MARCUS: Alright fellas, we’re getting to the business end of the cricket season now. Jonty and I have had the last rounds of the DDCA and Dave has one more round left. It’s when the cream rises to the top, and that’s what’s going to happen in this LTS episode. Let’s start with best action, and Jonty, can you take the new ball please?
JONTY: My best action is going to Parkmore’s Jaime Brohier, who took an excellent catch at mid-off to dismiss Parkfield’s Travis D’Souza. It was probably Parkfield’s last chance if they were going to make a score of around 240 after losing some early wickets. He took a massive lunge forward and got it inches off the ground. It was huge in the context of the game.
DAVE: Chris Smith made 214 not out, but Luke McMaster takes best action in his place this week. He made 190 and Kooweerup had a big reunion, so there was a big crowd there. People went in to listen to a speech and when they came out, Luke had gone from 100 to 160 in about 15 minutes. He hit eight sixes in seven overs in a half-hour period of cricket. That’s just the way he plays the game – the bloke is unstoppable. So for hitting eight sixes in seven overs, that’s my best action. But I also want to give a shout-out to Maree Taylor from the Pakenham Bowling Club. I called in to watch the finals and Maree was nervous, but she did a splendid job. I thought she was the player of the day, consistently putting her bowl next to the Kitty. The Lions went down to Narre Warren, but Maree overcame her nerves to shine bright.
JONTY: I want to give a shout-out to the Casey Cannons Hockey Club for their season launch on Saturday. Hockey is a little bit of a niche sport, it goes under the radar, but they were able to get many people down for their launch and I think they’re in for a big season in both the men’s and the women’s. Read page 65 for more.
MARCUS: My best action goes to Springvale South batter Jordan Mackenzie. I don’t know if you guys have ever been in a situation where you’re sitting in the outer at the cricket, and the call of CATCH! goes up for someone in the crowd, and you’re in the mix. You might have one or two seconds to prepare for it, and I thought I was in the game on Saturday. A Mackenzie six was coming in my direction and I didn’t think I had time to prepare, I would have made myself look like a fool. Thankfully it landed above my head and made an absolute thunder clap on the pergola at Arch Brown Reserve that was intense. They hit a few sixes onto the roof, Springvale South, but that was probably the best, given he was batting injured.
DAVE: There’s pressure on us journalists because we get stuck into a lot of players for making mistakes, so when the ball comes in our direction to catch it or stop it, we have to make sure our skills are up.
JONTY: The ball went between Steve Cannon and I on Saturday so I went to retrieve it, and he said to me “this throw better hit the fielder perfectly, for all the sh*t you write about us.”
MEDAL MANIA
MARCUS: Jonty, you and I spent the day on Sunday at the Dandenong Club for the DDCA’s Wookey Medal presentation day. Jordan Wyatt was somewhat of surprise Wookey winner for me, and you had a couple of surprises in your counts too.
JONTY: Triyan De Silva won the Charles Gartside Medal in Turf 2, an all-rounder who I’ve always seen as a batting all-rounder. But it was his bowling all season that really got him over the line. He took 40 wickets averaging 13. Opening the bowling for HSD, he’s been really important and up there as the best in the competition, and he also scored a couple of half-centuries as well. I think going into the count you didn’t really know who was going to win from Turf 2. It was a tight count, and ultimately his all-round ability got him over the line. The same could be said for Sachith Jayasingha in Turf 3. I think the DDCA radio show hosts ran through seven names prior to the count and I don’t think Jayasingha was in it. He bowls all day for Doveton North, ties up an end, and then on Saturday he hit a century, which I think got him over the line. He pipped Jackson Marie at the post which was really unfortunate because he had 700 runs after 11 rounds, but then single-figure scores in the last three weeks let him down. Quick shout-out to Ethan Marinic, I was very glad to see him get in the Team of the Year. He’s a very popular player around the DDCA traps and back-to-back five-wicket hauls to finish the season was a real reward for how hard he works.
MARCUS: Was there anyone who did better, or not as well, in polling that you expected?
JONTY: I thought Marie would have a bigger lead going into the later rounds than what he did. I thought Ted Sampath had a quiet-ish start to the season but that wasn’t reflected in the votes – he was still right up there and finished in the top five. I thought Malan Madusanka from Coomoora would have polled better than he did, but they do say that it’s an all-rounders award and he’s only got his bowling.
