ITP Cricket

THIS SUNDAY
ITP 30TH Anniversary reunion
1pm, Oxford Hotel, Leederville
Pop in for a coldie or two and relive those sunburnt summers!

Picture: Coastal after winning the 2005-06 T20 Cup with a second-last ball win against Perth OMP

ITP'S 30TH Anniversary get together this Sunday fellas!

SOUTHERN BROTHERS 2006-07 to 2011-12

Five Championships and five Cups in just six seasons of ITP would suggest it's pretty safe to say that this south eastern based club was the most formidable to ever play our humble little game

In these pictures at Menzies Park in Mt Hawthorn we find SB winning their first of four doubles and also going back to back here with a Cup final win over the Fisters during the 2007-08 summer

Main picture: Darren Hewson and Matt Delaurentis with the Cup and Championship shield

PERTH OMP finally get on the winners list!

After coming into the ITP for the 1998-98 summer, Comer Reserve's original tenant couldn't take a trick when it first started making its way under the tutelage of a young Matt Geary
But for the 1999-00 summer Perth managed to get Kevin Borruso , Daryl Hudson, David Hughes-Owen and Mark Kingham to leave North and play at the riverside club
The results had an immediate affect with OMP looking a much more formidable outfit under Borruso's leadership
After finishing 1998-99 last in the Championship without a victory the club was primed to start its second season with a win when they travelled to Deanmore Square for it its first match of the 1999-00 Championship in December 1999 (see picture)
Despite their big recruits failing to have an impact Perth finally had a W beating a listless Fisters by just three runs
In what would be Deanmore Square's last ITP match, Perth defended 123 after Rohan Smith (4/15) and Gavin Tempany (2/3) proved to be just too good with the ball despite Greg Kahl's (26*) best efforts with the bat!
After making 30 earlier in the day Gavin Tempany was awarded the man of the match
For the record, Perth OMP and Fisters would finish that summer's Championship in fifth and sixth positions respectively
Unfortunately for Perth the win here wasn't a sign things were about to change as the club continued to struggle with another wooden spoon in 2000-01 before it eventually made the 2001-02 Cup final which it would lose to Gundill Boys
The Championship would forever allude Perth. Although Perth did win the Second Division Championship in 2007-08 and again in 2009-10 when the ITP briefly ran a second tier Championship to accommodate eight teams with promotion and relegation
Though success did eventually come its way when Perth began to make a habit of making the Cup final in the mid 2000s, and even won back to back Cups from 2003-04 to 2004-05 during a stretch that saw them make the 'autumn play off' three out of four seasons in a row, finishing their run with a heartbreaking loss to Coastal in 2005-06
Perth would eventually move east to Victoria Park and play out of Fraser Park until the club moved lock stock and barrel to the far northern suburbs and became the Joondalup Bouncers from the 2009-10 season onwards under Steve Lemmey
The club did well to rebuild after defections to new franchises in 2001-02 (Spinal Caps) and 2006-07 (Southern Brothers) which was ironic given it had raided North before the 1999-00 season
As Joondalup Bouncers the club eventually qualified for a Cup final again in 2015-16 in what would be the ITP's last ever match. Joondalup going down to the Sri Lankans on the final ball of ITP cricket!
The franchise holds the unique distinction of never forfeiting a match or missing a season from the moment it entered in 1998-99 until the ITP's final season in 2015-16. Quite a record for a club that nobody wanted and was passed through the hands of three different owners

Photo: Perth OMP's Rohan Smith confidently appeals for another Fisters' wicket during his match winning spell of 4/16. Fisters fell three runs short of Perth's very gettable 123. Deanmore Square, December 1999