Cranbourne Meadows batting star Adam Thornton in action for the WGCA Country Week side this season.By Marc McGowan
CRANBOURNE Meadows cricketer Adam Thornton will embark on an exciting opportunity this summer.
District cricket club Casey-South Melbourne had previously approached Thornton about his services, but he has now officially been asked to join its training.
The club is moving to Casey Fields for the upcoming season from Harry Trott Oval, its home since 1995, and is identifying local talent to play for them.
Thornton, 21, said it was exciting and he was looking forward to it.
“I was thinking about playing A grade at Beaconsfield this season, but they’ll always be there. I just thought ‘this is the time, I’ve had a good couple of years and I’ll go for it’.”
The club is a breeding ground for Australian players, boasting the likes of Graham Yallop, Keith Miller, Clarrie Grimmet and Damien Fleming, among former greats.
It has Thornton dreaming of higher honours.
“Absolutely, but it’s a bit of a dream. It’s a lot of hard work,” he said.
Thornton has already amassed an impressive cricketing portfolio.
While playing junior cricket in Ferntree Gully, he was offered the chance to play in Sri Lanka – competing in Galle, Colombo and Kandi against local Sri Lankan sides.
Thornton paid for the airfares, but everything else was paid for once he was over there.
“It was an awesome trip,” he said.
An interesting side note to his Sri Lankan experience is that the Galle Cricket Ground that Thornton played on – a test-cricket arena – was wiped out in the devastating 2004 tsunami.
Casey-South Melbourne had already been scouting the talented youngster, but his sparkling century in the West Gippsland Cricket Association (WGCA) interleague match earlier this year sealed the deal.
His 102 not out was particularly noteworthy as he helped WGCA recover from 6/60 and ease to victory.
It was an impressive achievement – particularly considering that it is an anomaly for a B-grade cricketer to make the side.
Unfortunately it is the highest level at Cranbourne Meadows, but he clearly has the talent to play at a higher standard and his performances continue to underline this point.
He scored 493 runs at 49.3 last season – the second highest figures in his grade – and has even added off-spin to his artillery in recent years.
Thornton took 22 wickets at a miniscule 13.5 runs a wicket last season and, together with his batting performances, managed to earn him runner-up in the B-grade Player of the Year.
Older brother Aaron, 23, joined him as runner-up in the voting, as Cranbourne Meadows fell at the final hurdle to Kooweerup in March.
He is currently spending the off-season playing amateur football for De La Salle. It is all part of his strenuous new fitness regimen.
Thornton had his first training session with Casey-South Melbourne on Monday night and he is expecting some hard times ahead.
“There’ll be swimming, running – five kilometres and stuff like that. It’ll be tough, but I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“I want to thank them for the chance and with a lot of hard work hopefully it will pay off.”
