MARCUS: Alright boys, a bit of a quiet week for us with some leagues taking a break for the King’s Birthday long weekend, but the West Gippsland continued to power along. So Dave, we’ll start with you for our traditional opening segment. What was your best action from the weekend?
DAVE: Phillip Island were playing Cora Lynn. It was a nice tight tussle in the first half and then Billy Taylor from Phillip Island, a very talented player, kicked four goals in the third quarter to blow the game apart. That was basically the end of the game. He’s a very talented young fella but what he also did was hit a couple of targets off his left and right foot, and really showed his class. It made me aware that that’s why teams like Phillip Island, Tooradin and Inverloch are so good; they’ve got players who go under the radar that can do something like that. Not many clubs have got a lot of guys who can bob-up and kicked four goals in 20 minutes and change a game.
MARCUS: Is he not one of their star players?
DAVE: Not one of the absolute stars, yet, but he had a special third term and turned the game on its head.
JONTY: No action in Southern League for me so I’ll go to the Vic Country Girls trials. There were a lot of Stingrays girls who were in action, and I loved Berwick’s Meg Robertson’s unselfishness inside 50, where she passed off a couple of goals within one minute of each other. I think it typified the sort of player she is and why she’s so highly regarded. Not just her ability to do things to get out of the contest, she would have had six or seven involvements throughout the day, but there were two in particular that stood out with good hit-up kicks inside 50.
MARCUS: I had the pleasure of watching Noble Park play Balwyn in the Eastern Football League on Saturday and it was good to see Noble Park get back to their best. Noble Park’s forward pressure was fanatic in the first quarter and a scrappy kick from Balwyn ended up in the hands of Luke Nelson in the forward pocket. He was hard against the boundary line and had to step inside two defenders, then snap a high-arcing kick with his left foot as it drifted back over the goal umpire’s head. Interestingly, his three goals on Saturday were initially credited to Hudson Thomas, their centre-half-back, so I can’t imagine Nelson would have been too pleased about that.
DAVE: You reckon that’s bad? Nar Nar Goon have got a Jed Smith, a Jarrod Smith and on the wing, Jake Smith, who’s injured at the moment. Three J Smith’s in the one side…a bloody nightmare!
JONTY: Gil McLaughlin would have a field day with that on Brownlow night.
SNAKE DRAFT
MARCUS: So I’m not sure if you guys have noticed, but I’ve been sniffing and sneezing a bit recently and I was a bit concerned, thinking it might be Covid-19. I went to the Doctor on Saturday and, you wouldn’t believe it, but I’ve actually been diagnosed with a case of Ashes Fever. (Dave and Jonty erupt in laughter after looking at each other strangely)
DAVE: Wondered where you were going with that.
MARCUS: So we’ve got the Ashes kicking-off on Friday night, and for me it’s the most anticipated Test Series that comes around. I thought, one way to get us all really in the mood would be a snake draft of our favourite Ashes moments or memories over the years. For those unaware, a snake draft means the order will reverse after each round. We’ll do five rounds, starting with Dave, Jonty and then me, then in the second round it’ll go me, Jonty then Dave. We’re going to rank each other’s picks at the end, and that’ll be something we’d love our readers to give feedback on, too. Without further ado, Dave, you’re on the clock!
DAVE – PICK ONE: My love for Ashes cricket was born from this moment, and don’t laugh when I say the year. A larrikin Australian batter of years gone by in Doug Walters, it was the last ball of the day at the WACA. I was six-years-old watching the TV and thinking ‘what is this stuff?’ Last ball of the day, Walters needs six to make 100 in a session. Bob Willis bowls a bouncer right at his beak, and Walters steps inside and hooks it for six to the boundary, and there’s his 100 in the session.
MARCUS: I’m surprised you didn’t go with the Ashes being cremated back in 1882.
JONTY – PICK ONE: I don’t think anything can beat Mitchell Starc’s first ball to Rory Burns in the 2021/22 Ashes. Adam Gilchrist’s commentary really topped it off, and that set the tone for the series. It’s one of those “where were you when?” moments too.
MARCUS – PICK ONE: I will never forget Ashton Agar’s 98 at Trent Bridge. He just kept pulling out shots. The one-legged clip down the ground, for example. It was hard to believe it was real. He came in at number 11 with the team struggling and batted with the late Phil Hughes, which makes the moment all the more significant in my opinion.
MARCUS – PICK TWO: My next one is a little bit left-field, but I loved Tim Paine saying he could name ’15 grounds more intimidating than Edgbaston’ before the 2019 series. The Australians were coming off the back of a tumultuous period in Test Cricket and that showed that they weren’t scared ahead of the huge series.
DAVE: It was a real smack in the face for the English persona.
JONTY – PICK TWO: I was at cricket training on a sunny night and I remember stopping and running over to someone’s phone to watch this next highlight. Nathan Lyon’s run-out of James Vince in 2017 at the ‘GABBA. It bounced perfectly into his hands and he threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end when they tried to take a quick single.
DAVE – PICK TWO: One that I really admire is Marnus Labuschagne coming into the team at Lords in 2019 when Steve Smith got knocked-out. Jofra Archer’s bowling after lidding Smith in the first innings, and hits Marnus in the head first ball. That could have been the end of his career, but he bounced straight back up and becomes, arguably, the second best batter of his generation. The fielders were concerned for his safety and probably thought Archer was going to kill him out there, but he got straight back on his feet and made a gritty half-century.
