“Come on, keep that scoreboard ticking over!”
The call came late on the first afternoon of a two day B-grade game between Anglesea and Barrabool in late January. And the call wasn’t from beyond the boundary – it was from one of the umpires (presumably from the batting team, Anglesea). And it was directed not at the batsmen, but at whoever was (or wasn’t) changing the scores.
At the end of the day’s play Anglesea was all out 141 and the visitors were 3/47.
Anglesea has two cricket grounds at Ellimatta Reserve: the lush main lower ground with sightscreens and picket fences, and the not-so-soft footy ground. Standing in the carpark between the two grounds, you can watch a lot of cricket in a short time. At this level of cricket you often get big burly older blokes batting with young, skinny kids. The field seemed to expand and contract depending on the girth of the batsmen.
The club was formed nearly sixty years ago, playing its first season in 1952-53. There is a healthy collection of premiership pennants hanging in the L. J. Morrow clubrooms.
The scoreboard for the 40 over-a-side D-grade match between Anglesea and Jan Jac (on the footy ground) had wooden numbers. You don’t see that too often these days. The scoreboard bloke (the number 10 batsman) did his best to keep up-to-date with the score but then had to pad up and go out and bat himself – he only lasted a few balls. (The final score was Jan Juc 9/147, Anglesea 3/149. The pic above is actually Jan Juc’s score.)
Note not just the wooden numbers but the numbers on the side of the box.
The Anglesea Cricket Club website has some nice photos from the 1970s, when the club moved to Ellimatta Reserve.
The footy ground, and scoreboards, in winter.
On Sunday 19 February, Anglesea will host the 28th Ashes game between Macedon, a town north of Melbourne and Aireys Inlet, just 15 kilometres down the Great Ocean Road from Anglesea. Macedon and Aireys Inlets were decimated by the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires and have been playing an annual game since 1984, with the trophy containing ashes from both towns.
Scoreboard pressure 
Spend a fair bit of time at Airies Inlet and pop into see these grounds to roll the arm over in the nets or have a kick every noe and then… depends on the time of year! Love the grounds, one a classic cricket ground, the other a typical country footy ground, tucked away from the town. Will be taking more notice of scoreboards from now on! Love the buckets seats as well.