Fact and fiction meet mid-pitch at Yarraville fourths

by VIN MASKELL

IN 'Cricket Kings' the novel by William McInnes, the Yarraville West fourths get belted around the Cec Bull Reserve on a hot day by an arrogant opposition called Trinity. Undermanned and outplayed, they still have a go and along the way show they know a thing or two about tolerance, community, humanity and love.

William McInnes stresses that the Yarraville West fourths are not based on a single club. "They are a compendium of characters from park cricket across Australia," he said.

The popular actor has played local cricket in Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria, including a handful of games in 2004-2005 season with Yarraville Cricket Club's thirds and fourths, in Melbourne's inner-west. McInnes was keen for the novel to show that there's more to cricket than the elite level. "People don't pay attention to park cricket. They think the top level is all that matters. In park cricket you won't find superstars but you'll find real people, normal people, with things happening in their lives. Cricket is a sensory game, a tactile game. There's so much time and space in cricket. The oval is like an artificial bubble in suburbia. It's a very reflective game, even when there are moments of excitement."

David Keenan, McInnes's former fourths captain at Yarraville, said that the actor-author could hold his own as a cricketer. "He was very good with the kids in the team, always very encouraging." Keenan enjoyed 'Cricket Kings' and found the descriptions of the home ground (based largely on Kevin Shorten Reserve in West Footscray) and the afternoon teas (featuring cold pizzas, jam donuts and chocolate biscuits) especially familiar.

Seventeen year old Dan Nicholson was wicketkeeper for the thirds two seasons ago and remembered stumping a batsman off McInnes's slow-medium bowling. He hasn't read McInnes' book but that might partly be due to being run him out by him when Nicholson had made 30.

"I've never been that good between the wickets," McInnes confessed. "There's a lot of me to turn around. I'm like an oil tanker."

McInnes was introduced to Yarraville Cricket Club by former fourths wicketkeeper Greg 'Bulldog' Morgan. "William was a fast-medium bowler who could get fiesty sometimes," said the western suburbs postman. "As a batsman William didn't have a lot of patience but he was very good at fielding. He was the AP Sheehan in the covers," said Morgan, referring to the graceful fielding of 1960s Test batsman Paul Sheehan.

McInnes disagrees. "Bulldog's talking me up! There were some pretty tragic attempts to field in the covers. I'm a lame cricketer. I'm an okay bowler but I always go the tonk with the bat. People would say, You've got to play yourself in, but I never did."

McInnes did recall getting a few wickets caught and bowled and once taking a sharp catch at short mid-off. "The batsman just thumped it and it stuck. It was the only thing I did all day."

For the record, McInnes's best bowling for Yarraville fourths was 2/24 off six overs while his top score was nine.

'Cricket Kings' features a grey-haired farting wicketkeeper missing the tops of a few of his fingers, courtesy of his career as a butcher; a left-handed opening batsman on anti-depressants after working as a doctor in Africa; and a pensive opening bowler and captain who is an industrial relations lawyer.

The wicketkeeper of the current Yarraville fourths is a blond teenager, the left-handed opener is an electrical cabler, and the skipper is a psychiatric nurse who bowls medium-pace. Like the fictional team they play on a plain oval in a plain suburb in the west, with a bus-stop and playground nearby and the disused Uncle Tobys silo not far away. And like the team in the novel, they struggled last summer winning just three games.

McInnes would like to play more for Yarraville but time and commitments are against him. "I can't get to training and that's not fair on those who can. Anyway, I seem to be a victim of the club's proficiency." Yarraville has had an influx of players since the 2005 Ashes series.

'Cricket Kings' is about a changing Australia but the Yarraville Cricket Club has been a constant part of the western suburbs landscape for a century now. It has spawned two Test cricketers - George Tribe (three Tests, against England in 1946-47) and Les Joslin (one Test, against India in 1968).

The fourths won their only premiership in 1999-2000 and reached the grand final in 2005-06.

McInnes (46) last pulled on the pads at a charity game in St Kilda in early February. He was dismissed five times. He imagines the next time he plays cricket regularly it might be in a veterans competition, "...probably in Western Australia." But he'll never forget his time at Yarraville. "They're a good club, a good bunch of blokes."

'Cricket Kings' by William Mcinnes is publiched by Hodder Headline Australia.

20 April 2007

australianrules.com.au

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