The Associated Independent Colleges Cricket season came to an exciting conclusion on the weekend. In 2025, 173 teams participated in the AIC Cricket competition, with close to 2000 students participating each weekend across Years 5 to 12. The AIC Cricket competition caters for students of all abilities with matches consisting of the shortened T20 version of the game through to the First XI fixtures which follow the “International One Day 50 Over” format. This year Ambrose Treacy College again participated in AIC fixtures.

Aggregate Competition

The AIC Aggregate competition was hotly contested with 2024 winner St Patrick’s looking to retain the Aggregate Shield after their historic win last year. Marist College Ashgrove, Iona and Villanova found themselves in the best position to challenge the boys from Shorncliffe for the coveted shield as the season came to an exciting end. The final rounds of the season included some pivotal match ups between Colleges who were challenging for the title. These included Marist College Ashgrove v Villanova (Round 6) and St Patrick’s v Villanova (Round 7) with every game important and contributing to final overall places. After the final game of the season, Marist College Ashgrove narrowly won the title as Aggregate Champions over St Patrick’s in second and Villanova in third place. Marist College Ashgrove last won the aggregate shield in 2018 and this year’s success was the 18th time In AIC history that the Ashgrove school had won this title.

Derek Lennon, Marist College Ashgrove’s Head of Sport and Cricket Coordinator highlighted the hard work of many people in achieving this excellent aggregate result. “We are very proud to win the AIC cricket aggregate shield this year; it has been a long time since Marist achieved this. There was a lot of hard work by a lot of people to improve our cricket program, and this, combined with the 1^st XI shared premiership, is a reflection of that effort. Our players at all levels engaged with the changes and put the work in to improve our results across the board.” Mr Lennon said.

First XI Premiership

The First XI Cricket Premiership came down to a nail-biting conclusion. Entering the final round of fixtures, 3 teams (Iona, Marist College Ashgrove and Villanova) were equal on top of the points table with one loss each during the season. A fourth team (St Peters) was a further game back and still had the chance to share the premiership with the other schools if they all lost on the final day. Both Marist College Ashgrove and Iona were able to put in impressive whole team performances and win their final round games which secured them a share of the First XI premiership.  In an incredibly exciting finish to the season, St Patrick’s was able to secure a 4-run win against Villanova. This was the second week in a row St Patrick’s had won a thrilling game that came down to the wire after a last ball victory against Padua the previous week.  Congratulations to Iona College and Marist College Ashgrove for winning the 2025 First XI Premiership. Villanova and St Peters finished in equal 3rd position.

Iona’s First XI Cricket coach, Mr Wayne Niven praised his teams efforts throughout the season “A strong team effort across all matches saw our First XI secure its 3rd AIC Cricket Premiership over the past 4 years. Our continued efforts to bat for our full allocated 50 overs, combined with a disciplined, patient bowling attack allowed our team to apply pressure at all times throughout the campaign. A determined effort across all areas of our performance provided a sturdy platform for success.” Mr Niven said. 

Marist College Ashgrove’s First XI coach, Mr Michael Abbott, was equally as proud of his team. “We are incredibly proud of the efforts of the Marist 1^st XI in securing the 2025 Cricket Premiership. It was a young team with many debutants who continued to improve in all skills throughout the season. It has been one of the most enjoyable seasons I have coached due to the high-quality senior leaders and motivated younger players, who all worked together to achieve some outstanding results.” Mr Abbott said.

Iona First XI Cricket Team

Marist College Ashgrove First XI Cricket Team

Year Level Premierships
Congratulations to the following Colleges who won premierships in the respective competitions.

Year 5 and 6 Cricket
Whilst premierships are not awarded in primary competitions, the competition between schools is still strong in Year 5 and 6 Cricket.  It is wonderful to see the pride that is displayed by our youngest cricketers in playing for their College and the great enjoyment they get from participating each week.  2025 included a number of incredible performances by both individuals and teams in primary fixtures and the development that occurs in the primary school years of AIC Cricket is excellent preparation for the secondary school competitions that follow.

Acknowledgements
The AIC would like to thank Queensland Cricket for their support of AIC Cricket. Queensland Cricket supported the Association with expanding the use of Play HQ to all secondary school A teams in 2025. With positive feedback from the use of Play HQ, it is hoped that it (Play HQ) will be utilised in a greater number of divisions in 2026.  Queensland Cricket are also great supporters in the development of Umpires in the Association.

The AIC would like to thank the dedicated group of AIC Community members who assisted each week with umpiring First XI fixtures. The First XI ‘Umpiring Panel’ is made up of parents, AIC Old Boys and general AIC supporters who are passionate about both Cricket and supporting our Association. For all of the parents on the panel, they forego watching their own son/s play to assist the Association. This year, the Association worked with Queensland Cricket to expand the panel through courses. These courses will again be run at the end of 2025 in the hope of expanding the panel so that independent umpires can be appointed to more divisions in 2026!

Thank you to all of the parents and supporters who umpired and scored throughout the divisions this year. Without this support, such a large number of games could not occur.

Photo Gallery
Please enjoy the images below. These will be added to as photos become available from each College.