Plum Coaching Role For Mackay Cricket Legend Adam Knezevic

Local cricket legend Adam Knezevic has been appointed Head Senior Coach of Mackay Whitsunday Cricket for the 2022-2023 season.

It is an exciting new role for the Mercy College Mackay school teacher who will prepare the club’s first grade team for the upcoming Bulls Masters Twenty20 Country Challenge and North Queensland Alliance Cricket 50 over Championships.

Knezevic will also oversee the club’s Under 18 and Under 21 youth team operations when the new season gets underway.

The Bulls Masters Twenty20 Country Challenge will be staged in Cairns from October 1-3 and includes teams from Mackay-Whitsunday, Central Queensland, North Queensland, Far North Queensland, Wide Bay, Darling Downs and the Gold Coast.

The North Queensland Alliance 50 over Championships will be held over two weekends with the opening round in Cairns on October 22-23 and second round in Mackay on November 5-6.

With his vast experience and ability to connect with players, 36-year-old Knezevic was a logical choice for the Head Senior coaching role.

When it comes to our national sport, the decorated left arm swing merchant is something of a hero to the local cricket fraternity.

Knezevic is a Mackay product and played his junior cricket from the age of 10 with the Walkerston Cricket Club before moving to Brisbane at the tender age of 18 to carve out a first-grade cricket career with Beenleigh/Logan.

He represented Queensland at schoolboy level and in the Maroons’ Under 16, Under 17 and Under 23 Colts teams alongside cricketers of the calibre of master blaster Chris Lynn, Alister McDermott and Twenty20 Big Bash specialist Ben Dunk.

Adam has fond memories of his Colts days with Queensland and playing a NSW side at Sydney’s Glenn McGrath Oval that included a fresh-faced Mitchell Starc and Nic Maddinson.

Knezevic later spent two summers in the United Kingdom playing for the Eglington club in the Northern Ireland Premier League and for Bristol in county cricket where he bagged over 80 wickets and peeled off two centuries.

He returned to Mackay Cricket Association for a second stint with Walkerston and helped the club win premierships in all formats – captaining Mackay-Whitsunday representative teams to a Twenty20 title in 2016, reaching three finals and being named Cricketer of the Year.

Adam also achieved success with the Queensland Country representative side – grabbing bulk wickets to help capture a national championship in 2016.

A career highlight for Adam was winning State titles for Mackay-Whitsunday representative team with great mate and work colleague Chris Dunn, a legendary all-rounder from the Brothers Cricket Club.

The pair have also tasted success as junior representative coaches with Mackay-Whitsunday squads - teaming up with Adam as coach and Chris as manager of the triumphant U/16 and U/19 sides that clinched State titles in recent summers.

When Adam is not teaching students or aspiring players on the finer points of cricket, he can be found promoting his coaching business Elevate Cricket with plenty of zest in the Mackay area.

By Chris Karas

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