BRENDAN Dreschler recalls making a promise to the club upon its reformation that when Sedgwick wins its first A Grade premiership he'll shout "18 gallons of beer".

That promise was made more than 40 years ago and, unfortunately for the Rams, remains unfilled, with Sedgwick still chasing that elusive first flag in the Emu Valley Cricket Association.

However, the Rams' pursuit of the ultimate glory in the EVCA stretches significantly further back than its reformed season in 1976-77.

It goes back 100 years to 1919 when the club was initially established.

Perhaps that long-awaited first premiership for the Rams - currently on top of the EVCA ladder -  will come in what's the club's centenary season, which is being celebrated this weekend.

For Dreschler, being involved in the 100 year festivities holds plenty of significance given he was the first president at the helm when Sedgwick returned to the EVCA in 1976-77 after almost a decade in recess.

"I played a bit of footy and knocked around with Peter Friswell, Peter Tyack and David Walsh and came up with the idea of trying to get the cricket side back up and going again after a few years of Sedgwick being in recess," Dreschler said this week.

"We held a meeting in the Sedgwick Hall, put an ad in the Addy, got quite a few people to attend and had the interest there to get the side going again.

"I became president of the reformed Sedgwick Cricket Club in 1976; Phil Peat was secretary and David Walsh became the captain of the team."

With interest strong and the numbers both on and off the field to support the re-establishment of Sedgwick, a myriad of challenges though still confronted Dreschler and co as they set about the Rams rejoining the EVCA.

"We didn't have a ground, we didn't have any facilities and we didn't have any equipment," Dreschler said.

READ MORE - To bat on or not – that is the question for Sedgwick's Matt Dwyer

"My brother Vin had his own business at that stage and he said on the night of the meeting that he would buy the club's first cricket kit, which he did.

"As far as facilities, there were the old Sedgwick tennis courts that used to have a cricket pitch on the side of them.

"We were lazy back in those days… if you hit the ball out on a oval you had to go and chase it, whereas if you hit the ball inside the tennis court it wouldn't go as far.

"So with a concrete pitch inside the tennis court we put some malthoid down on it and that became our training base.

"And Graeme Pearce from Mandurang was very helpful to us. The first ground we had as a home once we reformed was at Mandurang.

"We shared it with Mandurang in the early days."

The Rams have been somewhat a nomad club since their reformation, using a variety of grounds around Bendigo as their home venue.

As well as Mandurang, the Rams have also used Golden Square's Backhaus Oval and Junortoun's Catherine McAuley College as it's now known as home venues, while the club is now based at Strathfieldsaye's Club Court.

The Rams were handed no favours from the EVCA in their inaugural game back as a reformed club in 1976-77 - their first opponent was reigning premier Heathcote.

"I still remember that first game like yesterday… Heathcote batted first and made 326," Dreschler said.

"A week later Peter Tyack made about 127, we chased the runs down and beat the reigning premiers in our first game back.

"That was our initiation back into the EVCA."

It was a dream start back into the competition for the Rams, but the premiership dream remains one that has so far proven out of reach.

Not that the Rams haven't had the opportunity to savour premiership success having played in 10 grand finals, but lost them all, including a raft of recent missed opportunities.

The Rams have played in four of the past 10 EVCA grand finals for losses against Axe Creek (2008-09), Spring Gully (2009-10 and 2017-18) and Mandurang (2014-15) - all games in which Sedgwick has lost the toss and batted second.

The 2014-15 grand final against Mandurang - the club that had been so helpful upon its reformation - is the one that burns deep after the Rams capitulated with the premiership sight.

Sedgwick was 6-170 chasing the Rangas' 187 and had Matt Dwyer (102) in sparkling touch, but the Rams lost 4-5 to be bowled out for 175.

"I remember saying when we were reformed that when the club wins its first premiership I'm going to put on an 18er for them… an 18er being 18 gallons of beer, that's how long ago it was," Dreschler said.

"So I'm still waiting to do it and absolutely I'll do it when it happens."

Among the stalwarts of the Rams craving that premiership is Scott McKenzie - still as determined as ever at the age of 50 to be part of a Sedgwick flag.

So much so that seven years on after announcing his retirement and plans to instead take up umpiring, the lure of a Rams' premiership remains the driving force for McKenzie - better known as "Cackles" - still pulling the whites on.

"Dead right it's about trying to get that premiership," McKenzie said this week.

"But it has just been a great club to be part of right from the days of the old tin shed at Catholic College to now at Club Court."

Back in February of 2012 in his retirement feature story in the Bendigo Advertiser, McKenzie gave some insights into his early days at the Rams after crossing to the club from EVCA rival Emu Creek in 1994.

The Rams were based at Junortoun at the time of McKenzie's arrival.

“When we came out here there were no nets, so we had to build them," McKenzie said.

“And we didn’t have any clubrooms, so I used to put all the gear in the back of my old Landrover and then distribute it all out of there.”

McKenzie - who did enjoy a taste of premiership success with Emu Creek in 1988 - also fondly recalled the development of Sedgwick’s “tin shed” clubrooms while Junortoun was home.

“We built the shed firstly without a door, but we thought it was pretty good,” McKenzie said.

“When we got the door, well, we thought that was unreal. We used to have an old fridge without power that we would fill with ice blocks to keep the grog cool.

“Then when we got power, we thought that was Christmas, and once the bar got put in, well, that was super.

“We get a bit of crap hung on us about our little tin shed clubrooms, but we have a good time in here.”

While he had intended to pull up stumps seven years ago and his age has now ticked over into his 50s, McKenzie remains an integral member of the Rams' side with both bat and ball.

He is the Rams' joint leading wicket-taker this season with recruit Peter Moore on 17 apiece and is averaging 34.8 with the bat.

"It's a great family club to be part of with a lot of good people, but striving to win that premiership is probably what's keeping a lot of us still going," McKenzie said.

"Hopefully, we can get over the line this year. We've just got to put that bit of pressure out of our minds once we get to finals and just concentrate on playing good cricket."

The Rams centenary celebrations will be held at the Strathfieldsaye Sports Club from 7pm on Saturday night.

"It will be great to catch-up with a few of the old players this weekend and tell a few stories," McKenzie said.

"I get a fair bit hung on me with some photos of the 1920s on the wall and blokes asking me what it was like playing in that team... I'm sure it will be no different this weekend."

• Sedgwick's top performers with bat and ball of past decade:

RUNS:

3487 - Scott McKenzie

2607 - Matt Dwyer

2191 - Dustin Elliott

1758 - Rick Ladson

1544 - Jordan Ilsley

1241 - Andrew Sheehan

1239 - Alan Friswell

843 - Damien Coppock

WICKETS:

160 - Scott McKenzie

118 - Jordan Ilsley

53 - Sam Alcock

52 - Jordan Knight

46 - Andrew Sheehan

43 - Josh Hutchinson

42 - Zac Poole

38 - Kevin Bowe

38 - Leigh Byrne

Matt Dwyer's 2607 runs includes Sedgwick's record score of 271 set against West Bendigo in round six of the 2016-17 season.

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