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The 1990s
Officials, players, members and/or supporters first noted in this decade
Hamish Bull, Ed Burnes (Premiership player 1996/97 & 2000/01), Anthony Caputi, Anthony Coburn (wicket-keeper, Premiership player 1996/97 & 2000/01), Tim Considine, Damien Crock, Pat Cunningham, Damien Dalton, Brendan Devine, Rob Dillon (Premiership player 1996/97), T Dunlevie, Chris Ellis, Mark Ellis, Ross Featherstone, Matt Gabelich, Justin Gartland, Andy Gowers (Premiership player 2000/01), Anthony Gurry (Premiership player 1996/97), M. Gurry, P Hall, Angus Hamilton (a wicket with his first ball for the Club), Rohan Hawker (Premiership player 1996/97 & 2000/01), Anthony Hawkins, Pat Hawkins, Simon Hede, Patrick Hill (Premiership player 2000/01), B. Hughes, Adam Jones, M. Juracich, Simon Keenan, Mick Kelliher, Tony Keyhoe, David King, Steven Lawrence, Adam Lennon, Chris Loftus-Hills (Premiership player 1996/97), John MacKinnon, Charles McNamara, C. Morris, Sam Nunan, Tim O’Sullivan, Andrew Peters, Terry Peters, Simon Power, Peter Rooney, Martin Rush (Premiership player 2000/01), Michael Scalzo, Jock Serong, Mark Slattery, Adam Stanley, Dan Strachan, Paul Trainor, Rob Tucker (Premiership player 2000/01), Sam Tucker (Premiership player 1996/97 & 2000/01), Barry Vienet, Tom Winter.

1990/91
With the absence of a number of players from the premiership team and the temporary absences of others, the season did not develop as the Club had anticipated although the season had started promisingly with pre-Christmas victories over Old Scotch Reds, MCC “A” and Old Caulfield Grammarians (“OCG”) and, after the break, over Hawthorn-East Melbourne (“HEM”) and University. Nevertheless, there were several highlights as noted below (with thanks to Joe Forrest for the report that he sent to the “Xavier News). The team finished eighth.

Averages/aggregates (if known):
Batting: Ed Borghesi ­ 58.7 from 6 innings.
Bowling: Bernard Heaphy - 24 wickets @ 19.67.

Highlights:
Joe Forrest: 60 runs & Tim Cosgrave an unbeaten 42 runs v. Old Scotch Reds.
Peter Webb: an unbeaten 45 in a washout v. Old Trinity.
Richard Borghesi: 69 runs & Peter Webb 48 runs v. MCC “A”.
Richard Borghesi: 60 runs & Peter Webb 40 runs v. Richmond Club XI.
David O’Shaughnessy 60 runs & unbeaten 79 and 48 runs by Joe Forrest & Ed Borghesi respectively in a score of 2/204 in the victory over OCG.
Bernard Heaphy scored 67 runs & Richard Borghesi an unbeaten 46 runs v. HEM.
Richard Borghesi: 50 runs v. Old Melburnians.
Ninth wicket partnership: 73 runs ­ Ed Borghesi (whose 78 runs nearly all came in the partnership) & John Zachariah (who rose in the batting order due to the temporary absence of the number ten batsman and who it is believed was credited with contributing one run to the partnership by an umpiring error; fortunately, he went on to score 19 legitimate and unbeaten runs).
John Zachariah: 5/19 from 10 0vers v. HEM.
Bernard Heaphy: 5/27 from 7 overs v. Old Scotch Blues in their second innings, a burst which almost achieved the outright victory needed to progress to the finals.
Bowling partners: Bernard Heaphy (5/50) & Sam Nunan (3/34) v. Old Scotch Reds.

1991/92
Captain: Ed Borghesi
Averages/aggregates (if known):
Batting: Mark Slattery 245 @ 30.6, Anthony Duggan 115@ 28.8, Mark Ellis ?? @ 26.3 & Andy Gowers 131 @ 26.2.

Bowling: Bernard Heaphy 9 @ 12.3, Mark Slattery 22 @ 15.5, Anthony Duggan 6 @13.1, David King 9 @ 15.4 & John Zachariah 21 @ 16.3.

Highlights:
Mark Slattery 60 runs, Carl Nunan 45 & Joe Forrest 44 v. Old Melburnians

1992/93
Captain: Ed Borghesi

1993/94
The Club finished the home & away season in second place but a washout in the last round restricted the points achievable to 3 whereas a victory would have placed the team in first place. However, this became a mere point of interest as the team subsequently lost its semi-final against Old Caulfield Grammarians by 10 runs although it had confined the opposition to 155 runs despite dropping some important catches,. It was the Club’s second loss to that club for the season.

