Sensational season: Regis Chakabva’s 850 regular-season runs and work behind the stumps earned him the Turner Medal at the GMC Awards night last Wednesday. Photos: AJ Visuals
Bamawm-Lockington United captain, wicketkeeper and star batsman Regis Chakabva was awarded the Graham Turner Medal, Goulburn Murray Cricket’s A-grade best-and-fairest award at the GMC awards night last Wednesday, March 6.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Chakabva put together a stellar season with the bat, scoring a league high 850 regular season runs, at an average of 65.39 across 13 innings, also earning him the award for best batting aggregate.
Chakabva passed 50 on nine occasions and went on to post a hundred three times, as he led BLU to third on the ladder and into the semi-finals where it ultimately fell to Moama, with Chakabva scoring 39 runs in the defeat.
Chakabva’s top score came in round five when he smashed 172 against Leitchville-Gunbower and the BLU captain entered the finals on a six-match half-century streak, including posting 143 in the final round.
“Yeah, it was pretty nice to get recognised (with the Turner Medal) and I felt like I had a pretty good season,” said Chakabva.
“Opening the batting you’re always trying to score runs for the team and I just tried to keep it as simple as I could, bat as long as I can most of the time and just try and get the team off to a good start and I'm happy that I managed to do that more often than not throughout the season.
“It was good to get some runs, obviously a bit unfortunate that we didn’t end up making it to the grand final, but I thought we had a pretty good season up until the semis.
“When we got to the semi-finals, I thought Moama played really well.
“They really bowled well on the Sunday that we batted and it was a tight game and it was the sort of game that you needed a couple of moments to go your way and we didn't get those unfortunately.
“Hopefully (we can) restart again next season and as a team we can try and see if we can make it all the way to the grand final.”
Young Gun: Declan Pearse won under-21 male player of the year award.
Also on the night, Chakabva’s BLU teammate Declan Pearse took out the award for under-21 male player of the year, while Rochester’s Dylan Cuttriss was awarded Junior Coach of the Year for his work leading the under-13 side to grand final success.
The BLU success continued with Josh Felmingham recognised for best bowling aggregate in D-grade.
Elmore’s James Harney was the B-grade champion player after also having best betting aggregate in the competition, while Colbinabbin’s Mark Turner was recognised as volunteer of the year.
Top bowler: Josh Felmingham was recognised for best bowling aggregate in D-grade.
Other awardees on the night included Echuca South’s Asantha Singappuli who took out A-grade Champion Player, while Kyabram Fire Brigade’s Robert Salter was recognised for the best bowling aggregate in the McMahon Shield.
The Goulburn Murray Cricket Hall of Fame was also opened on the night with inaugural inductees Gus Underwood, Alex Ransom and Bill Williams.
