Vs
Overview
These 2 powerhouse clubs have arguably one of the strongest rivalries for many decades in SECA/CMCA comp or any local cricket going around! Both clubs certainly know it too, in other words “they don’t like each other”!
The Pitt-Gorozidis Cup is certainly a clash that many people enjoy sitting back and admiring watching both teams battle it out either at Shane Warne Oval or Hurlingham Park it’s always a huge game between both sides and especially when it comes to the most critical time of the season (finals), and there’s been many zebras that have had fantastic individual performances on the big stage and more importantly we’ve had memorable results against Union which we’ll certainly remember and there’ll be many more to come!
GF stories
The record between us and them is (5 Wins & 4 Losses). Before we look at individual performances let’s look at some of the GF victories that goes down in East Sandy folklore! These were the seasons we’d beaten Union on the “Last Day of March” (79/81, 81/82, 84/85, 03/04 & 18/19)
2018/19 – We sent Union in for a hit first and it looked like they collapsed dramatically once Dallas had arrived in town also getting some assistance from our key frontline bowler VB! We skittled them for (160) with Luke taking his 2nd 5fa in the Longmuir GF’s he’s been a part of, he led us off with massive confidence that we can chase a gettable total at Centenary Oval, Marto showed who’s the boss of the day cutting Union’s bowling attack into shreds with his whopping knock of 83 unbeaten which had guided us to victory with only 32 overs to spare! And at the time we claimed our 18th Longmuir flag!
Our Premiership winning team were Ryan Woodward, Matt Harris, Mark Devereaux, Guy Martyn, Matt Blunden, Brett Hampton (c), Ben Pryor, Luke Dallas, Pat Inglis, Tom Yorgey, Vinay Bhendigiri & 12th man Andy Hunter, including coach Ryan Murphy & co-scorers of the day Ken Duddy & Jack Lourie.
2003/04 – Once again we fielded first, the GF was played at Packer Park, kept Union to a tamed score just under 200 they batted their 72 overs making (185) with the likes of Barney bowling with the new rock taking 4 poles and he had a brilliant innings which we’ll get to in a moment! We were chasing 186 had a collapse early on then eventually Anton made a solid 44 so we escape the traps early on, then 3 players in crime had 1 job for us and it was to guide us home in very tough circumstances! Corpy (57) batted all day, and his innings played a huge part in setting Barney (34*) & Pearcy (20*) up to guide us home winning with 8 balls to spare, what an amazing victory that was and it will forever go down in the club’s folklore! At the time that was our 1st 3 peat since the beginning of our illustrious era from 1979-82 which was the start of countless flags that currently sit in the trophy cabinet!
The premiership winning side were Glenn Phelan, Guy Martyn, Paul Bennett, Anton Duddy, Kim Pitt (c), Luke Dallas, Danny Corp, Brendan Bennett, Ryan Pearce, Mark Jenkin & Brendan Smith including the best scorer at the club Ken Duddy!
Most important and brilliant knocks:
2021/22 season - Matt Harris (119) & Chris Diggle (123) guided us to 306 in a 1 dayer!
2020/21 season – Chris Diggle made a dominant amount of runs and in total he made 175 runs (88 – R1 & 87 – R14) seems like he was a big nightmare for Union’s attack and the captain would’ve had headaches too!
2018/19 season – Marto 83* on GF Day was a memorable knock that we’ll never forget!
2013/14 season – LD opened and made an outstanding 101 at the Shane Warne Oval
2003/04 season – Corpy’s important innings making 57 was the real game changer in winning the flag!
2002/03 season – Anton Duddy hit a magnificent century (126*) his highest score at the club!
1982/83 season – we may have just fell short in an unbelievably high scoring GF 606 runs between both innings! Pitty’s innings played a huge part in the GF making 77 runs.
Memorable figures and vital spells
2022/23 season – one of our recruits that Penguin bought over from Bonbeach (Bil Gunawardena) bowling his sharp left arm skidders taking his 1st and many “Michelle’s” to come!
2019/20 season – another massive recruit at the time who we’ve certainly missed since COVID. Jem Warner arguably one of the best leggies the club has ever seen took 46 wickets so that says something! Especially this game off his own boot took a casual 7/63!
2018/19 season – one of our veterans LD came on into the attack and took a lazy 5fa on GF Day and ended up getting the Man of the Match award too! Will also include VB who had a vital spell taking 3/41 which set the game up early dismissing 3 of the top order bats when it mattered!
2009/10 season – Cheeks in his prime bowled some amazing spells which were defiant in winning finals and other crucial games when he had the new rock in his hand! He took a valuable 3/27 in the prelim final, and we ended up chasing 169 with 5 overs to spare!
2005/06 season – the fantastic four (Barney 4/31, Smithy 3/4 including LD & Cheeks) came onto the scene and absolutely annihilated Union for (81) in the prelim in which we chased the runs quite comfortably and that set us up the next week winning the 1st and only 5-peat in the Longmuir Shield history!
Earlier in the season we had another performer who took career best figures at the club “Harro” taking 6/26!
2003/04 season – Barney had a brilliant spell taking key wickets throughout the GF he took 4/53 and the rest is history!
2002/03 season – The same game that Duddy made his highest score for the club, this guy arguably sits in the GOAT status and highly respected by everyone in SECA, Pitty bowled an absolute treat taking 7 wickets and off his own spell that helped us go onto beat Union by 36 runs!
2018/19 Premiership Side