Club News
Gelbart bowls 'em over at Presentation Night
It was the Dave Gelbart show at Maccabi AJAX Cricket Club’s night of nights on Sunday as the First XI captain took home a mighty swag of awards. It was a fitting result for the all-rounder after an outstanding season with both bat and ball.
Gelbart walked away with the Les Kausman award for the Most Consistent Cricketer, the Leonard Burman Award for the Most Outstansing 1st XI Cricketer, the Bowling Aggregate Award, the 1st XI Bowling Award, and then finished the night in style by capturing his second successive Ray Saffer Cricketer of the Year award.
He won the coveted Ray Saffer Award with 20 votes, comfortably ahead of Fourth XI captain Jeremy Balbin and star opening batsman David Majtlis. All-rounder Michael Bell’s consistent season saw him in fourth place with 12 votes, followed one vote further back by David Fayman and Benji Jones on 11.
Gelbart’s performances for the year were unbelievable. He took a whopping 42 wickets at an average of 11.5, while also posting 175 runs with the bat. As a result he was awarded a place in the Team of the Year – for the fourth straight season.
Other players acknowledged on the night included Aaron Fetter, who claimed the Harry Newhouse award for the Most Dedicated Trainer, and Michael Feiler, who was lost for words when he won the Michael Klinger Rising Star award.
Simon Morawetz won the Shawne Rubinstein award for Best Fieldsman, and Mark Soffer’s dedication to the club on the field and off saw him win both the Hans Spitz Best Clubman award as well as the Rob Lourie Award for the Most Determined Cricketer.
First XI youngster David Fayman, who started the season as a bowler but ended up winning the First XI batting award, was an apt recipient of the Ernie Adler award for Most Improved cricketer.
Feiler took 20 wickets at an average of 15.75 in the Second XI to win the bowling award, while Jeremy Balbin’s 254-run season saw him claim the Fourth XI batting award.
Two other players were honoured for outstanding performances during the year – Zac Goldberg for a memorable seven-wicket haul and David Majtlis for a breathtaking century.
Also acknowledged on the night was Leon Jacobs, a past player whose commitment to keeping the club in contact with its former members has been crucial to the club maintaining itself as a community, not just a cricket team. Jacobs also spearheaded the initiative of the club’s leadership group, aimed at ensuring a solid group of leaders for many years to come. He received the Kurt Defris Award for Outstanding Service to the Club.
The event took on a different format to that of previous years. Instead of a sit-down dinner, attendees took to the greens of the Elsternwick Lawn Bowls Club in the afternoon for some friendly, if occasionally heated, lawn bowls action before the presentation of the awards.
Special mention was paid to the work of the coaches and the committee, who ensure the day-to-day running of the club is taken care of, as well as the sponsors who shoulder a large part of the financial strain of running a cricket club.
The function confirmed the positives that could be drawn from an otherwise ordinary season, and filled all in attendance with high hopes for a return to success next year. The ceremony concluded with Chairman of Selectors Simon Fisher announcing the Team of the Year, which included players from the First to the Fifth XI.
The Maccabi AJAX Cricket Club Team of the Year:
Jeremy Balbin, Darren Bloch, David Majtlis, Brad Majtlis, Devan Spilkin, David Fayman, Benji Jones, David Gelbart, Anders Simon, Adam Lubitz, Michael Feiler, Nathan Rothschild (12th man).
- View the 2009/10 Presentation Night Photo Gallery.
