Life Members

Barring a single season playing at the Cove Cricket Club in the early 90’s, Gavin featured continuously at our Club for over forty years, right from when he was a ‘Colt’. That totals more than five hundred games, of which roughly half of them has been leading the team he’s been in. A six-time premiership Captain, his leadership was mirrored off the field, with nearly 30 years on the Club’s committee across a number of key roles. That wealth of experience also benefited the broader local cricket community as a whole, where he spent nearly a decade as President of the Great Southern Cricket Association and in 2018, received life membership.

‘Truck’ also first played for the Club as a junior, before contributing to the great 1980’s for the Club, taking a then record 45 wickets in the 1986/87 season as part of a C Grade premiership win.

While his playing career was limited to a little over 100 games due to injury, he spent a number of seasons on the Club’s committee, and has been a permanent fixture at the Club during each season and assisting with functions, events and also the oval’s ongoing maintenance. He received a 25-year service medal from the South Australian Cricket Association in 2011.

Rory moved into the area and joined the Club for the 1984/85 season, and like a number of players, played in all three consecutive B Grade premierships in the 1980’s. Regularly a high order batsman, he would often mix between wicket-keeping and spin bowling, sometimes in the same season and even in the same game! He is one of only three players to have played over 300 games, and has the most amount of wicket-keeping dismissals (172), while also taking over 100 more catches in the outfield and 150 wickets with the ball. He also is a former Club Captain, and in his last game, played in another B Grade premiership in 2013/14. Post-playing, he served a number of years as a member of the Great Southern Cricket Association’s Umpiring Panel.

Tony joined the Club from Victor Harbor in 1987/88, and would soon become a constant presence across all areas of the Club. His record as the club’s leading wicket-taker with 542 may never be surpassed, and was the third player to reach 300 games. He also spent a combined 21 years holding the roles of President, Vice President and Secretary. Perhaps, his greatest legacy he left on the Club began as a father. In providing opportunities for his two sons, he was the dedicated backbone to a junior program that is sustainable to the current day. He brought Hayden and Joshua through a ‘MILO Cricket’ program and into Under 12’s and Under 14’s, and numbers grew along the way. 11 years after starting this, he was there to witness the Club’s first junior premiership in 2013/14.

His death in 2015 came soon after winning his first premiership as a player, and he posthumously received a 25-year service medal from the South Australian Cricket Association in 2016. The contribution he gave to the club lives on, with his name bearing the award recognising the most outstanding Junior Cricketer of each season.

Richie joined the Club for the 1984/85 season, and would go on to play in four straight grand finals in his first four summers with the club, yielding the ‘3 in a row’ by the B Grade through 1985/86 to 1987/88.

All up, in nearly 250 games he hit over 4,500 runs and took more than 300 wickets for the Club, particularly notable for his contribution to the combined Port Elliot and Goolwa A Grade side of the late 90’s and 2000’s, where he was captain for two seasons.

Since receiving life membership, Richie has gone on to also play for the Encounter Bay Cricket Club along with being a panel Umpire of the Great Southern Cricket Association.

Prior to joining the Port Elliot Cricket Club, Darryl Mason was a renowned player through the Eyre Peninsula. He came to the Club in 2005/06 and soon devoted that experience to helping the Club in all possible areas. As a player, he has served as a Club Captain, played over 100 A Grade matches, scored a famous century to bring finals to the Club’s first standalone A Grade in many seasons in 2009/10, and was a member of the 2016/17 B Grade premiership team. He spent several seasons as the Club’s President, before taking on the role of Association President, succeeding our own in Gavin Smith.

Luke was first introduced to cricket as a member of our Under 12’s team in the early 1990’s, and has stayed connected to the Club through over 300 games. He was a premiership player in the Club’s first One Day Competition success in 2011/12, and again in 2012/13.

He would then go on to captain the club’s B Grade in 2016/17 which also yielded a premiership. Within six months of receiving life membership, he was elected to President, following a long line of life members who continue to contribute to the Club in the current day.

Simon joined the Club from Bridgewater for the 2010/11 season, and quickly made his mark on the A Grade competition with 28 wickets in his first season, and went on to be A Grade Captain from 2012/13 to 2015/16. ‘Juddy’ has served off-field just as well as Club Treasurer, and since receiving Life Membership also coached the ‘Red’ team in the Club’s historic first season of having two Junior Colts teams including his daughter Kirra. Simon is now the A Grade leading wicket-taker, with over 300 wickets overall for the Club.

Neville first played for the Club in 1984/85, and returned in 2005/06 and has played almost continuously since. At the time of being awarded Life Membership, his 6713 runs from 242 matches are the second-most of all time for the Club, along with the second-most number of half-centuries. With this record, he is seventh on the list of most Matches Played, and is only one of nine players to play more than 200 matches and score 2000-plus runs. He is a four-time premiership player in 2013/14, 2015/16, 2017/18 and 2019/20, as well as coaching the Under 14 team to back-to-back premierships in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons.

Seb came to the Club from St Peter’s Old Collegians in 2009, proving a useful addition as the Club returned to the A Grade competition. While he took 20 wickets as a bowler in his first season, and had the occasional season with the ball, he would end up with the wicket-keeping gloves more often than not and joins Rory Kappler as the only players to claim both 100 wickets with the ball and 100 dismissals. Seb coached the first Under 16’s team for more than a decade for two seasons, and had a couple of stints as T20 Captain. Off the field, he joined the Committee in his first couple of seasons, serving in Executive roles for six seasons, most recently as Club Secretary.

Ben moved across to Port Elliot from Encounter Bay ahead of the 2010/11 season, joining his brother Sam. He established himself as an A Grade player within his first three seasons at the Club, while also joining the Club’s Committee and a regular fixture on a lawn mower at the oval or behind the bar and canteen. He spent the most recent three seasons as a Vice President of the Club prior to induction, and also became the sixth player to play 100 A Grade matches. He is fourth in both A Grade matches played (143) and wickets (145), joining esteemed company in both regards. Demonstrating the balance of on-field and off-field contributions, in consecutive seasons he claimed a Carnegie-Smith Medal as the A Grade Cricketer Of The Year in 2018/19 and the Club Person Of The Year in 2019/20.

Life Members

Gavin Carnegie-Smith

Lawrence Harding

John Ellis

Rory Kappler

Paul Thorn

Antony Gordge

Richie Overall

Darryl Mason

Luke Elliott

Simon Donaldson

Neville Wenham

Seb Goldsmith

Ben Martin

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