MAN of the moment Shane Warne joined his Melbourne Stars team-mates at Casey Fields on Monday for the first of the side’s intra-squad practice matches in the lead-up to this year’s Twenty20 Big Bash League.
More than 1,000 local primary school children watched on in awe as international stars including Sri Lankan firebrand Lasith Malinga and big-hitting English all-rounder Luke Wright took the field for some valuable practice before the competition starts in anger this Friday night.
West Indian legend, and along with Warne one of Wisden’s top five cricketers of the 20th century, Sir Viv Richards cast an imposing figure boundary-side in his role as a mentor for the Melbourne side.
City of Casey Mayor Amanda Stapledon said the intra-club game provided local kids with “an unforgettable opportunity to watch some of the world’s best T20 cricketers in Casey”.
“While the Stars battled it out on the field, the real winners were Casey’s youngest cricket fans, with players chatting to students, signing autographs and sharing their love of the game,” Cr Stapledon said.
Stars assistant and specialist fielding coach Trent Woodhill said Richards’ role with the Stars was to help with their mental preparation, and to talk the players through some of the experiences he had also been through.
Woodhill also made special mention of local rising star and Casey-South Melbourne player Clive Rose, ahead of his season with the Big Bash side.
“Clive has really impressed me,” Woodhill said.
“I think he has a big future ahead of him.
“It’s a tough art, spin bowling, but from the time I’ve spent with him he seems very level-headed and really enjoys his cricket.”
Woodhill said the Casey Fields facility was “just awesome” and said he looked forward to some of the youngsters in the crowd for the practice match going on to become cricket stars in their own right.
“The fact that we’ve got a heap of school kids today who can come out and see the best players in the world – not just the best players in Australia – is awesome,” he said.
“We expect that a lot of these kids will want to play cricket because of this and will want to follow the Big Bash because of it.”
The Melbourne Stars – including Warne, Rose, David Hussey, Cameron White, Brad Hodge and Belgrave South’s Glenn Maxwell – will be back at Casey Fields this Sunday – 9 December – for a family fun day from 12 to 4pm. For more information, visit the City of Casey website at www.casey.vic.gov.au