Averages/aggregates (if known):
Batting: Andy Gowers (268 runs @ 67).
Other batting: Joe Forrest (262 @ 32.8), Richard Borghesi (228 @ 32.6), Paul Bendall (227 @ 25.2).

Bowling: James Brown (16 @ 11.4).
Other bowling: Carl Nunan with a season high of 24 wickets @ 17.3, Peter Rooney (15 @ 20.3). John Zachariah (13 @ 20.7).

Highlights:
Carl Nunan: 9/60 (30 overs) v. Old Haileybury.
Opening partnership: 106 runs - Ed Northam (51) & Richard Borghesi (68) v. Brighton Club XI.
Fourth wicket partnership: 177 runs ­ unbeaten hands by Andy Gowers (105 runs) & Joe Forrest (65 runs). Andy also made it a double by taking 4/25 in combination with Carl Nunan’s 3/31 in this victory over Old Scotch Reds in a low scoring event (8/92 v. 88 all out).
Paul Bendall 60 runs & Ed Borghesi 45 runs v. Old Trinity.
Joe Forrest: 74 runs v. Old Melburnians (“OMs”) and 40 runs in the semi-final.
Richard Borghesi’s spell of 5/20 (7 overs) and Andy Gowers, an unbeaten 48 runs to defeat Old Scotch Blues. The Nunan brothers also took 2 wickets each in this game. Carl 2/35 and Sam 2/21.

James Brown: 6/29 (12 0vers) and a straight 6 off the fourth ball (from Tony Hargreaves) of the last over of the day to win the match v. Richmond Club XI.

Bowling partners:
Anthony Duggan (3/50), B. Hughes (3/6) & Peter Rooney (2/33) v. Old Trinity.
Peter Rooney (3/25), James Brown (2/20) & John Zachariah (3/16) v OMs.
John Zachariah (4/69), Carl Nunan (3/25) & Peter Rooney (2/59).v. MCC “C”.
Carl Nunan (3/56), James Brown (2/26) & Paul Bendall (2/30) v. Old Wesley.
Paul Bendall (3/15), Carl Nunan (2/30) & John Zachariah (2/44) in the semi-final.

1994/95
Averages/aggregates (if known):
Damien Dalton won the competition award for greatest number of wickets.

1995/96

1996/97 - The Fourth Premiership Season
Captain: Terry Peters.

The premiership came after finishing in fourth position on the ladder and defeating the top team, Old Haileybury, in the semi-final. The previous premiership had also come from fourth position.

The Grand Final saw the Club pitted against Old Scotch Reds and needing a victory as the lower placed team. A score of 97 runs batting first was not a promising start. The difficulty scoring underlined the value of the contributions in the first innings of Richard Borghesi (31 runs) and Anthony Gurry (21 runs).

Fortunately, the first two innings in the game were low scoring affairs. In reply, the team was able to dismiss the Reds for only 87 runs with the bowling honours being shared by Carl Nunan (4/27), Sam Tucker (3/31), Robert Dillon (2/3) and Ed Burnes (1/12). The one wicket by Ed Burnes proved to be a turning point in the game. It broke a partnership which had advanced the Reds score from 6/16 to 6/67

Batting
Richard Borghesi 31
Anthony Coburn 0
Sam Tucker 2
Joe Forrest 0
Anthony Gurry 21
Rohan Hawker 0
Chris Loftus=Hills 7
Carl Nunan 8
Rob Dillon 9
Bernard Heaphy 0 not out
Ed Burnes 0
Extras: 19
97

Bowling
Sam Tucker 3/31
Carl Nunan 4/27
Bernard Heaphy 0/12
Ed Burnes 1/12
Rob Dillon 2/3

In the Club’s second innings, it was able to bat the opposition out of the game with a score of 9/283. The major scorers in the second innings were Anthony Gurry (75 runs), Anthony Coburn (63), Carl Nunan (43) and Bernard Heaphy (22).

The Club’s success was very much a tribute to its depth of players and support with more than 25 players appearing throughout the season.

Averages/aggregates (if known):
Joe Forrest 297 runs @ 42.3 and Anthony Gurry 237 runs @ 39.5.
Carl Nunan 24 @ 17.1, Ed Burnes 18 @ 15.4, Adam Jones 16 @ 13.5 and Rob Dillon 16 @ 11.7.

Highlights:
Sam Tucker 57 runs (in his first game), Tom Winter 54 runs & Carl Nunan 5/37 v. University Graduates.
Terry Peters 92 runs & Adam Jones 40 runs v. Old Trinity.
Anthony Gurry 96 runs & Joe Forrest 36 runs v. Old Wesley (OW).
Anthony Coburn: 63 runs. Sam Tucker 57 runs.
Richard Borghesi: 71 runs v. Old Scotch Blues in the last home & away game. This innings (together with Rob Dillon’s 4/11) was the foundation for the victory which lifted the team from fifth place into the finals.

