Wife: Andrea.

Children: Fraser, Maggie and Daisy.

Parents: Warwick and Barbara.

Siblings: Jason, Narelle, Adam and Bethany.

Education: Mailors Flat Primary School before going to Warrnambool Technical School which is now Brauer College.

Sporting highlight: Playing in a B grade premiership for Mailors Flat in cricket when I was 16 years old in 1986-87.

Darren, let's go back to your sporting highlight. What are your memories of playing in the senior cricket premiership when you were 16?

We were undefeated during the season and played Woodford in the semi-final. We made only 90 runs before having Woodford 0 wickets for 50 runs overnight after the first day.

We managed to get them out for about 78 runs.

We then fronted Purnim in the grand final.

We made 150 runs and ended up winning the final.

I had made three ducks in a row before the grand final and then I got dropped on a duck in the grand final before I edged one through slips and I got a run.

I was out with one run next to my name.

I've often thought about it.

I was lucky to get a game in that grand final side with Mailors Flat.

I had played every home-and-away game during the season but had not performed very well.

I think the selectors may have felt sorry for me because I was only 16 years old so they didn't want to drop me.

The bloke who I thought should have been playing instead of me was Bill Sicely.

Did your cricket career start with Mailors Flat juniors?

Mailors Flat never had a junior side in its own right.

We had a joint junior side with Grassmere.

We were known as Grassmere-Mailors Flat juniors.

Our coach was the local cricket legend 'Jakes' McDonald.

He was a great coach for junior cricketers.

He taught the kids the basics.

He was old-fashioned but passionate about cricket and loved to see young players mature and improve their skills.

The funny thing is most of the kids that played in the junior side went on to play senior cricket for Grassmere, while I went and played for Mailors Flat.

I was lucky enough to play in another premiership side with Mailors Flat in the 1993-94 season.

What can you remember about that premiership win in 1993-94?

We defeated Yambuk to win the flag.

We had some good players. Blokes like Mick Farrell, John McCosh, Phil Parkinson and Brendan Farrell.

On a personal note, I had made about 500 runs in the home and away season in 1993-94 but failed to fire in the finals.

I reckon I made five or six runs in that grand final win.

We were lucky Neville Pulham made about 50 runs in the first innings to help get us over the line, while Brendan Farrell batted well in the second innings.

I left Mailors Flat after the 1993-94 season and joined Killarney.

Were you paid much money to transfer from Mailors Flat to join Killarney Cricket Club in the 1994-95 season?

That's a funny question. My payment was a counter meal at the old Killarney Hotel.

A bloke called Ivan Clarke who owned the pub at that stage loved his cricket.

I met Ivan and Scott Bolton, who was a barman at the pub, and Killarney cricketer Gavin Buchanan for a counter meal.

The deal was for Buchanan to be captain for one season and I would take over the next year.

We had a good season in 1994-95 - just missing the finals. I reckon Bolton opened the bowling and got 35 wickets for the year.

I took over as captain in the second year but we lost a few players, including Bolton, which made it really tough for us.

I had a mate playing out at Wangoom so I went there for the 1996-97 season before having a break for a few years.

I moved to Melbourne for work opportunities and ended up coming back in 2003.

Did you get involved straight away with local cricket when you moved back to Warrnambool?

Yes. I went back out to Mailors Flat for the last few games before I was appointed captain-coach for the next season.

I stayed on as a player when Leigh Finn took over as the captain-coach for two years and in total, I was there for four years in that stint.

Jamie Fogarty, a good mate of mine, was appointed joint coach of Dennington with Dustin Drew so I went there for two seasons and then I found myself at Nestles for 2014 as coach with Kyle Humphrys as the captain.

I played some games in the seconds because we were short of players and then I gave cricket away in 2017 because of health issues with my wife and daughter.

Darren, so you haven't had anything to do with local cricket for the last three years. Have you had itchy feet in that time?

The answer is I've had nothing to do with local cricket for three years until Cam Williams came knocking on my door six weeks ago.

What did Cam Williams want you for relating to cricket?

Cam asked if I was interested in a joint cricket coaching role at Russells Creek with Andrew Thomson for this season. I thought about it for a few days and I've jumped on board.

I've been like everyone else I've been locked away for 20 odd weeks so I wanted to get back out there and get involved with cricket. Russells Creek has a great set-up.

They are very professional.

There's a lot of talented players at the club and I think they just wanted a different voice to give out the message to the players.

The club had a social hit on Sunday and it was great to be back out there enjoying the day.

We can split groups of players up at training because there are some good leaders at the club.

I'm not sure how many games we'll play because of the coronavirus pandemic but it's just great to get back outside to be involved with a sport which I love.

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