THE oldest trophy in South-West cricket celebrated its centenary on Sunday when the Yates Shield was presented to Margaret River Hawks at the Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association's end-of-season trophy ceremony at the Barnard Park Pavilion.
First presented in 1924 by Dr Percy Yates, the Yates Shield is now awarded annually by David Yates, the grandson of Dr Yates, to the top A-Grade qualifiers in the competition.
The Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association broke with tradition this year by holding its awards ceremony immediately after the last qualifying round, instead of after the grand finals, which are set down for Saturday March 23.
Yallingup-Oddbods collected three team awards, being presented with the Bovell Bowl by Anne Fennessy from the Barnard family for club attainment, as well as the B-Grade and C-Grade minor premierships.
The major individual award winner at Sunday's ceremony was Hawks allrounder Grant Garstone.
Garstone polled 19 votes from the umpires to win the House Medal for the A-Grade fairest and best player.
Garstone was presented with the House Medal by Barry House, whose grandfather Aub House captained Yallingup, the first team to win the Yates Shield in 1924.
Garstone did the double by also taking out the Libby Mettam MLA A-Grade Cricketer of the Year on 768 points.
Jeremy Murphy from Vasse won the A-Grade batting trophies, while Dunsborough's Harrison Sutherland and Hawks' Mathew Kent shared the A-Grade bowling trophies.
Rumesh Silva from Margaret River Hawks collected the A-Grade fielding award.
Dunsborough's Tom Reagan, 16, won the prestigious Ron Bell Most Improved Junior Award while Alex Cooke, also from Dunsborough, won the Total Horticultural Most Improved player trophy.
Shane Joyce was announced as the Barry House Player of Country Week, while Elijah Truscott won the Most Outstanding Performance trophy for his 7-16 at Country Week including a hat-trick.
Vasse's Mat Kammann won the George Kemp Memorial B-Grade Cricketer of the Year award on 671 points, while Tom Payne from YOBS won the B-Grade batting trophies and Mat Kammann and Robbie Lorrimar shared the B-Grade bowling trophies.
Shaun Scaddan from Vasse was awarded the Mike Adams B-Grade fielder of the year award.
Darcy Carroll from Dunsborough was the C-Grade Cricketer of the Year while Ben Kirkham from Cowaramup won the C-Grade batting trophies.
Darren Cameron from YOBS won the C-Grade bowling trophies.
Matthew Snaddon from St Marys took home the C-Grade fielding trophy.
Finally, Dave La Motte was announced as the umpire of the year, sponsored by Dunsborough Veterinary Hospital.
