Revealed: Cricket Shepparton announces Team of the Century

The final team came from an initial shortlist of 30 players the association released in September.

Captained by Old Students legend Dave Shaw, the team sported a mix of legends, with its make-up mirroring that of a standard cricket team.

The batting unit consists of Bill ‘‘Jasper’’ Jones, Ian Sartori, Rohan Larkin, Gary O’Brien and Greg Luscombe.

The selection committee opted for three all-rounders, with Chris Keady, Norm McArthur and Shaw getting the nod to form a dangerous middle order.

Peter Whitelock, Damian Woodman and Bryan Doyle were selected to headline the team’s bowling attack.

While the late Clyde Young would take his spot behind the stumps to round out the star-studded 12.

The association also took the chance to recognise two of its legendary administrators, with Bert Lightfoot taking the role of team manager and Lucy Scott the scorer.

Team of the Century selection committee member Darryl Butcher explained the process behind narrowing it down to the final 12.

“It wasn’t any easy task and it took a long while,” Butcher said.

“We wanted to have five or six batters, a couple of all-rounders, a wicketkeeper and three quick bowlers and a spinner, so that was what we worked off.

“There was a lot of toing and froing with some of the positions, but in the end we had to make a decision and we ended up with this 12.

“At the end of the day it was based on their records and what they had done for cricket in general as well, and overall we are happy with what we ended up with.”

When it comes to an exercise like this there is always some debate involved, with the likes of Aiden Blizzard, Raelee Thompson, Alex Keath and Ryan Sidebottom among those unlucky to miss out.

But overall Butcher said the response to the team was positive.

“There is always going to be feedback when you pick a Team of the Century and conjecture surrounding who didn’t make it,” he said.

“But you can only do what you can do and I would have thought the majority of people would have agreed with the majority of the selections.”

The selection of the team was not the only drawcard of the event, however, as past and present legends of the association shared stories and reminisced on 100 great years of cricket in the region.

Butcher said the day could not have gone any better.

“The day flowed well, I think everyone enjoyed it and it was one heck of a reunion afterwards which I knew it would be,” he said.

“As a collective there would have never been a function like this that Cricket Shepparton had put on which brought so many players of this calibre together.

“The best way to describe the day was unbelievable.”