JUNIOR TAVERNERS
The ACT Branch of the Lord’s Taverners Australia has been running its Junior Taverner program since 1987. This program is for cricketers aged between 14 and 18 who show outstanding qualities of ability, sportsmanship and general attitude to the game, both on and off the field.
Many of the ACT’s Junior Taverners have gone on to play senior cricket with distinction. Previous winners have been:
1987 Stephen Frost
1988 Huntley Armstrong
1989 Michael Bevan (subsequently an Australian team member)
1990 Meredith Byron
1991 Sean Godwin
1992 Sean King
1993 Mark Higgs (went on to play for South Australia)
1994 Peta Simotas and Jesse Edwards
1995 Libby Craft and Michael Dawn (PM's XI; Canberra Comets)
1996 Jenny Austin and Simon McPhillips
1997 Peta Simotas and Duncan Brede (PM's XI; Canberra Comets; VIC 2nd XI)
1998 Adelaide Jones and Ryan Bulger (PM's XI; ATSIC XI; Canberra Comets; SA XI)
1999 Kris Britt (Women’s Australian squad) and David Dawson (2003 TAS Rookie Contract - Tasmanian senior squad)
2000 Genevieve O’Keefe and Sven Holcombe (Canberra Comets)
2001 Hannah Stanley and Dan Pascoe
2002 Amy Jason-Jones and Sam Gaskin.
2003 Claire Currie and John Rogers (TAS 2nd XI)
2004 Adam Ritchard (PM's XI) and Caitlin Rawstron
2005 Adam Tett and Melanie Flett.
2006 Ashton May (PM’s XI) and Rebecca McRae
2007 Jason Behrendorff (PM’s XI) , Emilee Preston (Australian Shooting Stars under 21) and Kirsten Burrowes
2008 Jason Floros (Queensland U23) and Nisha Nangrani
2009 Aaron Ayre and Rebecca Beath
Since 1996, the ACT awards have been known as the Graham Wilkinson memorial Junior Taverners, in honour of our foundation President, Graham Wilkinson. Muriel Wilkinson, Graham’s widow, has been donating a cheque to each Junior Taverner. The other part of the award is a cricket kit donated by A G Thompson, makers of Kookaburra equipment.
The 2009 Junior Taverners received their awards during the Lord's Taverners Annual Dinner, held at The Boathouse Restaurant, early in September 2009. Their financial awards were donated by Muriel Wilkinson; cricket kits by Kookaburra and presented by the guest speaker, Sir Richard Hadlee.
2009 Junior Taverners:
Aaron Ayre – 17 years of age. Playing Style: Left hand opening batsmen, wicket- keeper. At last season’s U/17’s National carnival Aaron was the second highest run scorer for the carnival with 347 runs in seven games with a top score of 124. This led to his selection in the Australian Male Under 17’s Honours side as a wicketkeeper batsmen. This season, Aaron have been selected in the train on squad for both the ACT U/19’s and the ACT Comets.
Rebecca Beath – 15 years of age. Playing Style: Right hand batsmen, right arm off spin. Last season saw Rebecca receive the SJ Moore Medal for Female grade cricket player of the year. Rebecca captured 19 wickets at an average of 5 during the 2008/09 grade cricket season. Rebecca was also named ACT female high performance player of the year in 2008/09. Her bowling was the highlight again capturing 8 wickets at an average of 14.8 at the Australian Female Under 17 Championships with the best bowling of 3/30 against QLD.