Young gun a prize pick

By Paul Pickering
EXPECT to hear a lot more of the name Dale Tormey.
That was the message from Victorian Bushrangers selectors last week, when they named the 20-year-old Hallam cricketer in their 13-man squad for the inaugural Futures League Twenty20 tournament.
The aggressive top-order batsman, who was among just three players chosen from outside the Bushranger ranks, has played alongside emerging stars Aaron Finch, Jon Holland and Michael Hill in the round-robin tournament in Melbourne this week.
The Futures League concept was devised to put Australia’s best young cricketers on show, with each state including no more than three players over the age of 23.
International stars Andrew Symonds and Shaun Tait are among the big names participating.
Tormey is a virtual unknown in that company, but his cover is about to be blown.
He was selected for the Futures League team after making a torrent of runs for Hawthorn-Monash University in the Premier Cricket competition this year, averaging 60 in the main competition and an impressive 23 in the 20-over format.
Tormey made 97 against Melbourne Uni on Saturday – his third 90 of the summer – in an ideal tune-up for the Futures tournament.
He made a duck in Victoria’s first-up loss to New South Wales on Monday, before top-scoring with an unbeaten 47 from just 34 balls in Tuesday’s loss to Queensland.
He reckons he must have been the last player told about his selection, because he had almost given up hope when the call came a fortnight ago.
“I was disappointed that I hadn’t been selected and then, out of the blue, I got a phone call saying I’d been picked, so I was a bit surprised,” he recalled last week.
Tormey has been a shining light for the Hawks in 2009, after the club was reprimanded by the league for some dodgy off-field moves last summer.
The Hawks lost star players Steven Spoljaric, Simon Dart and Englishmen Chris Benham and Roger Sillence as a result, leaving an inexperienced group to rebuild the club.
Tormey was still a teenager when he was appointed as vice-captain, but the self-assured youngster has relished the extra responsibility.
“We lost a lot of players, so I had a few blokes telling me that I had to step up this year and be the number one batsman, which I think has helped me,” he said.
“I’ve been living in the shadows of some those blokes for the last couple of seasons.”
Tormey also believes the experience of playing club cricket in England during the last two Australian winters has helped to fast-track his development.
“They’re a bit less attacking over there and if they see someone starting to hit the ball around a bit they go quite defensive,” he explained.
“Growing up I’ve always relied on boundary hitting, but with no fielding restrictions I’ve really been able to work on dropping the ball (for a single), pushing twos and taking blokes on. So I think it’s helped me learn to work the ball around a bit better.”
That maturity has been a feature of Tormey’s play this summer, but it’s his instinctive shot-making – and useful right-arm medium-pacers – that make him so valuable in the Twenty20 format.
He is now looking to press his case for a Bushrangers contract next season.
Meanwhile, Casey-South Melbourne spinner and Narre Warren South resident Clive Rose has made the most of a late call-up into the Victorian Futures League team for this week, taking two wickets in each of the first two games.