By Tyler Lewis
Season 2021/22 will be remembered for the Dandenong Cricket Club as ‘the season Matt Wilson arrived’.
It’s not every season a club manages to unlock a player’s full potential, while also earmarking its future captain
Wilson played 48 First XI matches and basically walked in for free, with his location making more sense to play at Shepley Oval.
And while he is grateful for the opportunity he now has at the Panthers, he hasn’t forgotten or been disheartened by the time he has spent working behind some fine cricketers at his former club Carlton.
“I am living in Noble Park, so travel was a big thing for me, with work (also) in Murrumbeena,” Wilson said.
“Getting to training was taking roughly an hour and then the opportunity was also a key thing as well.
“It is hard to get a bat ahead of Evan Gulbis, (Brayden) Stepien, the Smyth’s (Harry and Tom), Macca Harvey; the opportunity was there at Dandenong, it made the move a bit easier.
“Warren Ayres at Dandenong (too), being under him at Carlton for a few years made the move a lot easier as well.
“I wasn’t taking anything to heart because I knew the players ahead of me were phenomenal players.
“I knew the position I was in, I understood if I was in the twos, there was a reason for it, I was never disheartened being down a grade and being behind such good bowlers; Stevo (Cam Stevenson), Croney (Xavier Crone), Charlie Ross used to be in there, Aaron Smilie, I mean, I couldn’t really kick up a stink about it, because I knew they could do the role I was doing with ease.
“I learned heaps off Evan, he was the biggest mentor in my bowling, people say we’re similar in a way, I learned a lot off him and his tactical nouse of reading the batters tactics,” Wilson said.
After 48 matches, Wilson managed to claim 59 wickets, but in just nine matches this year he has already sent 22 batters back to the pavilion, and leads the competition for wickets.
In a coming of age season, Wilson believes the opportunity, responsibility as vice-captain, and leader of an attack, has brought the best out of him.
“I guess coming down to Dandenong, we were obviously lacking bowlers, given how many we’d lost from last year’s first’s team,” he said.
“I guess I am taking on a bit more responsibility down at Dandenong, being more of a frontline bowler.
“I am one player with a bit more experience down at the Club, so I feel I need to put a bit more of a foot forward for the team and take more responsibility.
“The leadership was a bit of a surprise, but it is something to look forward to that I could potentially become a future captain of the club in years to come.
“Like any player in the First XI, they all want to play higher honours.
“The goal has always been there to reach my potential as high as possible and with the opportunity now (at Dandenong), it is only my fault if I can’t grab that opportunity.
“I can’t blame opportunity, the opportunity is there… it is all me now.”
Contributing the opportunity with the ball, Wilson has also flourished with the willow. So far this season he has crunched 206 runs at 29.43 batting in the top six.
“Because I was down the order at Carlton for a few years, I knew my batting wasn’t going to come to fruition too quickly,” Wilson said.
“Going from Princes Park – which is a batting paradise – to Shepley, it has been about adjusting to becoming a batsman mentally more than anything.
“I know the technique and all that, it was the mental side of things that was a bigger thing for me.”
Wilson has taken his wickets in clumps this year, finding himself at the top of his mark for a hat-trick ball on three occasions.
And while he is impressing his new club earnestly, his teammates are beginning to get a bit restless with the fact he hasn’t been able to snare one yet, even after receiving some advice from one of the competition’s best bowlers on what he should, or shouldn’t, be doing in the big moment.
“I feel like I have bowled pretty good hat-trick balls, the batsman have just come out and thought ‘I am going to defend my wicket,” he said.
“The funniest one I copped was against Frankston, Nano (James Nanopoulos) came out to bat and I bowled him one about half-way up middle-stump.
“He just blocked it and sledged me back; he said ‘why are you bowling half-volleys for hat-trick ball?’ I was a bit gobsmacked by that one.
“I am struggling to get there with them, I feel like I am bowling them well, but I just can’t break-through,” Wilson joked.
In a demonstration of his fine season, Wilson is finely poised to join the ’30 wicket club’, a feat that four players have achieved in that last ten seasons.
DANDENONG 30 WICKET CLUB
SEASON PLAYER WKTS AVE
2011/12 James Wilcock 32 22.03
2011/12 James Nanopoulos 31 21.97
2012/13 Justin Butterfield 36 17.03
2012/13 James Nanopoulos 35 15.54
2015/16 Justin Butterfield 40 16.9
2016/17 James Nanopoulos 30 21.9
2017/18 James Nanopoulos 40 16.63
2018/19 James Nanopoulos 33 19.33
2019/20 James Nanopoulos 46 12.5
2019/20 Suraj Randi 34 11.26
2020/21 James Nanopoulos 37 14.41
2021/22 MATT WILSON* 22 18.36
