EIGHT IS GREAT
He may no longer be the tearaway quick he once was, but West Warrnambool’s Mark McLean is proving to be as effective as ever.
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McLean had a day out on Saturday in the Panthers’ Warrnambool and District Cricket Association (WDCA) division two game against Wesley-CBC.
McLean finished with the figures of 8-8 to help bowl Wesley-CBC out for 42, well short of the Panthers’ score of 369.
McLean, 39, said the most pleasing part of his performance was helping his team to victory.
“You could see the rain was coming so we just needed to bowl them out so we could get the six points,” McLean said.
“I would like to think I was bowling unplayable deliveries but the reality is I just tried to stand the seam up and keep it simple.
“The 8-8 didn’t really dawn on me until after the game when I was having a quiet beer.”
McLean is in his sixth season at West Warrnambool, having previously played at the Hamilton and Grampians clubs in the Hamilton District Cricket Association (HDCA).
During his time in the HDCA, he opened the bowling at country week and played against a touring Sri Lankan team.
While WDCA division two may not be as glamorous, McLean is still loving his cricket.
“An old footy injury means I can only come off a few steps now, the body is a bit fragile,” he said.
“In division two, there are some really good young players and older blokes who have done it all in the past, so it’s a good standard of cricket.”
MULTI-TASKING
The cricket field is turning out to be the perfect place for Simon Illingworth to escape the pressures of life as a Corangamite Shire councillor.
On Saturday, Illingworth rode the highs and lows of local cricket.
Playing division two for the Heytesbury Rebels in the South West Cricket Association (SWC) Twenty20 competition, Illingworth started the day on a high note in the game against Princetown. He made 31 and then helped bowl his team to victory with a haul of 4-14.
But as cricket can do, Illingworth was quickly brought back to earth, the next game against Ecklin producing a duck and figures of 0-28 in a losing team.
Illingworth, 51, played first grade cricket in Geelong for Highton in his prime, before having a long break from the game.
He explains his return to the sport wasn’t planned.
“Three years ago I was asked to fill in and I’m still playing now,” he said with a laugh.
“I remember I turned up for my first game with my cricket gear in a chaff bag.
“I have brought a cricket bag since, but just a temporary one.”
A bonus for Illingworth in his return to cricket is he gets to watch from close up the progress of his 13-year-old daughter Milly, who he plays alongside in division two. Milly is in the Victorian Country under 15 squad and has just returned from training in Melbourne, where she batted in the nets alongside Glenn Maxwell.
“She has just been clocked bowling at 102kpm,” he said.
“Playing division two against men twice, three times her age is a great learning curve for her. She is doing well, if she is not the best fielder in our team then she is close to it.”
GCA TEAM OF THE WEEK
Tim Bryce (Panmure) 69, Duncan Craw (Woolsthorpe) 63*, Paddy Mahony (Panmure) 60, Mark White (Woolsthorpe) 59, Adam Chambers (Grassmere) 55*, Phillip Edwards (Mailors Flat) 50, Justin Coates (Grassmere) 40, Chris Arthur (Wangoom) 4-32, Stephen McGrath (4-57), Nick Kermond (Wangoom) 3-35, James North (Hawkesdale) 3-53.
WDCA TEAM OF THE WEEK
Alex Jennings (Woodford) 91, Luke Wines (Woodford) 84, Nick Butters (Woodford) 39, Caleb Bidmade (Nestles) 37, Shashan Silva (Russells Creek) 37, Ben Dobson (Wesley-CBC) 23, Jason Perera (Port Fairy) 5-31, Xavier Beks (Dennington) 4-42, Mark Murphy (Brierly-Christ Church) 3-29, Sam Clarkson (Merrivale) 3-32, Terry Beks (Dennington) 3-24.
SWC TEAM OF THE WEEK
Jeff Rosolin (Heytesbury Rebels) 84*, Tim Place (Pomborneit) 59, Tom Place (Pomborneit) 38, David Murphy (Pomborneit) 38*, Grant Place (Pomborneit) 35, Tyler Schafer (Mortlake) 32, Lahiru Fernando (Pomborneit) 4-7, Bayley Thompson (Heytesbury Rebels) 4-16, Isaac Wareham (Mortlake) 2-7, Neil Kelly (Mortlake) 2-8 Tharaka Sendanayake (Pomborneit) 2-8.
DOUBLED UP
While going through our archives, we stumbled across a competition that is no longer with us. Late February, 1996, and The Standard reported on the successful running of the 21st annual Purnim Double Wicket Competition. Pairs of players combined their talents to see who could make the most runs in their allocated overs. The winners in 1996 were Brian Wilkinson and Ken Parsons. Pictured top right taking part in the competition is Darren Williams.
WEDDED BLISS
The common sense rule has been enacted in the SWC.
This Saturday, Camperdown and Mortlake will play a Twenty20 game at DC Farran Oval. The game was due to be played last weekend but Camperdown requested a change of date, with the game clashing with the wedding of star all-rounder Jye McLaughlin.