DAVE – PICK THREE: The late David Hookes, gone too early. He was a classy left-handed batter and in 1977 he played in the Centenary Test. Tony Greig came on to bowl, Hooksey hit him for five fours in a row. It was beautiful to watch, and as a young fella at the time, that left a lasting impression with me.
JONTY – PICK THREE: “PETER SIDDLE’S GOT A HAT-TRICK ON HIS BIRTHDAY!” “Loosen those vocal chords, Tubby!” This time I had just got home from cricket training and was eating dinner in front of the TV. We were on the back foot, and then bang bang bang, we were on the front foot. Has there been a moment in the last 15-20 years of cricket that has stood the test of time so much? It just seems to get replayed and brought up every summer.
MARCUS – PICK THREE: Michael Clarke’s iconic “Get ready for a broken F****** arm”. Similar to Tim Paine’s comment, I think Clarke stepping-in when James Anderson was trying to bully George Bailey at short leg, broke their spirit so early in the series. Shout out to Pup, I hope his hamstring is okay.
MARCUS – PICK FOUR: 2006, ‘Amazing Adelaide’. It’s Clarke again combining with Shane Warne to run-out Ian Bell on the last day. Warne took four in England’s second innings, and you could sense that England were a bit wobbly, and then the run-out, where Clarke gathered the ball at backward point and threw to Warne at the non-striker’s end, I think that was the moment where you really thought, ‘wow, they’re on here.’ Given Clarke made a hundred the day before too, I thought it was significant that those two would combine for such a huge moment.
JONTY – PICK FOUR: I’m going with a bowling masterclass in Ryan Harris knocking over Alastair Cook in 2013, and more specifically the James Brayshaw commentary. “OHHHH Straight away! He’s crashed into the stumps! England have lost their first wicket with the first ball of the innings!” I think that typified how much Australia were on top of England in that series. No one wanted to face Johnson in that series and you had Harris as the perfect second fiddle at the other end.
MARCUS: He really was the perfect second fiddle, wasn’t he? It’s a shame he didn’t play more Test Cricket.
DAVE – PICK FOUR: I was driving home from work and Steve Waugh was in the nineties. I was racing home, thinking, ‘he’s going to get to his 100 just as I pull in the driveway’. So I get home and it worked out perfectly, because I turned on the TV and very next ball, he hits his 100 off the very last ball of the day against Peter Such. That was just brilliant. The crowd was right on the edge of their seat, thinking, is he going to block it? But no, bang, cover drive for four.
DAVE – PICK FIVE: 1977, Australian opener Rick McCosker got hit in the jaw and busted it in the first innings. In the second innings, Rod Marsh was on 90 not out, and Australia needed a few more runs on the board. Out comes McCosker swathed in bandages, and he batted his whole second innings with his cap on funny and with mummy-like bandages wrapped around his head. If you had a collage of great moments in Australian sport, I think McCosker in his headband would definitely be up there.
JONTY – PICK FIVE: “Why are you talking now mate, you’re not getting wickets?” Mitch Johnson over stump mic was heard sledging James Anderson about not getting any wickets, and then the very next ball, Anderson knocks over someone and stares Johnson down. If you say the Ryan Harris’s ball to Cook typified the 2013/14 series, then I think that moment typified 2010/11.
MARCUS – PICK FIVE: There’s going to be so many moments left on the board here which is a bit of a shame. I’m going to finish this on, not the most popular note, but the last day of Headingley 2019. The Stokes innings, when he started to lap Josh Hazlewood and took on the fielders on the leg-side boundary. Then culminating in Joel Wilson not giving the LBW that was as salmon trout as you’ll ever see, and the missed run out from Nathan Lyon. That’s as good as Test Cricket gets, and probably the best innings I can remember.
DAVE: How many sixes did he hit in that innings that felt like they just lobbed over the boundary? He had everything going his way. We’re going to look silly if we don’t give a shout-out to Warne’s ball of the century. We’ve got to have it in there. We’ve left the $1.40 favourite out of the quaddie!
MARCUS: So to recap, Dave’s selections: Doug Walters 100 in a session, Marnus sconned first ball and bouncing back to his feet, David Hookes five fours in an over in the Centenary Test, Steve Waugh’s last ball 100, and Rick McCosker batting in his bandage. Jonty: Mitchell Starc first ball to Rory Burns, Nathan Lyon running out Vince in 2017, Peter Siddle birthday hat-trick, James Brayshaw’s commentary when Ryan Harris bowled Cook first ball, and Johnson sledging Anderson. I’ve got Ashton Agar’s 98, Tim Paine sledging Edgbaston, broken f****** arm, the Ian Bell run-out at Adelaide in 2006 and Ben Stokes at Headingley 2019.
JONTY: There’s a clear top two here. Myself and yourself, Marcus.
DAVE: I’m happy to drop out, because most of the readers are probably going to be around your age and not know the history of cricket like you two.
JONTY: How’s that for a drive-by?
MARCUS: We’ll leave it up to the readers to decide! If you run into us in the next few weeks, we’d love to know how you scored us, and what your picks would have been. Bring on the cricket!
