The call came as a surprise — not much tends to happen along the Mallee Highway. But after he answered it, he started to realise what was going on.

Two days earlier, Verco had told the Mildura West Cricket Club that his employer, the Commonwealth Bank, had transferred him to Warrnambool.

A teammate, Tony Hickey, piped up: “I’ll give my brother a call. Hecoaches a cricket side down there”. Verco thought little of the reply.

But after answering the call in the north-west Victorian outback, he realised Hickey had followed through on his word.

The voice on the other end was Killarney Cricket Club coach Peter Hickey. The conversation set in motion the Crabs’ late-season recruiting coup.

Verco, 28, finally moved to Warrnambool after Christmas and soon found his way to Killarney training.

The opening batsman made his Grassmere Cricket Association debut against Mailors Flat in early January and has since turned heads.

Half-centuries against Purnim and Grassmere preceded a century against Yambuk last Saturday. The Crabs have 9-284 on the board entering day two.

“To be honest, I thought coming down after Christmas I might have missed the boat,” Verco said this week. “I thought cricket would be a good way to meet people. I didn’t want to take it too seriously and Pete said it was pretty casual out there.

“I couldn’t have made a better decision. They’re a wicked bunch of blokes. It’s not a bad standard. It’s country cricket.”

He chuckles at being able to say “I suppose you could call me a Crab now”, such has been the whirlwind few months.

Hickey, understandably, is glad circumstances played out the way they did.

 He watched impressed as Verco led the way against the Buks.

“He’s an opening batsman, very correct, takes his time. Once he gets in he’s got a fair array of shots,” he said. 

“You couldn’t call him a slasher. He’s an accumulator but plays the ball to all parts of the wicket.

“He’s patient early then he starts to increase his scoring after that, which is what you want as an opener.”

Verco, who grew up at Padthaway and played football with his home town last year, was pleased to have an early impact at Killarney.

“They bowled pretty good line and length early. It was pretty hard to get away. I’m not a massive hitter of the ball. I like to work it around,” he said.

“I was 40 at tea but I wasn’t happy with myself, I wasn’t hitting the gaps like the week before when I made 50-odd.

“I couldn’t get anything away. I was getting real frustrated. After tea I had a good partnership with Jeremy Sheehan.

“He took the pressure off a little bit. He was hitting the ball well. The runs started to flow.”

Third-ranked Killarney is guaranteed a finals berth but could rise to second if it beats Yambuk and Grassmere upstages Purnim.

The Meerkats made 153 and reduced the Bulls to 1-0 by stumps.

Elsewhere, Panmure will chase outright points against Mailors Flat after a dominant opening day and Hawkesdale is 3-60 in pursuit of Wangoom’s 117.