THE FASTEST OF ALL
It is a hundred years since this great English fast bowler debuted against Australia in an Ashes test at Leeds, Yorkshire. The fast bowler from the Nottinghamshire coal miners is reckoned to have been the fastest of all time. He regularly hit a hundred miles an hour and great Australian bats who faced him said “it was like dodging bullets in a war zone”. His name was Harold Larwood, Larwood and his coalminer mate Bill Voce destroyed the powerful Australian line-up in the 1932-33 bodyline series which was played in front of massive and hostile crowds. When Australia’s Woodfull and Oldfield were felled by blows to the heart in Adelaide the crowd’s fury was such that mounted police ringed the oval to prevent an invasion. Larwood was made the scapegoat for the bodyline saga when it was really the work of English captain Douglas Jardine and the Lords establishment.
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AUSTRALIA’S CRICKET PROBLEMS
Following capacity crowds at all venues for last summers Ashes tests and with deadly heavy ticket sales for the coming series versus the Kiwis the picture of the game in this country might look easy but there are real problems ahead. Ultra conservative selectors look like preserving their Dad’s Army approach which will really harm the game, cricket fans want to see some new faces – the likes of WA’s Cooper Connelly and Victoria’s Ollie Peake. Young players are turning to other sports and as a number of talented 18-20 year olds have told me – “you can progress in most games at this age but it seems to be in cricket today you have to be thirty before the selectors are interested”. Australia goes to England for the Ashes saga to continue and we haven’t won a series there for a quarter of a century. I don’t think a veteran squad will break that sequence.
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SELLING THE ASHES
Cricket fans are rightly dismayed that administrators may be considering selling off an Ashes test to India. Every four years the Ashes battles in Australia are iconic. Its no wonder the great English cricket writer Lawrence Booth told a large gathering of the games power brokers in Dubai a year ago – “you people sure know the price of everything-but the value of nothing”.
The milestone 150 years celebration of Australia v England tests at the MCG next March has been hijacked by the TV moguls. It’s to be a day-night pink ball affair instead of the purest form of the game- a red ball daytime test.
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SEASON DRAWING DOWN
Another footy-netball season is coming to a close. They seem to pass all too quickly. Kilmore’s wait for a Northern League title continues. Wallan and Seymour are title chances in their respective leagues whilst Broadford, emerging from recess have had disappointing losses week after week in the Bendigo League. Experienced recruits like Geelong’s Stephen Wells have recently stated that footy standards have dropped in country clubs markedly over the past couple of decades. The AFL’s elite junior competition has drained far too many promising players from country clubs.
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Marcellin College defeated Trinity under light at Bulleen to win the 2026 AGSV title. Assumption bowed out in the semi versus Trinity. An ex student sent me a full page coverage in the Herald Sun of ACK’s victory at the MCG in 2001 – a triumph that was celebrated by a number of the students of that memorable year 25 years ago.
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MERLE’S LOSS
Merle Stirling was a highly regarded teacher and girls sport coach at Assumption for many years. She was popular with staff and students. Eleven years ago she lost her mum and returned to the home farm near Rochester to teach part time at the local high school and help her dad on the farm. Colin passed from this life recently. He was a hard working sheep farmer and had been a shearer for many years. At times he shore with my late brother Geoff who had a high regard for Colin. Geoff, who for a time taught shearing and wool classing at Rupertswood College in Sunbury died of cancer in his mid-fifties leaving 5 children. It was good to hear from Merle even though it was sad news. Her dad was a truly good man, a fair dinkum Aussie. Merle’s colleagues and students she taught at ACK will wish her well.