MARCUS: As I said before, Wyatt won the Wookey Medal as the best player in Turf 1 with 617 runs at 77. He bucked the trend of all-rounders, winning it as a pure batter. The key for him was that when he polled votes, it was rarely one vote, it was a lot of twos and threes. He’s so eye-catching, the way he bats, and he takes any momentum away from the bowling side, given how easily he can hit boundaries. My prediction in last week’s paper of the two-horse race between Jordan Hammond and Jarryd Straker didn’t eventuate, it’s fair to say! Credit to Susantha Pradeep who shocked everyone and finished third in the count, a terrific effort given his side finished on the bottom of the table. Dave, on the topic of incredible batters, it would be remiss of us not to give you some time to speak about Chris Smith and his back-to-back double-centuries.
DAVE: About five weeks ago I wrote a story that said it was time for Chris Smith to turn his starts into big scores, and he’s certainly done that.
MARCUS: He’s claiming credit for this, Jonty!
JONTY: He is!
DAVE: No no, settle down you two! Anyway, I spoke to Chris yesterday who said that he was frustrated at getting starts and not going with them as well. He’s been one of the best players in the competition for the last 18 years, but to do what he’s done, I think we’re in the midst of greatness right now. No one’s going to do what he’s done in the last three games. He’s made 140 not out, then 210 not out, and 214 not out the next week. That’s 564 runs without going out and batted for 205 overs, striking at 2.75 runs per over during that period off his own bat. It’s just extraordinary what he’s done. I spoke to Phil Anning, Pakenham Cricket Club President as well, and he’s been reluctant to put Chris as the number-one player to have ever played for Pakenham, but this last three-game streak has made him relent and say that he’s the best player to have ever played for the club. We’re going to look back in 20/30 years – or you two will – and people will be talking about what Chris Smith did in 2023/24. I can’t see it ever being matched.
MARCUS: What changed for him that resulted in him converting those starts?
DAVE: He said it hasn’t had any impact, but he missed round five for the birth of his first child. He’s recently married and he said it has put cricket into perspective for him. He said he’s got a very clear head when he goes out to bat; he knows what he wants to do and he said the the first double century really helped him on the weekend, he felt like it was muscle memory. He knew what pace he needed to bat at and he knew that it wasn’t mission impossible; he knew how to conquer Everest, and he did it again. I asked him the question; if someone else had done what he’d done in the last three games, what would he think of that person? He said he’d say that the bloke was concentrating so well, has clear thoughts and is in ripping nick. He’s not doing anything different. He made his first hundred as a 16-year-old back in 2006, he’s been a talented player for the last 18 years.
MAKING THE LEAP
MARCUS: We’ve got a once in a four-year event coming up on Thursday, in February 29. Obviously it signifies a Leap Year, and in the spirit of leaping, who are some players who have ‘made the leap’ and improved in your cricket competitions this season?
JONTY: The Berwick Springs opening combination of Jackson Marie and Riley Hillman. I spoke to Marie yesterday and the key for them this season is that, if one of them doesn’t make a big score, the other does. Marie has missed out in the last couple of weeks but Hillman stepped up with back-to-back half-centuries. You can always bank on one of them playing their role and they complement each other really well. They’ve both taken big steps forward, Marie has exceeded all expectations. In Turf 2, Adam Reid from Dandenong West is the one who’s really benefited from Nuwan Kulesekara. Nuwan is so giving around the club there from a coaching and teaching perspective and Reid has seen the fruits of that with his wicket-taking this season. Harsaroup Singh’s year for Cranbourne, in the absence of the Sweeney brothers, has been immense with bat and ball, and Sahan Jayawardana’s 356 runs at 32 doesn’t sound like a lot, but he was brought into Narre Warren as a bowler and he’s made critical runs..
DAVE: I’ve just spoken about him, but Chris Smith, 891 runs at 111 is making a leap, even if he was already a star. Steve Dillon from Kooweerup was a hugely talented kid who’s now 29. He made 90 on the weekend and he’s right in the mix for the CCCA Team of the Season. Jacobus Hynes from Cardinia had made 362 runs in a breakout season, and Devon Meadows gets a tick, having held its own in the leap from District to Premier.
MARCUS: Like Devon Meadows, Callan Tout’s jump from Turf 2 to Turf 1 was immense. He was equal-second for wickets in Turf 1 this year for Narre South and didn’t have a single innings where he didn’t take a wicket, he was incredibly consistent. And his teammate, Vinnie Jayasuriya didn’t quite have the scores to reflect it, but a couple of innings put him in this bracket. 37 on a deck that saw 25 wickets fall in one day and then 96 the following week against Berwick when his side needed it. Jordan Mackenzie too, who I mentioned earlier, has held his spot in the middle order for a dominant Springvale South side after making a late cameo in the finals last season.
Thanks for the chat boys, can’t want to do this again next Wednesday.
