November 30, 2019
Police from Gympie and the South Burnett swooped on the Kingaroy Cricket Club on Thursday night … but it was all for a good cause.
They’d come to contest the annual Edwards Wendt Memorial Trophy cricket match and raise funds for the Queensland Cancer Council.
The event has been played between the two sides since 2011, alternating between Gympie and the South Burnett from one year to the next.
The local matches are normally played at the Murgon Sportsgrounds, but a recent lightning strike that fried some of the sportsground’s floodlights forced a last minute change of venue to Kingaroy this year.
The match is held to honour the memories of former Nanango officer-in-charge Russell Wendt and former Gympie officer-in-charge Phil Edwards, both of whom died prematurely from cancer.
The winners get their side’s name recorded on a perpetual trophy, along with a year’s worth of bragging rights.
This year, things were on a knife-edge because both teams had won the Trophy four times apiece.
On Thursday, most of the Gympie side turned up at the cricket club dressed in loud floral shirts.
But they soon proved no match for their more conservatively dressed South Burnett opponents, who won the toss and elected to bowl.
The South Burnett’s demon bowlers and fielders quickly worked its way through Gympie’s batsmen like a hot knife through butter.
Then they went on to rack up a big tally that saw the local top scorer (Nanango Senior Constable Marcus Cooper) walk away from the crease with 44 not out.
In all, the evening raised $797 for the Cancer Council.
It also provided a lot of entertainment for the small group of spectators who came along to watch the action and chance their luck in the raffles.
Next year’s match will be played in Gympie, where locals will no doubt be hoping for a home ground advantage.
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