History

The Western District Cricket Club was established 1969, participating in the ACTCA men’s grade competition that season. The club is registered under the Associates Incorporations Act.

Residential boundaries meant player limitation until the early 1980’s, meaning players were required to play for the club in whose catchment they resided. This provided strong competition between Canberra districts.

Wests have fielded at least four men’s grade teams every season, primarily five teams for most seasons. There have been other occasions throughout the past 50 years when the club has fielded six or seven men’s teams.

The club has been represented with a women’s team since the 1980’s, with a hiatus of several years in the early 2000’s, before re-establishing in 2005/2006.

Wests have, when a competition has existed, also fielded a veterans team (mostly through the course of the 1990’s), participating in 25 over twilight matches midweek. Our Veterans side was re-established last year, in season 2024/25.

Wests original First grade ground was at O’Connor Oval, before moving to Kaleen Enclosed Oval. Jamison Oval became the primary ground for Wests in the 2002/2003 and remains for many past and present players, Wests home of cricket. This season we move back to Kaleen Enclosed Oval after a much-needed rebuild of the square was completed earlier this year.

Training was originally based at Aranda Oval. Originally, Aranda housed a number of turf nets, however these were replaced by synthetic nets in the mid 1980’s. Deterioration of these facilities and an opportunity for new facilities saw Wests training move to Kaleen when the new nets were opened in 2011. In 2024, the establishment of a brand new, five lane net facility saw the Club return to Aranda Oval, as our primary training ground. This was only possible with an investment from Cricket Australia and Cricket ACT through the Australian Cricket Infrastructure Fund, accompanied by investment from the ACT Government. We extend our thanks and gratitude to all involved.

In the early years, Wests was aligned with Wests Rugby Club and the majority of social and after match functions took place at the Catchpole Street Club in Macquarie. Funding challenges and change of ownership of this facility saw Wests change its affiliation in 2011 when the club established a major sponsor relationship with the Kaleen Sports Club (now a part of The Eastlake group). Since then, all major functions have been held at the various Eastlake Group Clubs, namely Kaleen, Kingston and Gungahlin. In partnership with Eastlake we have held both Senior and Junior Presentation Nights, our Season Launch, Christmas Party, annual Trivia Night and our Wests 50th Year Anniversary celebration. Wests have been privileged to have developed such a strong relationship with the current major sponsor.

Through its early history, Wests were associated with Evatt/Wests juniors. A neglected relationship with Evatt/Wests saw the junior club struggle through the early part of this century. However, a strong and determined effort by both the senior and junior club committees has led to a strong alignment between the two organisations. Less than 5 years ago, the junior club had approximately 45 registered players. Strong community presence has led to excellent participation and retention rates and the club now boasts in excess of 400 junior players. A number of promising juniors have now made the jump into senior grade cricket and the Club is excited about the future of these young players in ACT grade cricket and beyond.

In the 2004/05, Wests commenced an affiliation with the University of Canberra. Along with financial assistance, the club has benefited in attracting new student cricketers to the club and it had become a successful affiliate organisation for the University.

When the Canberra (now ACT) Comets entered the National One Day competition (the Mercantile Mutual Cup) in 1997, Wests were heavily represented on field, having been one of the most successful clubs of the mid 90’s. A number of players represented the Comets for the duration of its inclusion in the national one day competition.

Over recent seasons, Wests have been successful in developing a number of players to go on to represent other states, BBL franchises and most notably, has been a part of the journey for Australian test bowler, Nathan Lyon.

Several former members have received the honour of having Cricket ACT awards and trophies named after them. The Best and Fairest Womens player is awarded the SJ Moore Medal, our Womens side also compete for the Glenda Hall Shield (T20 Competition) and the best indoor cricketer in Canberra is the recipient of the Darren Richards Medal.

The list of influential people at Wests is significant, too many to name. The club remains a special part of the lives of all past and present playing and non playing members and is an influential organisation in the Belconnen community.

An ever growing list of members (currently 27) have been afforded Life Memberships over our history. The contributions of these individuals and countless others has allowed Wests to thrive into a powerhouse of cricket in the ACT.