CONNECTIONS and a competitive edge brought Tom Millard to Mortlake.
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The leg-spinner spent three years away from cricket, focusing on football and life outside of sport, before Cats president Todd Lamont got in touch.
Millard didn't take much convincing.
The Derinallum-based talent played junior representative cricket with Mortlake all-rounder Lachie Wareham and coincidentally shares a university course with Isaac Wareham in Geelong.
"It's a big time commitment to play cricket and I was enjoying the weekends off," Millard said.
"But with missing footy this year I was really keen to get back into sport.
It's hard to gauge where I'm at but I felt like they were coming out all right. It'll be nice to have a dry day and to play on turf a bit.
- Tom Millard
"The focus is definitely on having fun and enjoying myself. The first couple of sessions have been great and it's been good to get back into it again. I know a few blokes and right across the board the club is very tight knit."
Millard began bowling leg-spin as a 10-year-old in a bid to add a point of difference his game.
He missed the Cats' round one triumph over Cobden but contributed 1-35 off 10 overs in Mortlake's hard-fought defeat to Heytesbury Rebels on Saturday.
"It's hard to gauge where I'm at but I felt like they were coming out all right. It'll be nice to have a dry day and to play on turf a bit," Millard said.
"I didn't play on many hard wickets when I last played cricket up in Ballarat so it'll be great to get on some turf this season."
As for how Mortlake is placed?
"I think (captain) Todd (Robertson) is trying to bring evenness to the group," Millard said.
"He doesn't want us to just rely on the top-order batsmen. There's great leadership here and I think we'll have a pretty successful season.
"I'm very keen just to give it another go and get back playing."
The keen footballer, who is studying commerce at Deakin University, was also determined to lace the boots in the Mininera and District league in 2021.
"I'm pretty keen to get back into it," Millard said.
Millard's Mortlake side will face reigning premier Pomborneit on Saturday.
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Nick Ansell
Nick Ansell is a sports journalist at the Warrnambool Standard.
Nick Ansell is a sports journalist at the Warrnambool Standard.
