A pair of allrounders have emerged as the winners of the KFC Queensland Premier Cricket competition peak awards at tonight’s annual trophy presentation event at the Gabba.
Premier Cricket Award Winners
Western Suburbs captain Ruby Strange won her second Kath Smith Medal in three years, while evergreen Toombul allrounder Preston White claimed the Peter Burge Medal off the back of a dominant season in all formats.
White, 32, becomes the sixth Peter Burge Medal winner from Toombul, with the most recent being Chris Lynn in 2009-10, and the first Indigenous player to receive the award.
A hard-hitting right-hand batsman who can bowl left arm medium pace and spin, White was the leading runs-scorer across all formats with 1054 runs at an average of 50.19 as well as taking 43 wickets at 22.86.
He was named in the Team of the Tournaments for all 3 formats in Mens 1st Grade, that being for KFC T20 Max, Kookaburra One Day, and Bulls Masters Two Day competitions.
Strange, who previously won the Kath Smith Medal while playing for University of Queensland in 2021-22 when she shared with Tara Wheeler, capped off an impressive year that also saw her recognised at representative level.
The 21-year-old Gladstone product captained the Queensland Country Brolgas team to an undefeated title at the Toyota Australian Country Championships and was one of four Queenslanders named in the Australian Country XI.
She was ultra-consistent for Wests in the Katherine Raymont Shield and KFC T20 Max competitions scoring 859 runs at 40.9 to be the leading runs-scorer as well as taking 15 wickets.
The last Wests player to claim the Kath Smith Medal was Australian and Queensland allrounder Grace Harris in 2015-16.
The awards night saw club representatives officially receive the major season trophies, including Valley receiving the Club Championship and Ipswich taking out the Damien Mullins Cup as Overall Champions across all 3 formats in the Mens 1st Grade competition.
The Mens First Grade Premiership honour roll included Ipswich winning their first KFC T20 Max title and Northern Suburbs claiming the John McKnoulty Cup (Kookaburra One Day champions) and Cam Battersby Cup as two-day champions.
The women’s competition featured Sandgate-Redcliffe winning the KFC T20 Max title, University of Queensland taking out the T20 Shield, and Valley finishing as Katherine Raymont Shield one-day premiers.
New Queensland Bulls rookie contracted squad member Jem Ryan (Ipswich) and Queensland Fire allrounder Sianna Ginger claimed the Bob Spence and Loretta Moore Trophies respectively as the most-improved players 21 and under in in the competition.
Queensland Cricket Chair Kirsten Pike made a special presentation for Services to Premier Cricket to long-serving Sandgate-Redcliffe identity Ken Dixon for his decades of commitment to the club as a player, coach, administrator, selector and volunteer.
The 2023-24 Teams of the Year were:
Bulls Masters Mens 1st Grade Two Day competition:
Bryce Street (University of Queensland), Lachlan Hearne (Toombul), Max Bryant (Valley), Steven McGiffin (Western Suburbs), Callum Taylor (Gold Coast), Preston White (Toombul), Dylan McLachlan (Valley), Benji Floros (Valley), Noah McFadyen (Northern Suburbs), Jem Ryan (Ipswich), Jackson Smith (Gold Coast). Coach Ash Holznagel (Northern Suburbs).
Womens 1st Grade One Day competition:
Emma Jackson (University of Queensland), Kira Holmes (Valley), Tara Wheeler (University of Queensland), Georgia Voll (Sandgate-Redcliffe), Sianna Ginger (Valley), Anlo van Deventer (University of Queensland), Mikayla Wrigley (Sunshine Coast), Nicola Hancock (University of Queensland), Olivia Winter (Gold Coast), Clodagh Ryall (Wynnum-Manly), Lilli Hamilton (Western Suburbs). Coach Leteysha Randall (Valley).
Previous Kath Smith & Peter Burge Medal winners are listed at:
https://www.qcusa.com.au/honour-board-peter-burge-medal
https://www.qcusa.com.au/honour-board-kath-smith-medal