By ROY WARD
GREATER Dandenong cricket identity Des Nolan was Dandenong cricket’s ’13th man’.
He didn’t always hold an official title but he was always there, volunteering, working and at times sending his wisdom across the ground to whichever player or umpire he was unhappy with.
Nolan died last Thursday aged 76. While Nolan’s “advice” has long drifted away, his work as a talent spotter lives on.
Nolan, known to some as the “pedalling postie” due to his day job with Australia Post, was widely respected in Dandenong for his work picking players from junior cricket into Premier Cricket club Dandenong Panthers.
During earlier years Nolan was a key manager of Dandenong’s Dowling Shield under-16 side, finding players from Greater Dandenong right through to Gippsland.
Among his most notable recruits were Australian Test fast bowler Peter Siddle, former Australian player Ian Harvey and Australian all-rounder and Victorian captain Cameron White.
More importantly, he pushed countless players from the Dandenong District Cricket Association and various Gippsland leagues into the Panthers’ team, in the process helping change the club from a struggling side to one of the strongest in Premier Cricket.
Dandenong Panthers president Michael Findlay said Nolan was not only a gifted talent-spotter but a lifelong advocate for the players he recruited. “He was very big on the juniors,” Findlay said. “He would advocate for players and push them through ahead of time.
“That’s why players like White and Siddle were playing in the ones as 16 or 17 year olds and why players like the two [Mick and Peter] Sweeneys were promoted into the twos as young players.”
Nolan was still a DDCA tribunal member up until recent years and put in countless hours rolling cricket wickets before ill health slowed him down.
Nolan still came to a number of Panthers home games last season and helped unfurl the club’s 2010-11 senior premiership flag before the first home game.
Long-time Panthers committeeman Frank Holohan said Nolan was much loved in both DDCA and Panthers circles. “If there was a person to call Mr Cricket, Des would take the cake. Des was the centre of attention when cricketers got together.
“People still listened to his advice about cricket and I have trouble remembering any time he was wrong in his opinions on the game. As for his talent picking cricketers, I don’t think it has ever been equalled in Dandenong.”
Holohan said Nolan maintained long contacts with both the players he recruited and their parents long after their cricket commitments finished.
“The parents of those players, to my knowledge, trusted Des implicitly. That is part of the reason they sent their kids to Dandenong.
“You will find those parents and players who really made the grade still kept in contact with him. You will be amazed by the number of cricketers who come along on Wednesday.”
Nolan was a cricketer, executive member, tribunal panel member, Victorian Metropolitan Cricket Union delegate, club president as well as a mentor to juniors and under-21 players.
Nolan and his wife Denise were both DDCA life members while Nolan was also a life member of the VMCU, Dandenong Panthers, Maranatha Methodist Cricket Club and a recipient of the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.
Nolan’s funeral will be at St Mary’s Catholic church, Dandenong, at 11am this Wednesday. The wake will follow at Shepley Oval, Dandenong. Nolan is survived by his wife Denise, daughter Cathy and granddaughter Rachel.
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