By Nicholas Creely
Craig Slocombe is a pillar of the DDCA – arguably its greatest ever player – but the end of his career is starting to come closer.
With nothing left to prove, Slocombe, 43, continues to grind away, captaining Springvale South in Turf 1 this season and said the youth and energy of his team-mates has kept him going – but admits that cricket won’t last forever.
“I love the game and what it brings, I want to win and that’s how I’ve grown up – cricket’s fun and there’s also a lot of healthy competition in this association, obviously with a lot of people coming in around the same age as me,” he said.
“At the moment, my motivation is our young group, we are skilful and switched on – I don’t want to leave them in the deep end because they’re really good kids – and I want to have something decent to watch with a beer down the track.
“I haven’t put a date on anything, but the end is very close.”
Tragics of the DDCA have branded Slocombe the greatest batsman produced in a richly strong competition, but typical of the ‘Slocs’ style, he remained modest and dismissive of the tag.
“It doesn’t sit comfortably at all, to be honest.
“When you play long enough you’re going to make a lot of runs, it shouldn’t be based on that.
“I could rattle off more players comfortably that I’d put way ahead, they just didn’t play 30 years, that’s the difference,” he explained.
“I’m chancy, I like to take the game on, I suppose, I love putting bowlers on the back foot and gaining the upper hand early.
“I have been lucky enough to score runs in numerous finals but the will to win never fades and I play proudly.”
Now looking at life post-cricket, Slocombe is sketchy about his involvement in the sport, in particular coaching, and has other areas of life that he is looking to pursue.
“I’m not sure, to be honest, I’m lucky I have a few things to choose from but at this stage the first thing I’ll do when I retire is not wake up worrying about what to do,” he said.
“This is my second year coaching the Under 21s. I’ve been watching it for a long time and I played myself back in the day, so I’m not sure of my path.
“But something I’ve seen is some incredible players to come out of the Under 21s.
“Steve Myer was someone I saw come through the Under 21s and he went on to become a champion Premier player, and now is a legend of the DDCA.
“James Pattinson, Will Carr, those kinds of guys have gone on to higher ranks that I’ve seen come through.”
