Awards and Speakers
Jack Pollard Literary Award
The Australian Cricket Society awards the Jack Pollard trophy for the leading Australian cricket book published over the previous 12 months. A panel headed by renowned cricket book dealer and ACS life member Roger Page judges the winner that honours the late Jack Pollard, one of Australia’s leading cricket historians.
The winner in 2011 was Rick Smith for Blighted Lives – the story of Harry and Albert Trott. Alf Batchelder took out the award for the second time in 2010 with Hugh Trumble – A Cricketers Life while Gideon Haigh has won the award five times with The Cricket War (1994), The Summer Game (1998), Mystery Spinner (2000) and The Big Ship (2002) and in 2008 with co-author David Frith for The Inside Story.
Young Cricketer Of The Year
The Australian Cricket Society fosters young talent in the game through its annual Young Cricketer of the Year award. Named in honour of life member Steve Mason, the inaugural winner in 1970 was Gary Cosier. Since then, the award has been won by many who’ve gone on to play first class and Test cricket. They include Merv Hughes, Tony Dodemaide, Ray Bright, Damien Fleming, Brad Hodge and current Victorian captain Cameron White.
Since 1984, outstanding female young cricketers have been honoured including Melanie Jones, Louise Broadfoot, Sarah Edwards and Meg Lanning. The 2014 recipients of the award were Matt Short and Sophie Molineux. From time to time, the Society also makes encouragement and achievement awards and sponsors young cricketers through it’s own Bendigo Bank ACS Academy. A list of all past winners, many famous names among them, is shown below the list of Guest Speakers.
ACS Guest Speakers
The Australian Cricket Society Annual Dinner is the feature event on the calendar and since 1968, the Society has been addressed by the Whos Who of the cricketing world. Speakers include Sir Donald Bradman, Lindsay Hassett, Ian Johnson, Neil Harvey, Bill Lawry, Tony Greig, Ian Healy and in more recent years Justin Langer, Damien Fleming, Kim Hughes and Barry Richards.
The evening is a haven for autograph hunters with even the Menu a sought after collectible. Recordings of many of these Dinners have been kept both for their historical value and the enjoyment of members.
Other prominent cricketing personalities to have addressed the Society include Australian captains Brian Booth and Graham Yallop, writers Gideon Haigh, Roland Perry and Jonathan Agnew plus numerous Test players and administrators of the game. Annual Dinner speakers since 1968 and a list of other speakers at Society events over the past 10 years are:
Guest Speakers
1968 Lindsay Hassett & Ian Johnson
1969 Bill Lawry
1970 Sam Loxton
1971 Keith Dunstan
1972 Frank Tyson
1973 Sir Donald Bradman
1974 Alan Davidson
1975 Bob Hawke
1976 Ian Redpath
1977 Bob Cowper
1978 Neil Harvey
1979 Paul Sheahan
1980 Derek Randall
1981 Fred Bennett
1982 Barry Jarman
1983 Mike Coward
1984 John Inverarity
1985 Ashley Mallett
1986 Les Favell
1987 Ian Brayshaw
1988 Bill Lawry
1989 T ony Greig
1990 Kim Hughes
1991 Rod Marsh
1992 Jeremy Coney
1993 Kepler Wessels
1994 Gus Logie
1995 Ian Healy
1996 David Boon
1997 Keith Stackpole
1998 Christopher Martin-Jenkins
1999 Terry Jenner
2000 Colin Croft
2001 David Hookes
2002 Paul Reiffel
2003 Justin Langer
2004 Darren Berry
2005 Malcolm Speed
2006 Damien Fleming
2007 John Buchanan
2008 Andy Bichel
2009 Dean Jones
2010 Ashley Mallett
2011 Graham McKenzie
2012 Kim Hughes
2013 Geoff Lawson
2014 Barry Richards
2015 Rodney Hogg
2016 Ricky Ponting
2017 Michael Hussey
2018 Brad Hodge
2019 Tim Paine
2020
2021 Chris Rogers
2022 Scott Boland
2023 James Sutherland
Young Cricketers of the Year
1970 Gary Cosier
1971 Ray Bright
1972 Robert Goldin
1973 Robert Lamb
1974 Doug Rumble
1975 Paul Melville
1976 Geoff Richardson & Peter Davies
1977 Gary Watts
1978 Andrew Lynch
1979 Rodney Watts
1980 Merv Hughes
1981 Ron Howland
1982 Tony Dodemaide
1983 Tony Dodemaide
1984 Denis Hickey
1985 Geoff Parker & Leah Gallagher
1986 Geoff Parker & Natalie Challis
1987 Craig McKissack & Debbie Frizza
1988 Darren Berry & Donna Richey
1989 Damien Fleming & Cathryn Fitzpatrick
1990 Stephen Cottrell & Sue Karasz
1991 Simon Cook & Melanie Jones
1992 Brent Skinner & Jane Franklin
1993 Craig Howard & Rose Collins
1994 Brad Hodge & Anita Rook
1995 Adam Smith & Peta Searle
1996 Clinton Peake & Louise Broadfoot
1997 Ben Oliver & Clea Smith
1998 Michael Klinger & Natalie Wood
1999 Michael Allen & Karyn Winterton
2000 Liam Buchanan & Bree White
2001 Cameron White & Sarah Edwards
2002 Cameron White & Kelly Applegate
2003 Rob Cassell & Ingrid Noack
2004 Aiden Blizzard & Julie Hunter
2005 Adam Crossthwaite & Claire Lavery
2006 Aaron Finch & Emma Ingliss
2007 Michael Beer & Rachael Haynes
2008 David King & Elyse Villani
2009 Matthew Wade & Jess Cameron
2010 James Pattinson & Meg Lanning
2011 Glenn Maxwell & Annie-Rose Maloney
2012 Peter Handscomb & Anna Lanning
2013 James Muirhead & Kirsty Lamb
2014 Matt Short & Sophie Molineux
2015 Sam Harper & Tayla Vlaeminck
2016 Adam McMaster & Georgia Wareham
2017 Will Pucovski & Annabel Sutherland
2018 MacKenzie Harvey & Nicole Faltum
2019 Tom Jackson & Lucy Cripps
2020 Jake Fraser-McGurk & Tess Flintoff
2021 Mitch Perry & Ella Haywood
2022 Brody Crouch & Rhys McKenna
2023 Campbell Kellaway & Poppy Gardner