Last night the club held a very well attended Season Launch at Hammer ‘N’ Tongs. It was a great atmosphere and it was fantastic to have a number of parents and partners enjoying the event too.
The night was also used as an opportunity to present Life Membership to one of the stalwarts of the club, Jamie ‘Bowser’ Allen. Being a FIFO worker it has been challenging to align club events with Bowsers schedule and as such we’ve had a few delays in getting to this point but it was great to have him there last night to receive the honour.
While his available playing statistics are not fully complete he has played over 250 matches for the club, noting this was in an era of predominantly 2 day cricket which is an outstanding effort. A genuine all rounder Jamie has scored over 3,000 runs and taken (at least) 187 wickets for the club. He has averaged 18.44 with the ball which is a super achievement over a long career.
Jamie made his senior cricket debut for the club aged 13 in 1986/87 and played in three consecutive C Grade flags for the club during his early senior cricket years.
He went on to make his A Grade debut in 1991 (Cap #53^) and played in the club’s last two A Grade premierships in 1996/97 & 1997/98, and he is also a past A Grade captain. Jamie played his most recent game for the club in the 2021/22 season so his career has spanned almost 4 decades and the ageless GN Scoop is not fully retired just yet he said during his acceptance speech.
In presenting the award fellow Life Member Steve Schofield commented that Jamie took the reigns of the A Grade side when the club was at a very low ebb in its history. At the time there were even talks of a possible merger with Milang but Jamie was a key part of the club’s rebuild.
Congratulations Bows, a well deserved honour for someone that has provided great service to the Strathalbyn Cricket Club over a long period of time.