POORAKA CRICKET CLUB – Seniors

Early History

Precise records of when cricket was initially played by the Abattoirs Cricket Club are not readily available but some records date back to 1959 / 60 and include references to some great Pooraka people including Bob Price, Brian Edwards and Bill Boxall as notable contributors

Pooraka Footballers Cricket club

1n 1968 The Pooraka Footballers Cricket Cub was formed by the Pooraka Football club in order to keep the football players together over the summer.

1968 started with 1 team in the Prospect District Cricket Association (PDCA)

The team had immediate success by winning the Premiership.

The following year 2 teams were fielded and this was followed by steady growth which saw Pooraka field 6 teams during the mid 1970’s.

We had great success in the PDCA with our A grade winning premierships in their first 7 seasons and numerous other grades also winning premierships during this time.

Some notable players during this time include Colin LILLINGSTON, Murray THOMPSON, Arch UNDERWOOD and Moss WHITE with Bob PRICE, Bill BOXALL and Brian EDWARDS contributing strongly

In 1971 we fielded our first Junior Cricket team with an Under 15 team also competing in PDCA with Clarrie BURGESS as our first junior coach.

When we commenced in 1968, we were playing on hard (concrete) wickets

In the 1975/76 season we became the first club in PDCA  to have a turf wicket on our No1 Ground and soon after another turf wicket on No2 Ground.

it wasn’t long before most other clubs followed suit.

In season 1979/80 we moved from PDCA to Adelaide Turf Cricket Association (ATCA) where we still compete.

With this move it was decided that we would now be called Pooraka Cricket Club with reference to ‘Footballers’ removed from the official name.

We have to date have a very successful record in ATCA with our A Grade winning 11 premierships since the 1979/80 season.

Senior Premierships

Notable Player Contributions

We have a history of player longevity with 8 players having played more than 300 games and 4 of those playing over 400.

Rocco Calabria is leading the way and currently has played 482 games and still going.

Jamie Jarrett, Jeffrey Walker and Colin Kirkwood have all played in excess of 400 games.

Leading Run Scorers (Top 11 Only)

Jamie Jarrett                   12,348

Rocco Calabria              12,102

Colin. Kirkwood             8,430

Andrew Tompkins          7,548

Mark Hanson                 6,844

Leigh Wallman               5,786

Matthew Kilmier             5,241

Craig Pocock                  4,800

Jai Bailey                          4,739

Joe Trimboli                     4,518

Arch Underwood           4,459

Leading Wicket Takers (Top 10 Only)

Craig Turner                    711

Ray Moss                         484

Rocco Calabria              451

Bert VANDEN                  386

Jim Tsouflidis                  382

Matthew McCarthy       360

Andrew Tompkins          352

Colin Kirkwood               317

Arch Underwood           311

Dennis Reynolds           297

Cricketer of The Year

Mark Hanson   2014/2015; 2015/2016; 2016/2017; 2017/2018; 2018/2019; 2021/2022, 2022/2023

Mark, who is regarded by many as our clubs most accomplished batsman, has had such an impact on the ATCA competition that the Association have seen fit to name the Association A Grade Batting trophy as the Mark Hanson Trophy – a great honour not only for Mark but for the Pooraka Cricket club.

Notable Committee Contributors

Jan Jarrett          Jan has served the Pooraka Cricket Club in the role of Treasurer for 27 consecutive years (1998 – 2025)