Westbury Cricket Club will celebrate 70 years in the NTCA at a special function this month.
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Legendary Test quick Jeff Thomson will be guest speaker at the January 18 event, which also includes a 1979-80 first and second-grade flag reunion and inaugural hall of fame inductions.
Shamrocks president Michael Claxton said he was expecting up to 140 people to attend the function, which will be held at Westbury's newly-revamped clubrooms.
"Our first game in the Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association was on the 25th of October and they played North Launceston which is Riverside now," Claxton said.
"Westbury were in the Quamby Association before that so they lost the grand final to Westwood and then they joined the NTCA.
"Being a country side you've got a lot of brothers who've played and you'll also find [current A-grade captain Dan Murfet] - his father played junior cricket here so you get a lot of that sort of thing where people come back and play with the club."
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Murfet took over the captaincy at the start of this season and has already led the Shamrocks to the Greater Northern Cup semi-finals.
The keeper-batsman said it had been a privilege to be part of the club's 2010s era which has seen it win four Cricket North flags and reach eight consecutive finals.
"It's been pretty special to be a part of it - we're included in that history as well now I guess," Murfet said.
"It's obviously been a big thing since Dane [Anderson] came back from Hobart, I think the club in previous years up until then was in a pretty bad position and just staying alive.
"In these last eight years we've got into a really strong position and it shows now with the sort of facilities we've got and the performances we've been able to put on the board."
For more details about the function contact Michael on 0438022532.
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MEMORIES
SYD WEST
- Shamrock from 1952-1966
"I captained Westbury to an A-grade premiership in the mid 1960s - I can't tell you what year it was.
"I didn't have many [highlights] apart from some of my big scores were against Mowbray with Terry Cowley and Bill Hird who played for Tasmania.
"Terry was a very, very good swing bowler.
"Peter made 100 against him and I recorded 100 against him.
"I made a lot of runs against Cowley and Bill Hird but the rest of the time I snicked them I suppose - I snicked over 4000 runs."
PETER CLAXTON
- Shamrock from 1957-1966
"The premierships I played in [were highlights].
"Especially against Mowbray because there were seven players that played in the state side and we didn't have any at the time.
"The other highlights were two centuries I got in one season - once against Launceston and once against that good swing bowler Cowley.
"Ian Crowden and myself put on 252 here one day against him - he got 170 and I only got 129 and it was the only time in cricket both of us were on 99 together - it's the only time I've seen it in my life.
"He beat me to 100 by one but then I did give him 15 or 20 head start."
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