Almanac Cricket: Cricket by the Sea
A white picket fence encircles Point Lonsdale Oval, lending the ground an idyllic English geometry. It’s Saturday afternoon and, lured by a cricket match, I drive in and park by the mid-wicket boundary. Snatching ten minutes to take in a genteel encounter — any venue and contest will do. The trend for picket fences is heartening; simple wooden slats bring an elegance to our increasingly coarse world. They also suggest quiet expectations of courteous behaviour for both players and spectators.
I love country cricket but understand many find it incomprehensible. As a sporting contest it is often ritualised rather than wild battle. To the uninitiated, nothing appears to be happening on the field, but in truth everything is transpiring with absorbing compulsion. It’s a psychological feast of anticipation and patience, punctuated by staccato bursts of movement — then lengthy, enigmatic lulls.
Bowling and fielding, characterised by a cheerful mellowness, suggest this is a B- or C-grade fixture, a suspicion confirmed by the participants — grey-haired and slower of limb. Of course, the chubbiest chap keeps wicket, and he’s unexpectedly spritely, crouching behind the stumps before bouncing in to scoop up the return throws. His nickname is surely Nugget.
The scrubby surrounds are unmistakably coastal Australia, and the scene reminds me of the one time I played cricket by the sea. This was at Elliston, after a Friday night at the Port Kenny pub with my Wudinna CC teammates. The next morning, a tinny putted out into the bay and we went fishing — Stink, Ning, Jock, Snook, Chess and me, crowded onto the tiny deck — during which the bird’s nest I made of my line earned me a new nickname: Tangles, in honour of the beloved Max Walker. Winning late in the day, I recall hearing the crashing surf in sonic contrast to the dusty breezes and magpie warbles of landlocked Kapunda.
Gazing again at those sharing the patchy grass and leisurely privilege, I think of the joyous belonging cricket clubs can gift their members. It’s only partly about what happens on the field; the spirited and forgettable exchanges at training and in the clubrooms matter just as much. Bumping into your teammate — the mechanic — outside the post office on a Tuesday lunch confirms this bond.
On Point Lonsdale Oval, the placid medium-pacer saunters in and overpitches just enough on a decent line. Seagulls dance on the salty air as the batsman steps into an off drive, but it rambles over the rough turf straight to a fielder and I hear the shout of, ‘No!’ This is representative of the even contest during my stay: no wickets or chances, but no boundaries either — just a handful of modest scoring shots. Was it dull? No. Utterly engrossing and healthily diverting.
Claire is shortly due on stage at the Queenscliff Music Festival, so after half a dozen overs I turn the key in the ignition. This brief cricket excursion has returned me, happily, to the languid Saturdays of my youth.
More from Mickey Randall can be read HERE
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About Mickey Randall
Now whip it into shape/ Shape it up, get straight/ Go forward, move ahead/ Try to detect it, it's not too late/ To whip it, whip it good
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For many years I played cricket for the Colac Cricket Club. Our oval, with white picket fences, overlooking Lake Colac, is a magnificent setting for playing and watching cricket. Your piece brought memories of many games played and watched there, and also the delights of country cricket.
Enjoyable read-Mickey totally agree re picket fences they add a touch of class.In terms of country sport personally more experience in footy than cricket I umpired a game at Penneshaw on KI a incredible picturesque background and a season on the country panel in 83 yes plenty of characters in every possible way.
Picket fence is a very recent addition, definitely not there last season. (We walk there a lot). Did you do Portarlington parkrun?
The Colac ground at Lake Colac looks beautiful Col, I hope to see Pomborneit play there one day.
Nice Story Mickey.The only ground by the sea i have seen cricket is Williamstown. Have played at Pory Campbell but does not have a view of the ocean.
Am going to the UK next year and hope to drive through some villages and hopefully see some village grounds and maybe some action for half an hour
Thanks, Col and Malcolm. I love finding a country cricket ground (usually the footy oval too!) but especially appreciate one by the water. We don’t have too many lakes in SA, but the Barmera oval is adjacent to Lake Bonney and is well situated!
Noelmc- picket fence upgrades are definitely trending, and Glenelg Oval was a beneficiary a while ago. As it was only a few minutes’ drive from our accommodation, I did the Ocean Grove parkrun (and ran the course on every other morning we were in town) and enjoyed it despite the persistent, chiily breeze.
Rodney- the UK is magnificent for cricket grounds. I saw ponies watching the play at New Forest, marvelled at the gasometer at the Oval during the truly magnificent 2005 Ashes, and happened across a sloping ground that featured an oak tree at long-off! I can’t remember where, sorry but the county is littered with oddities like this.
Thanks to everyone.
You’ve always loved fishing. Great read Mickey.
There are few things more enjoyable than taking in a half-hour or so of a local cricket match in which you have no personal investment whatsoever.
Thanks for this.
40 years ago glimpsed Mosman Oval pristinely overlooking Sydney Harbour with the Opera House and Bridge beckoning. Thought this must be what heaven looks like – not that I’ll find out.
I walk the nephew’s dog around Mt Lawley sports grounds a couple of days most weeks. Three adjoining ovals – interchangeably footy, cricket and a baseball diamond. Love it when I chance upon a school cricket carnival. Sit on a bench feeling 16 again as the leggy loops another stubbornly refusing to descend within the allotted 22 yards.
Then I reluctantly attempt to get up from the seat.
Bugger – 70 again!
Anonymous – I am the face of modern fishing.
Smokie – I imagine this book has been done: over a summer the author visits a different country cricket match every Saturday and captures the action, characters and differing environments. I’d read it!
PB – I guess a young AB played at Mosman a bit as he made his ascendency. In the summer of 1985, some Kapunda friends and I spend a couple weeks in Drummoyne with a mate who’d moved there to become an air traffic controller. I wrote this about that time and place-
‘Among the many delights was playing cricket in the hot and plush surrounds at Drummoyne Oval. Bare-footed and juggling beers, we batted and bowled and laughed, surrounded by all that sky and all that cobalt water. The details of the cricket don’t matter, but I recall the white picket fence, our lazy bliss, and VB in naval quantities.’
Thanks to all.
Magnificent Mickey. A picket fence at our oval is on the to do list for all the reasons you outlined in your opening paragraph.
Thanks Luke. Bull-nosed verandas and picket fences surrounding ovals surely among the most comforting of sights in our fair country. I look forward to the photos when Pomborneit Cricket Club gets a new fence!