Chakabva takes Turner medal as Goulburn Murray Cricket honours the seasons best

By Matthew Kappos

Mar 12, 2024

Brilliant batsman: Bamawm-Lockington United captain Regis Chakabva claimed both the Turner medal and the McMahon Shield batting aggregate award at Goulburn Murray Cricket’s night of nights last week. Photos: AJ Visuals

Bamawm-Lockington United captain, wicketkeeper and star batsman Regis Chakabva was awarded the Graham Turner Medal, Goulburn Murray Cricket’s A-grade best-and-fairest award at the GMC awards night last Wednesday, March 6.

Chakabva put together a stellar season with the bat, scoring a league-high 850 regular-season runs at an average of 65.39 across 13 innings, also earning him the award for best batting aggregate.

Chakabva passed 50 on nine occasions and went on to post 100 three times as he led BLU to third on the ladder and into the semi-finals, where it ultimately fell to Moama, with Chakabva scoring 39 runs in the defeat.

All round threat: Echuca South’s Asantha Singappuli was dangerous with both bat and ball in the GMC season. Photos: AJ Visuals

Chakabva’s top score came in round five when he smashed 172 against Leitchville-Gunbower and the BLU captain entered the finals on a six-match half-century streak, including posting 143 in the final round.

“Yeah, it was pretty nice to get recognised (with the Turner Medal) and I felt like I had a pretty good season,” Chakabva said.

“Opening the batting you’re always trying to score runs for the team and I just tried to keep it as simple as I could, bat as long as I can most of the time and just try and get the team off to a good start and I'm happy that I managed to do that more often than not throughout the season.

“It was good to get some runs, obviously a bit unfortunate that we didn’t end up making it to the grand final, but I thought we had a pretty good season up until the semis.

“When we got to the semi-finals, I thought Moama played really well.

“They really bowled well on the Sunday that we batted and it was a tight game and it was the sort of game that you needed a couple of moments to go your way and we didn't get those, unfortunately.

“Hopefully (we can) restart again next season and as a team we can try and see if we can make it all the way to the grand final.”

Great year: Echuca Cricket Club president John Moyle accepted the champion club award.

Echuca South’s Asantha Singappuli was awarded A-grade champion player for his efforts throughout the season, finishing second on both the wickets and runs tally.

Kyabram Fire Brigade’s Robert Salter was recognised for the best bowling aggregate in the McMahon Shield.

Strike bowler: Nick Dolan of Echuca had the best bowling aggregate in B-grade.

Echuca was well represented among the honourees with Nick Dolan awarded for best bowling aggregate in B-grade, while Rob Hogan was the D-grade champion player and the club itself took home champion club.

Nagambie’s Kait Carracher won women’s player of the year, while Katrina Chapman of Katamatite was awarded women’s champion player.

Young gun: Declan Pearse won the under-21 male player of the year award.

Also recognised were the under-21 players of the year with BLU’s Declan Pearse the male recipient, while Mooroopna’s Gemma Boyd was the female winner.

The Goulburn Murray Cricket Hall of Fame was also opened on the night with inaugural inductees Gus Underwood, Alex Ransom and Bill Williams.