The father-son combination helped Bookaar to a win over Noorat on Saturday to mark 14-year-old Paddy’s first grade debut.

Paddy was run out late in the innings without scoring, but grabbed a wicket in the final over of the game.

Having his son playing alongside him brought out the best in Simon, who complied a match-winning knock of 100.

Simon said it was a thrill to play alongside his son. 

“I was lucky enough to play a lot of cricket with my dad so it was great to get the chance to play with Paddy,” Simon said. 

“That’s the great thing with cricket, you can play until you are a bit older.

“It was nice to get a few runs, Paddy came in when I went out.

“It would have been good to bat together but that’s alright, he did well for his first game.”

Paddy, who plays juniors at Bookaar and has also played in the division three team, got the call up to division one when another player copped a corkie at football training on the Friday night and couldn’t play.

The young gun said he was happy to get the chance to step up. 

“It’s good playing with the older boys, I know them all pretty well,” Paddy said. 

“I’ve watched dad play a lot so it’s good to play with him.

“He’s taught me a fair bit about cricket, we’ve played a lot at home, especially when we go camping.”