THE Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemens Cricket Club have announced Darren Beckett will be the 14th person inducted as a life member since 1960, at their recent Annual General Meeting.
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The motion to induct Beckett was moved by life member George Dickie and seconded by fellow life member Ian Bice.
As a player from 1990 - 2012, Beckett amassed 1577 runs at 12.52 and 224 wickets at 19.70.
His best figures in a match were 13/65 in 1992/93 (thirds), and he is the only Ex-Servicemen player ever to take all 10 wickets in a single innings – 10/30 vs Tomerong in the same match.
Significantly, he also has figures of 5/19 (firsts) and a 7/40 (thirds) as some of his other notable performances.
Handy with the bat, Beckett holds the record for the second grade seventh wicket of 149 with George Dickie against Central Districts (seconds) in 1997/98 and has four half centuries to his name.
At club level, he won the batting (seconds) in 2002/03, bowling (thirds) in 1992/93, allrounder (seconds) in 1998/99, player of the year (seconds) in 2002/03, and clubman of the year (2004/05).
He was a member of the second grade side who were one day champions in 1997/98, and won the premiership in 2005/06 in second grade under Warren Ganderton’s captaincy.
He held a number of other positions at the club including three years as vice-president, joint coach of the under 14 premiership team (2008/09) and two years as second grade captain.
As a coach, Beckett excelled.
A level two coach, he coached numerous players at club, district and zone level and was the SDJCA junior coaching director for five years.
He was instrumental in setting up our club’s Milo junior cricket program which still runs today, and has been a great source of junior recruits for the club.
Beckett has also gone onto coaching at St George Cricket Club, and a major highlight was from 2007-2009 where he twice coached the NSW Indigenous women’s side to win the national title in the Imparja Cup.