Joe Forrest’s back to back innings in the game v. OMs:- 52 runs & an unbeaten 50 runs (plus his one wicket from the last over of the game, his one and only over for the season, an over which featured a no-ball as the penultimate delivery).
Joe’s batting and very good bowling spells by Adam Jones (7/47) & Ed Burnes (3/16) in the first innings and again Ed Burnes (4/47) & Rob Dillon (4/50) in the second innings set up the chance for the outright win. However, the Club was not to be awarded points for an outright win despite the absence of the OMs’ No. 11 batsman when the ninth and last available wicket was taken by Joe Forrest on the final ball of the game. In other words, the fictitious player could not have batted as the game was over before he had an opportunity to bat.
Joe Forrest (68 runs) & Anthony Coburn (38 runs) and Adam Jones (3/32) & Ed Burnes (2/26) in the semi-final victory over Old Haileybury. Adam suffered split webbing to his hand taking a hot caught and bowled chance from the OMs’ skipper. The injury kept Adam out of the Grand Final team

Rob Dillon: 5/41 v. Old Caulfield Grammarians.

Bowling partners:
Carl Nunan (3/45), Adam Jones (2/55) & Ed Burnes (2/6) v. OW.
Carl Nunan (3/13), James Hawkins (3/27) & Bernard Heath (2/23) v. Richmond.
Rob Dillon (4/50) & Ed Burnes (4/47) v. OMs.
The Club defeated the School for the Lou Zachariah Trophy with Pat Hawkins (5/27 from 19 overs and 69 runs) and an unbeaten 54 runs by Anthony Gurry.

1997/98
Captain: Richard Borghesi.

Richard was also awarded the inaugural Eldon Hogan Memorial Trophy for Best Clubman at the AGM on 23 October, 1997.

The Club just failed to reach the finals, finishing fifth with 5 wins, 5 losses and a draw. The last game was washed out and there was no chance to bridge the gap on the final four. The second half of the season saw improvement in the team’s results, a reflection of the unavailability of a number of players before the Christmas break.

Highlights:
Bernard Heaphy 5/22 (8 overs) & Jim Hawkins (66) v. University Club XI.
Anthony Coburn (105 run) & Joe Forrest (112 runs) v. MCC. This was Joe’s maiden century for the Club.

During this season, Mark Woodruff returned after an absence of 9 years with a top score of 32 runs v. OMs. Mark was a member of the 1984/84 premiership team and won the Club batting averages in 1987/88.

Life Memberships awarded to Bill Carroll & Brian Lugar.

1998/99
Captain: Rohan Hawker.

The Club finished second.

The season got off to a slow start with two losses but the season improved starting with a win with an over to spare chasing Carlton’s score of 150 runs and eventually the Club reached the Grand Final against its higher placed opposition, Old Scotch Reds Chasing 9/301 declared, the Reds had struggled to 5/103 on the second day. No play was possible on the third and last day and therefore the trophy was presented to Old Scotch. The Reds were most likely saved by the washout and thus fortuitously exacted some revenge for the defeat two years earlier.

Highlights:
Adam Jones: 44 runs off 30 balls v. Carlton.
Ninth wicket partnership of 29 runs by Rob Tucker & Ed Burnes to defeat OMs off the second last ball of the final over from which 11 runs were required; the over including a six to Rob and a four to Ed.

Chris Ellis (42 runs) & Anthony Coburn (36 runs) in the semi-final v. Old Haileybury.

1999/2000
Captain: Pat Hill.

The Club played in a competition with some colourful names ­ Haileybury Magenta, Haileybury Black, Old Scotch Blues, Old Scotch Reds as well as Carlton, OCG, OW, OT, OMs, Uni Grads, Uni Fives and one MCC team. Due to the uneven number of teams, a bye needed to be played. In future years, a second OXCC team was contemplated and introduced.

Early losses prevented the Club from contesting the finals.
The major players for the Club as noted by Ed Burnes in the “Xavier News for this season were:
Batsmen ­ Anthony Coburn, the “ageless” Joe Forrest, Adam Jones (of the unfortunate habit of being caught on the boundary) and Adam Lennon..
Bowlers ­ Rob Tucker, Adam Jones and Damien Dalton (who revealed some all-round ability, “often finishing the innings with red ink”).

Highlights:
Rob Tucker 5/24 & Anthony Coburn 94 runs v.University Fives.
Sam Tucker: 60 odd runs v. Haileybury Blacks.
Bowling partners: Rohan Haawker (4/32) & Sam Tucker (3/60) v. Old Scotch Blues.