By Tyler Lewis
Brett Forsyth still remembers his debut Premier Cricket First XI innings and the liberating feeling of getting off the mark.
Fast-forward 262 matches, the Dandenong champion was blissfully unaware that his 61st run on Saturday would propel him into the competitions 9000-run club, territory just 15 cricketers have gone before him.
He joins some of the competitions greatest ever: Warren Ayres, Warwick Armstrong, John Scholes and Jack Ryder, just to name a few.
“I hadn’t really considered it,” he said with a laugh after a long pause.
“I suppose you pinch yourself, I remember my first game and just wanting to get off the mark and contribute to a win.
“I guess to be playing such a high level and being able to perform strongly throughout the duration is something that is a little bit humbling.
“I am proud that I have kept trying, trying to play as well as I can for as long as I can to help Dandenong win.
“It is humbling, I guess I am proud to join those cricketers… statistically anyway.”
He further remembered that debut innings and how a wiry teenager managed to get away to a start that at the time felt like a monstrous knock.
“My first game was against Prahran – I was 15 or 16 – and they (Prahran) had five state players,” he recalled.
“We had a few handy players ourselves with (Warren) Ayres, (Darren) Pattinson, (Peter) Siddle.
“It was a bit surreal; I was walking in and David Hussey was walking in behind me, Bryce McGain, Jonathon Moss, Cameron Huckett (too), I remember my dad laughed and said ‘you and Huss are walking into the same ground together’.
“We were lucky enough to win that day, they’re really fond memories, I probably remember that game more than others.
“I think I got 15 and put a little partnership on with Darren Pattinson before Peter Siddle got five-for, he then played his first game for Victoria later that week.
“There you are not as powerful and a little bit limited, so you just try to feel your way into the game.
“You also learn to love the challenge more rather than the end result, when you’re younger you just want to hit the ball to the fence, whereas now I enjoy the challenge of getting to 10.”
The Panthers stalwart had a rare patch of smaller scores before Christmas last summer before finishing the year strongly.
Despite evidently adjusting to leading in more ways than one to finish the season, Forsyth decided to relinquish the captaincy in the lead up to the 2022/23 summer.
While he isn’t black-marking himself for futuristic leadership opportunities, he has enjoyed the freedom of just being responsible for runs.
“I think it was just a change and for some people change is a bit difficult,” he said.
“Taking on the captaincy (last season) probably shouldered a bit too much of the team’s performance and – because you’re not used to that – I found it difficult at times.
“I think I adjusted well over the break, I hadn’t had a slump in terms of runs or output for a while, so you have to dig a bit deeper and think to when you were a bit younger and had a run of poor scores.
“I just want to give the boys a more positive start, thankfully we were able to do that yesterday, albeit not getting the end result.
“I guess I have always still prided myself on leading around the club and on performance… I love captaining and if they asked me to do it again, I would do it, but at this stage I am happy to let others do it.”
Unfortunately for Forsyth and his Panthers, his 73 wasn’t enough to steer Dandenong to victory – falling 53 runs shy of Essendon’s 6/241.
Forsyth’s great mate Tom Donnell is just 12 runs shy of joining him in the 9000-run club.
VIC PREMIER CRICKET ALL-TIME RUNS:
1. W Ayres – 15277
2. G Watts – 12933
3. W Scholes – 12693
4. J Ryder – 12677
5. P McAlister – 11893
6. A Kent – 11032
7. S Hill – 10994
8. D Dempsey – 10154
9. P Dickson – 10045
10. D King – 9461
11. W Armstrong – 9395
12. B McArdle – 9281
13. J Stuckey – 9251
14. R Harvey – 9146
15. D Russ – 9042
16. B FORSYTH – 9012
