With the most exciting time of the year just around the corner, Cricket ACT is excited to watch the battle to the finish line. What better opportunity than this to refresh your memories or educate you on the past Cricket ACT legends that our competitions are named after:
Lynne O’Meara Cup
The Lynne O’Meara Cup is the ACT’s Women’s One-Day competition.
Lynne O’Meara served as the International Women’s Cricket Council’s and the Australian Women’s Cricket Council’s vice president. She was a right-handed batsman and wicketkeeper for the ACT from 1978/79 to 1985/86. She made eight dismissals and scored 331 runs in 22 games. The ACT and ANU sides were also captained by her.
The Lynne O’Meara Cup is presented to the winner of the ACT Women’s First Grade Limited Overs competition. The ACT Women’s Competition, which originated as a two-day event, is being continued as this competition. When the Premier Cricket Competition was renamed for the 2009–10 season, Lynne O’Meara was honoured with the new name. In the 2012/13 season, it went back to the club limited overs tournament.
With this competition being run since the 1977/78 season, we cannot wait to see who is crowned the 2024/25 champs!
This year’s final of this competition will take place on Saturday March 22nd.
Glenda Hall Shield
The Glenda Hall Shield is our T20 Women’s competition.
Glenda Hall, a right-handed batter and leg-break bowler, played for Australia in two One Day Internationals and two Test matches in 1983/84. Hall played more than 60 games for the ACT, 14 of which she led as captain. Her best figures were 5 for 10 against Tasmania, took 83 wickets at an average of 21, and amassed over 1000 runs with a highest score of 92.
The winners of the ACT Women's First Grade Twenty20 Competition acquire the Glenda Hall Shield. Established in 2005/06, the ACT Women’s T20 competition was renamed in honour of Glenda Hall for the 2009/10 season.
This year’s final is taking place on Monday February 10th.
Douglas Cup
The ACT Men’s Two-Day Competition is called the Douglas Cup.
The Cricket ACT First Grade Premiers are awarded the Douglas Cup. It commemorates the name of Percy Douglas, a life member and the inaugural president of the Federal Territory Cricket Association at the time. In addition, he officiated first-grade and representative matches and served as president of the Ainslie Cricket Club. Apart from cricket, he served as Canberra's Chief Fire Officer from 1914 to 1952.
In addition, he served as president of the Kingston and Ainslie Tennis Clubs, the Canberra Returned Soldier's Club, the National Football League (Australian football), and the Canberra Rugby League at different points in time. Additionally, he established the St. John Ambulance branch in Canberra. From 1917 until 1919, he fought in Belgium and France during World War I. On Anzac Day in 1955, he passed. The trophy for the 1922/23 season was donated by Douglas.
With a few weeks to go before the Douglas Cup Final, we currently have Queanbeyan sitting in top position with NCGCC following in a close second, followed by Ginninderra and Tuggeranong. We are looking forward to seeing how this one unfolds over the closing rounds of the competition.
The Douglas Cup final will begin Friday March 21st.
John Gallop Cup
The John Gallop Cup is our Men’s One-Day Competition.
The ACT 1st Grade Limited Overs Competition winner receives the John Gallop Cup. It carries the name of John Gallop, a former ACT Cricket Association President. John Gallop was a right-handed batter and wicketkeeper for Kingston from East Canberra before becoming the President of the ACTCA. Additionally, from 1962/63 to 1965/66 he played for the ACT, captaining the team multiple times and participating in the Prime Minister’s XI match against South Africa in 1963/64. He received an OAM in 1998 and was inducted into the ACT Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
The competition has been running since the 1983/84 season of cricket but was renamed the John Gallop Cup from 2010/11.
The John Gallop Cup is being played on March 2nd.
We are so excited to see who our finalists will be for these prestigious competitions who represent such greats of our game here in the ACT.
Best of luck to all teams as the finals approach!
Information included in this article was generously provided by ACT Statistician Adam Morehouse - https://actcricketstats.org/about/