Diamond ducklings and diamond rings: cricket club fines in the name of love

While most players at the Canberra City Cricket Club receive fines for field crimes that have dropped their prey, forgetting whites that one batsman was targeted for an off-field crime: a bare index finger on the left hand of his longtime partners.

For every match Michael Pasqualone arrived without a suggestion to his longtime partner Jess, his teammates forced him to pay $ 2 more than the usual $ 1 fines for field crimes, all of which has gone to support youth cancer charity Canteen.

We’ve been together for 12 years, and we’ve probably known half of it [time] we got married, Michael says.

The couple says they met online before it was cool. At first we hid it from our family and friends, said we met at the pub and have been together ever since.

It was actually Jess who introduced Michael to the cricket club, and since she’s been their biggest supporter on the sidelines, everyone in the club loves Jess with a few suggestions from family and friends that she suggests her.

That would have been a huge fine, Michael says.

[The fines] it was actually pretty fun because I was a part of it, Jess adds and because Michael had suggested you know that he had done something really awesome in previous years.

Even after hed asked the question with a carefully planned proposal on Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand, the fines came constantly. The team didn’t give up until Michael and Jess made it official.

The couple got married in May this year when they had to postpone their wedding in 2020 due to family circumstances and COVID-19. Michael was $ 172 poorer at closing and donating fines to Canteen 86 matches later, or 4,365 days, but who counts?

The Canberra City Cricket Club has long been a supporter of Canteen, donating more than $ 19,000 to charity over the years through its Bandana Round matches, fundraisers and of course the penalty system.

It adds a new hue to our days and a bit of a race between the players on the field, Michael says. It also gives us a constant connection to Canteen.

And if you’re looking for a new cricket club or perhaps just a team to help you build the courage to kneel, the Canberra City Cricket Club is looking for male and female players for the coming season.

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