By JARROD POTTER
AN UNFORGETTABLE summer is on the cards for Victorian under-17’s cricketer Cameron Brown.
Brown, 16, from Tooradin, is fulfilling his cricketing ambitions at an early age with his selection for Victoria in the upcoming Under-17 National Championships and he recently earned another great honour – debuting in Victorian Premier Cricket.
His love of cricket goes a long way back, having latched on to the sport after he took to the field for Clyde Cricket Club filling in for his older brother’s side.
The passion has only grown since then as Brown began the march through the cricket tiers towards state representation.
“Think I played my first game filling in for my brother’s under-12 team at the age of five and ever since then I fell in love with the game,” Brown said.
“My brother (Josh) and dad (Sean) got me into it – Josh played from an early age and he always says to me ‘you wouldn’t be good if it wasn’t for me’.”
First he switched to Cardinia where Brown featured in the club’s loss to Tooradin in the 2012/13 West Gippsland Cricket Association semi-final, before another step up into the Victorian Premier Cricket side Casey-South Melbourne.
He mostly played Casey-South Melbourne thirds last season, but 2014/15 has been the season he began his rise in earnest.
Striding onto Toorak Park on Saturday morning, earning his patch from Casey-South Melbourne legend Matthew Hawking, was a huge thrill for the right-arm paceman as he claimed 2/26 from 5.2 overs in his inaugural firsts match.
“I’ve always dreamed of playing ones,” Brown said.
“I never thought it would come this early, but I’ve always wanted to go out and play in the senior team so I can’t wait to go out and play.”
Add his Premier call-up and steady form in the Casey seconds to his eye-catching figures for Victoria Country at the Metro versus Country Series in Barooga in September and it was enough to earn him his Victorian colours and a ticket to Hobart.
Making the side – let alone playing or starring in any match – was the only goal for Brown and now he is hoping to play his part in Victoria winning the championships.
“Really the one thing to tick off for me was to be in the Vic team, so just to play and hopefully get a few wickets over there and… more importantly hopefully we can win the carnival,” Brown said.
Brown’s Victorian duties start next week with training sessions and a match against the under-18 development squad before flying out to Hobart for the Under-17 National Championships held from 1-13 December.
