By Lorenzo Di-Mauro Hayes, ACS Journalism Scholar (mentored by The Footy Almanac‘s John Harms).
On the eve of the 2025-26 season, LORENZO DI-MAURO HAYES spoke with Victoria’s rising young champion Campbell Kellaway
Remember the name Campbell Kellaway. The emerging Victorian has already displayed brilliance with the bat. He has also had one ‘superman’ effort in the field with a stunning catch in a Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia at the WACA. With two first class centuries and a List A 100 in his CV, Kellaway is a young man in a hurry, a left-hander specialising at the head of the order.
Initially he’d been an allrounder and bowled left-arm mediums, without having the rollicking pace of one of his idols Mitchell Johnson. He liked the way Mike Hussey treasured his wicket, building his momentum. And when he suffered from stress fractures from bowling in his late teens, he concentrated on batting.
Kellaway, 22, is the nephew of Andrew and Duncan Kellaway who both played at AFL level with Richmond a generation back. Sport was always central in most conversations in his family. ‘Since I was young, I was holding a cricket bat or cricket ball in summer and kicking a footy around in winter,’ he said. ‘We’d play street cricket on Christmas Day and with my dad and my brother in the backyard.’
His first representative team and championships were with the Victorian under 12s in Darwin. Back then he batted and bowled but at 16 suffered the first of multiple stress fractures and by 19 he was a specialist batsman.
‘I stopped bowling and focussed on my batting,’ he said.
Three summers back, and still a teenager, he made 105 not out in a Cricket Australia match against a quality South African Test squad at Allan Border Field in Brisbane. The match was a trial game leading into the Tests against Australia. ‘That was really cool,’ he said, ‘and made me think my first hundred for Victoria could well be just around the corner.’
In late November 1922, he made his Victorian debut, against Tasmania in hometown Melbourne, scoring 23 and 16 and held his place throughout, including the Shield final in Perth.
The following season, he played eight of Victoria’s 10 games, a double of 47 and 46 in a low-scoring match in Adelaide particularly satisfying as the Vics won narrowly.
He identifies his first triple-figure (122) in the Sheffield Shield in late November 2024, against Queensland at the ‘Gabba as a defining moment. It was his first ever day-night Shield game and 20th match for Victoria. It earned him man-of-the-match honours as the Victorians had conceded a large first innings lead against a quality attack including Mark Steketee and Mitchell Swepson. ‘It was a big one to tick off,’ he said.
Later in the season, he made an unbeaten 165 against Western Australia at the WACA in a team score of 9-370 declared. Among those he opposed were Cam Gannon, Corey Rocchiccioli and the left-swing specialist Joel Paris.
Kellaway has also represented Australia at under-age levels, being part of the team which played in the West Indies in the 2022 Under-19 World Cup. His 54 in a low-scoring match against Sri Lanka in Basseterre in St Kitts and Nevis was a highlight. ‘I was pumped to make the team… there was still bit of COVID stuff happening, so that was a little bit of a challenge. But once we got out there and we were playing cricket again it was awesome.’ (in six games he averaged 47, second in the averages behind Teague Wyllie from Perth).
Kellaway has also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League, debuting in BBL 12. He loves all formats of the game. ‘I like the challenge of trying to be a good player in all three formats,’ he said.
His aim is to play for Australia and also be part of a Shield winning Victorian team.
‘That’s a big one for me,’ he said. ‘We’ve got a young squad coming through and some good, experience senior pros in there as well.’
He started the new season early, in July, with 50-over and a first-class match in Darwin against the visiting Sri Lankan A team, playing alongside the likes of Nathan McSweeney, Matt Renshaw and another emerging young Victorian, fellow left-hander Ollie Peake.
Victoria’s coach Chris Rogers loves Kellaway’s work ethic and predicts a bright future. There will be the inevitable roadblocks, but he believes Kellaway’s unflappable temperament will see him be a high achiever… and hopefully sooner rather than later.
We wish him well.
- Australian Cricket Society’s literary scholar Lorenzo Di-Mauro Hayes is mentored by writer John Harms. His pieces are also published at www.footyalmanac.com.au .