By Liam McCullagh ACS Journalism Scholar (mentored by The Footy Almanac‘s John Harms).
A late spring birthday means one thing – it’s an Australian obligation to involve cricket somehow, but one birthday where I got to grace the hallowed turf of the MCG as a 13-year-old, stands above all others. Given it’s my 21st birthday this November, I thought I’d pen a tribute to how the great game has assisted some of my birthday celebrations.
Looking back at old photos, my 6th birthday was where cricket had its first influence, while a group of about 10 to 15 is gathered in our backyard barbecue area dining table, I am dressed in an Australian replica cricket shirt from that horrible era where Australia wore dark green – yuck. My 8th birthday was cricket themed. Teams were picked, and all of my primary school mates were dressed in their Milo cricket gear pretending we were pros. My dad umpired, and mum took photos of all of us which have since become regularly posted on social media. My 9th was then indoor cricket as that was much easier to manage (for my parents) and then the next couple of celebrations were sleepovers as they were the trendy things to do at the time.
But my 13th birthday was my favourite. My first year of high school at Trinity College Colac. I was lucky enough to make the school cricket team which played in a super 8’s style tournament. It wasn’t like real cricket, but it was a day off school with mates and we had good fun. The rules were a bit different. From memory every run in the ‘big v’ was worth double (e.g. 6’s’ straight down the ground were worth 12), if you lost a wicket, it was minus 5 runs and you only batted for several overs with a team elected partner. Despite that State title being in 2016, 8 years ago, I am still in pretty close contact with all members of the team.
The team was led by Josh Garner who was an absolute freak, and one of the best cricketers I have seen from the Colac district. He currently opens the bowling for Geelong Cricket Club in premier cricket and has represented Australia at under-19s level. Still only 21, I believe he still has a big future in premier and potentially state cricket. Jensen Monaghan is also a very handy cricketer for Alvie. ‘Monas’ is a crafty left-armed spinner, who is full of energy in the field. Luke Fish is the most unserious cricketer I have ever seen, but very talented. Another spinner, albeit right armed, he did used to play for Irrewarra.
Another team member was Elijah Reid. Despite being a good cricketer as a junior (when all you could play was indoor or school cricket), Elijah never played club cricket as it clashed with basketball commitments. Still a more than serviceable bat, he could hit a long ball. Adam McCarney is a dour bat who is very hard to get out. I played a couple of rep cricket matches with him for Colac as part of country week, and he is a member of City United’s Division 1 team.
Pat Grimmer has had probably the most interesting sporting career out of the lot of us. Grimmer started out playing cricket and was a very good top-order bat representing Colac in junior country week teams, but then decided to take up baseball. He represented Victoria at junior level and even had the opportunity to play over in the United States for a bit. He came back to cricket a couple of years ago where I recruited him to play at Warrion.
I remember one match, about round 4. Grimmer and I had scored a total of 6 runs between us to that point and our captain said we were going to open together. We ended up being 0/73 in the final over before the drinks break before Grimmer was dismissed for 43. He now opens the batting for Apollo Bay, and still has his trademark cannon of an arm. Harry Carmody and Tom Hanson round out the squad and they are two of my closest mates. Harry played top grade cricket for Alvie but dropped back to play with mates for the Deans Marsh’s Swamp Rats in Division 2. Tom never played cricket above under-14s level but is an unbelievably good golfer. He was second youngest ever A grade club champion at the Colac Golf Club in 2018 when he won the award as a 15-year-old.
The first stage of the competition was in Ballarat, and I don’t remember much from that day apart from winning most games easily and then playing Ballarat High School in the final where we had a close win. The next stage was in Melton and again, it was easy until the final game where we played against Saint Ignatius College from Geelong. We won and went through to the State final which was at the MCG. On my 13th birthday.
I remember the bus leaving Colac early in the morning and on the drive down you could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone was buzzing. Apart from being an Auskicker, this was everyone’s first time playing on the MCG – what group of 13-year-old kids wouldn’t be pinching themselves? I don’t remember much from the game itself and can’t even remember the name of the school we played against. I remember I bowled a full toss and got hit into the stands at the MCG though. How many medium pacers can say that? I remember my grandma Mary, who was from Melbourne, coming to watch. Given she wasn’t able to watch my sister and I play sport around Colac much, this was special within itself. I remember they read the results out in conjunction with other matches from different age groups on that day. I remember we won. 123 to 118.
After the match Mary gave me my birthday present – a big box full of honeycomb chocolates, barley sugars, and mint lollies and said happy birthday. I remember I shared them with my mates on the bus ride home. A two-hour bus ride home has never gone so quick. We stopped at a McDonald’s along the Geelong ring road on the way home and brought Coca-Cola to pour into the State title cup and drink from it.
Later on in the year that team was crowned the Colac team of the year by the Colac Sportsman’s club where we each received a framed picture listing our achievement, and our name sits amongst Colac’s sporting legends at the East Hotel Bar. When I look back at images and reflect on cricket, for me it has been much more than a game. The game has helped me make lifelong friends from all walks of life, no matter the age, background or social status of those that play. It has opened doors professionally for this scholarship, and at my workplaces in the Colac Herald and MixxFM. The game has seen me grow – quite literally. Another year of getting older was always celebrated with cricket, and this year will be no different. This year my 21st birthday falls on a Saturday – which will no doubt contain cricket. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Australian Cricket Society’s literary scholar Liam McCullagh is mentored by writer John Harms. His pieces are also published at www.footyalmanac.com.au .