WHEN Casey-South Melbourne spinner Clive Rose played for Victoria’s second eleven against Sri Lanka earlier this year he thought he had experienced the highlight of his summer.
When he made his senior Victorian one-day debut in mid-February he was sure there was nothing better to come.
But all that changed last night when he was awarded the Jack Ryder Medal as the best and fairest player in Premier Cricket.
Rose joins some of the greats of Victorian cricket after he polled 34 votes in the count to beat Frankston-Peninsula duo Matt Chasemore (32 votes) and James Miller (31 votes) to win with Ringwood’s David King finishing fourth and Prahran’s Steve Seymour fifth.
The 22 year old left-arm spinner had a career-defining season taking 41 wickets at 20 from 18 matches for the Swans while also making 440 runs at 27.
Rose, a Narre Warren South resident, said the medal win had caught him by surprise.
‘‘I thought I might be top-5 as they had invited me to the count,’’ he said.
‘‘So it caught me by surprise.
‘‘To stand up on the stage in front of all those great players, it was pretty big for me.’’
Rose said his parents were elated about the honour.
‘‘You couldn’t wipe the smile of their face when I told them,’’ he said.
During the off-season Rose hopes to play in England after securing a deal with Durham based-club Crook, although that deal depends on him securing his work visa which he is waiting to receive.
