited supply of turf wickets at the time. “We were basically all students and went away on the first Marist carnival back in 1982,” Buck said. “We then came back and started up a B-grade team. “I was 14 years old and the youngest one.” “There were mainly Year 11s and 12s in the team,” Nicholas said. “I was in Year 11 and it was the end of our junior cricket. “Instead of everyone getting split up and going to other clubs, our headmaster Val Murphy and junior coach Neil Creasey came together — and Neil suggested we enter a B-grade team.” A couple of B-grade titles resulted in the Blues being eventually promoted to the top flight, and since then, a chandelier of stars have donned the navy blue cap in both senior men’s and women’s teams.