Club Chronology

One day in September, 1947, several residents of Carrum Downs decided to form a cricket club. A town meeting was held, many locals attended and, within the week, the Carrum Downs Cricket Club was formed.

Fund raising events were held to enable the purchasing of equipment and coir matting. The first matches the Club played were non-association matches against a variety of sides. The first ground ever used by the Club was the front paddock of “Pigdon’s Farm” opposite the BSL.

Committee meetings at this time were held in the old building at the front of the St Laurence site on Frankston-Dandenong Road.

In 1947/48 the Club affiliated with the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA). Carrum Downs was under the jurisdiction of the Dandenong City Council at the time. Home games were played on a ground made in the paddock of Boundy’s Farm, opposite the present CFA Station. The wicket was made of red gravel, rolled hard and with coir matting stretched over it.

Circa 1950, the home ground changed to a paddock owned by Phonse Broderick, on Hall Road approximately 300 metres from Frankston-Dandenong Road. By this time, the Club was quite stable and retained this as the home ground until 1955/56. However, roughly the next 10 years saw the club hiring a succession of different home grounds from the Dandenong City Council.

After 17 years in the DDCA, in 1964/65, the Club broke through and won our first Premiership in C Grade playing against South Springvale.

It was around this time that the present oval on Wedge Rd was ready for play and the club had a permanent home. A path was mowed 30 metres from the field to the dunny where often a snake was found and killed. The suburb of Carrum Downs was still mostly farmland.

From here on the Club began to prosper, mainly due to a working committee led by Jack Reichel LM and assisted by Ron Ellis LM, Frank Booker LM, John Willington LM, Peter Campion, Vic Darby LM, Jack Booker and Dicky Reid.

From seasons 1966/67 to 1969/70 the Club made regular finals appearances with the last season in this run bringing us the DDCA A Grade Premiership.

Except for the Under 14s winning the Club’s first junior Premiership in 1970/71, this decade started slow without the seniors making finals. But in 1972/73 the Club won the B Grade Premiership. Unfortunately, after this success the Club lost a lot of players to retirement.

However, our juniors continued to perform strongly and the Under 16s triumphed in the 1976/77 Grand Final. After some rebuilding of the senior sides, the 1st XI worked to win the A Grade Premiership in 1979/80.

The juniors again lead the way by taking out the Under 16 Premiership in 1980/81. Carrying on with their good form, the 1st XI won the A Grade Premiership again in 1981/82.

On the heels of this success, the Club changed affiliation and joined the Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association (MPCA) for season 1982/83. That same season, we won the Sub District Flag against Red Hill.

With some solid performances in the seasons following, the 1st XI won the District Grand Final defeating Boneo in 1988/89. Plagued with another loss of members for various reasons, the Club went from a Provincial semi-finalist to Sub District in a few seasons.

Assisting in reversing the Club’s fortunes, a number of quality players wandered in and joined the Club. This resulted in CDCC winning 3 Premierships in the 1993/94 season. The 4th XI won the H Grade Premiership; the 5th XI took out the I Grade Premiership and the juniors again doing their part by conquering the Under 14s Premiership.

A stable 1st XI side then managed to play in 3 successive grand finals. In 1994/95 the club lost the Sub District Grand Final to Main Ridge. Then in 1995/96 our determined 1st XI side overran Sommerville by more than 100 runs to win the Sub District Premiership.

Season 1996/97 saw the Club have a stella year in District before losing a close Grand Final to Langwarrin. Just as after the 1972/73 Grand Final, the Club then lost a number of talented players to retirement and moving on in life.

During this period, grand final appearances were achieved by the 2nd and 4th XIs while the 3rd XI and Under 16s were regular finalists.

In 1997/98, 50 seasons of cricket for the Club came around. A number of functions were held to commemorate the occasion, with the flagship being the Reunion Day. A Legend’s XI took on an Invitational XI in front of a huge crowd spanning all generations of the Club’s proud history.

Later that season, the Club’s 5th XI took the Minor Premiership before being pipped at the post by a resurgent Moorooduc in the Grand Final.

In the last full season of the millennium, the Club won the Under 14 West Premiership flag, losing only one game all year.