Almanac Life: My Footy Almanac debut

I got to raise the bat last Wednesday.

Not literally, I’m nowhere near a good enough cricketer for that.

My last innings I batted two hours and made 12 runs whilst the reverse sweep generation did the heavy lifting as Hartley Wintney Sunday Seconds chased 200 odd and came up short.

No, it was my 50^th birthday and my Mum bestowed upon me her all-time best Birthday present.

She put me in the ballot for a SACA membership for the 24-25 season and I got confirmation shortly before the big day.

 

My wife and son, and our dog, were done in the UK. After 13 years, it was decided, as a family we were moving back to Australia.

My wife summed it up best, “Why am I married to an Australian and we don’t live there? It makes no sense.”

Moving back to Australia made perfect sense, moving back to Melbourne not so much. I, like others my age, have aging parents, my wife has sadly lost both hers. There was nothing keeping us there.

So, we were moving back to Adelaide where my Mum is and she knew that the season membership to the old ground would have gone down really well, and get more than enough use over the summer.

 

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test match was shining bright in the background of our move but then an annoying oversight put us back six months because dogs need rabies blood tests to enter the country and that’s how long you have to wait after said test before they can join you in Australia.

So instead of being there in shorts, tee shirt and baseball cap drinking beers and chatting all things cricket, I will be here in my pyjamas and dressing gown with a glass of red and describing the play to my dog whilst the house sleeps.

 

My love affair with the Adelaide Oval began in 1982 and my first ever visit.

Norwood gave Woodville a touch up, Rocky Roberts bagged 11 and on the final siren I darted on to the ground, autograph book in hand, and sat down next to the great man as he peeled off his socks and shoes and obliged by signing.

He may or may not have been smoking a dart post siren, I reckon he was but I can’t be certain.

Trevor Pierson kicked a bag for the Peckers, I’m not sure how many, but I remember being impressed by him playing so well when they were so comprehensively beaten.

He kicked the ton that year, the first Woodville player to achieve the feat so it stands to reason he probably dobbed a few.

I don’t know who took me, I’m going to guess it was Mum.

 

It was Mum who used to bellow “Hooksey’s in love” whenever my first favourite cricketer would stroll to the middle live on the tele.

Her and I used to visit The Parade quite often when I was little, Grandad refused and only ever took me to Unley for Sturt games, and my two best mates at the time were mad Roosters fans so I spent heaps of time at Prospect.

 

I don’t know whatever happened to Chris Windsor we lost contact when I moved to Mildura the following year. I also lost contact with Josh Francou but unlike Chris I found out what he was up to when I got older, it wasn’t difficult. Watching him get in and under for the Power on TV every week didn’t come as a huge surprise.

His dad Maurie was the headmaster at Nailsworth Primary, that’s how we met. I’ve only ever broken one bone, my right-hand pinky courtesy of a bullet drop punt from Josh in the school yard.

 

I moved to Mildura in 83 to live with my Dad because Mum moved to Tennant Creek to run a newspaper and it was decided that would be best for me.

I used to spend the summer holidays up there and write the sports pages for the paper, the joys of your Mum running a newspaper that sent her broke.

 

I would return to Adelaide about four hours after finishing my last exam in Year 12 in 1992 and made a beeline to the Adelaide Oval for a Shield game against Tasmania.

I sat in the Bradman Stand and watched Boony put on a partnership with a 17-year old kid on debut named Ricky Ponting. He scored 56 and would pretty much average that for the next 17 years, and there were very few of us there that day to see the start of something that would develop into quite remarkable. It was there, from that first innings in particular, the pull shot with the swivel. I’m hearing Punter vibes with young Sam Konstas let’s hope to be so lucky.

I spent $40 for a 5 day pass to the Test match against the Windies that summer $40 I reckon you’d struggle to buy a round for that much now.

It rained quite a bit but the West Indies fans had drums to bash and joints the size of Grey Nicholls scoops on the go. Good times.

JL made his debut, got 50 odd, Brian Charles Lara didn’t score 277. I was pretty certain we were going to regain the Frank Worrell Trophy but the Caribbean kings had other plans, having said that DRS would have rescued us, and we would have, but then again if we did, would the great Curtly Ambrose have taken 7-1 in Perth the following week?

 

I left Adelaide not long after Tony Modra took that grab sitting on Mick Martyn’s head at Footy Park. If you pause the footage behind the goals, there I am in all my blurry, pixelated youth.

 

A few years later I started working in television and still do. I roll slow motion replays and edit highlight packages on live sports productions. I always wanted to be a sports journalist but stumbled upon my vocation by being in the right place at the right time whilst others around me refused to learn the new toy that changed broadcasting.

I had nothing to lose so simply said: “I’ll do it”

It has been good to me but I have been in the UK for 13 years so I haven’t been able to see the new Adelaide Oval for a day’s play.

 

Every January, I travelled home for a month to work on the Australian Open. Last year I asked instead of doing the lead-in tournament in Sydney to do the Adelaide International instead. My request was granted so every day I sit during my break next to Memorial Park in the Oval and eat my lunch and daydream about the great moments past that have transpired at the greatest cricket ground in the world.

 

I will get to utilise the membership by watching some BBL match (maybe if I can swap a shift) but come next year and the Ashes Test I will be there for all five days and a heap of Shield days to make up for lost time but in the meantime now that I have finally taken the plunge to get back into writing. I will be here in Hartley Wintney, home of one of the world’s oldest cricket clubs, as the rain falls and the wind blows over everything in my backyard explaining the genius of Bumrah to my mini schnauzer who has held back our move and despite my love for her the reason we are still here and wondering if Marnus bats for two hours will he struggle to make 12?

 

James Woodroffe.

 

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