Honeymoon 150 for the Hawk

By Marc McGowan
CRICKET well and truly took a back seat for Casey-South Melbourne veteran Matthew Hawking last month.
The affable fast bowler married his long-time sweetheart, Katy, on 6 September and was still on his honeymoon when round one arrived.
But Hawking, 30, who played his 150th first XI match on Saturday, has been back at Casey Fields for the past four weeks and is as enthusiastic as ever.
“Cricket is one of the most important things to me, but, obviously, getting married and being with Katy changes my view on a lot of things,” he said.
“She is the most important thing to me and it’s nice to be able to have that as well as being able to get out and still play sport, because I’m pretty passionate about that as well.”
The inclusions of young quicks Jayde Herrick and Ash Perera have allowed “Hawk” to play more of a supporting role this year after he led the attack last summer.
The impressive batch of off-season recruits at the Swans has reinvigorated Hawking and he is excited about the club’s future.
“Nothing against the other guys who have been here, but I just think for the club to get someone as high profile as Mark Ridgway, plus our recruits, has created a massive buzz around the place,” he said.
“It has made people want to come back and be part of the club.
“I was thinking about whether to keep going on or not, but having all these changes happen makes you believe, whether it’s this year or next, that we can start to perform a lot better and that we’re going in the right direction.”
Hawking, who has captured 188 Victorian Premier Cricket first XI wickets at an average of 31.82, was a late starter in the game, plying his craft in indoor cricket before taking major strides after joining Werribee Centrals Cricket Club as a 16-year-old.
He first surfaced at South Melbourne as a fresh-faced 18-year-old who had dreams of representing his state.
The Camberwell resident played with Australian Test greats Damien Fleming and Wayne Phillips, as well as former Victorian star and current Swans’ president Mick Taylor, in that initial season.
Hawking, who is an accountant for food company Simplot, never achieved that early ambition, but his experiences at the Swans have more than made up for that disappointment.
“I was straight into the firsts when I first came down as an 18-year-old and you think maybe one day you would (play for the state),” he said.
“But, when you see the Victorian players, you realise how big the gap is between a player like myself and those that do play first-class cricket – they’re just that bit faster, stronger and quicker.”
Hawking’s body takes longer to recover from games these days and he concedes his career is now a season-by-season proposition.
But he will always cherish his time at Casey-South Melbourne, once he does decide to pull up stumps.
“One of the pluses of playing for South Melbourne is the amazing history and the amount of people you get to meet,” Hawking said.
“I can’t imagine having played my cricket anywhere else. It very quickly became my club and I don’t think I would have enjoyed playing my cricket anywhere else.”
Former Swans skipper Michael Hansen plays his 200th first XI fixture for the club this weekend.