Nick Fry - calmly find a solution
Carrum Cricket Club | July 10, 2024
Nick Fry has had a decorated cricket career in winning numerous premierships with the team he’s played for.
A state representative in under age cricket in the early 80s and he played District Cricket for Richmond Cricket Club for 7 years. A product of St Kevin’s College at school and their Old Collegians team before migrating south to play with Carrum Cricket Club.
He’s been a player, captain, coach, and administrator and has made a terrific contribution to the game over many years.
Let’s find out more about Nick’s journey in the game
What year you were born?
1966
Can you remember you first game of cricket?
Yes, surprisingly clearly!
It was for the school U10’s, I was 9, I made 7 before being caught behind.
Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?
I played school cricket for St Kevin’s College, played 2 years of Dowling Shield at Richmond and was fortunate to be captain in my second year. Played at Richmond for 7 years, alongside future State & Test players like Paul Reiffel, David Harris & Gerard Clarke. I then went and played for St Kevin’s Old Collegians in the ECA where I played for 15 years, about 130 games. I captained and coached the club, played in Premiership winning teams and then decided to play closer to home and joined Carrum Cricket Club.
I’ve played 125 games and was fortunate enough to play in 3 Premierships, was president for 6 years, I love the mighty Carrum Lions!
I also played a few years of Veterans cricket for St David’s Cricket Club before retiring from all cricket at age 51.
In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in senior cricket?
I played for the school 1st X1 at the tender age of 13 and played my first 2nd X1 game for Richmond at age 17.
What was the highest grade you played and can you remember what you were feeling when you were selected and how did you perform on debut?
2nd X1 for Richmond. I was very excited to be selected and played Essendon at Windy Hill. I took 2 wickets on debut and scored 5 not out batting at 9.
If you can share with our audience, how would you describe yourself as a cricketer?
I evolved as a player a number of times over the years: as a youngster I was an opening bat, then started bowling more in my late teens and was more of a bowling all-rounder through my 20’s and mid 30’s.
My batting became my strength again, as I lost a few yards as I got older but I’ve always been an all-rounder, left hand batsman, right arm medium pacer, handy slip fielder!
What were your strengths as a player?
Very determined, competitive, never-say-die, aggressive and always giving 100%. I loved the heat of the battle, the competition, and I also loved the camaraderie and the beers after the game. As a player I could bowl pretty good pace, had a good bouncer and in swinging yorker. As a batter I liked to go on the attack, latch onto anything short, loved the cut shot.
What was your highest score in senior cricket?
177 not out for Carrum at Rosebud. I’d made a hundred the week before so I was seeing them well and was in a purple patch.
What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?
8/25 for St Kevins Old Boys, vs Canterbury. I took the first 8 wickets but the other bloke cleaned up the tail and robbed me of a ten-for.
Who were the best three fast bowlers you have played against?
Mark Fulton (Frankston YCW), ridiculously quick, sensational bowler. Took 8/17 against us one afternoon at Carrum, stumps flying everywhere!
Michael McKenzie from Rye was very quick at his peak and also had a day out against the Lions one day down at Rye taking 8/25,
Craig Whelan from Tootgarook was really quick and ripped through us in a semi-final one year with his left arm pace, really hit the deck hard (5/30). But we won and won the flag the following week!
Who were the best three spinners you have played against?
Not sure if you’d call Paul Bradley a spinner, but he bowled off 2 steps and was very hard to get away. Could complete an over in under 90 seconds! Tremendous bowler.
Shaun Austin from Carrum took 1,000 wickets as a leg-spinner, so although I never played against him, I had the distinct pleasure of playing with him and he deserves special mention.
Ben Wells from Langwarrin always caused me trouble, a very crafty and skilful leggie.
Who were the best 3 batsman you’ve played against?
Gareth Wyatt from Main Ridge is a superstar of the MPCA competition, always consistent, still making runs, a real quality player and great guy.
Daniel Polson is the cleanest and hardest hitter of a ball I’ve ever seen. I played against Pol but was also fortunate to play with him at Carrum as he churned out hundred after hundred. Great player and a tremendous bloke.
Jim Boyd from Seaford was a quality player, very hard to bowl to, didn’t have any weaknesses and could score freely and bigly!
Special mention to Nick Christides who’s had a superb career and could decimate any attack.
Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
Daniel Polson played many superb innings and twice during the 2011/12 season I was fortunate enough to be at the other end as he scored consecutive unbeaten hundreds against Boneo (131*) and Balnarring (102*) to lead Carrum to great wins and into finals. When Polly was going he was unstoppable and hit the ball so hard to all parts of the ground. It was brilliant to be at the other end watching him in full flight.
Was there any bowler in particular who for whatever reason always seemed to cause you a few problems?
Bradley, Fulton & Whelan. 3 genuine champions of the game.
Can you recall a time when you thought, wow, this is a step or two up from what you were used to?
Playing for Richmond as a young bloke in the 80’s it became pretty clear when watching players like Yallop, Richardson, Whiteside, Clarke, Harris & Reiffel in action that they was a level far above what I was capable of. There were a few times in the ECA and the MPCA when I felt a bit overwhelmed but I soldiered on and gave it my best.
I played Vic U19’s vs NSW and came up against a couple of handy brothers in Steve and Mark Waugh. They made it look easy and were a class above, smashed us all over the park, but I was eventually lucky enough to bowl Steve for 64. A year later he was playing Test cricket!
Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
I thought I was a pretty quick bowler at age 17 and 18, but the Richmond keeper Dave Harris (who played for Victoria) would occasionally keep up to the stumps to me and we pulled off a few leg-side stumping! I’ve never seen a better keeper. In the MPCA, Josh Dent at Carrum was a class above with his glove work.
Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?
At Richmond it was Gerard Clarke and Paul Reiffel because they were quiet achievers who just worked so hard and became champions.
At St Kevin’s it was my teammate Shannon Young (current coach of Richmond in Premier cricket) who could turn a game with bat or ball in an hour, and opponent Phil Thomas (Deepdene Cricket Club) who was a great player and always played the game in the right spirit at all times.
In the MPCA, I really admired Brad Glenn from Rosebud. Very skilful and competitive but also a great guy who played the game in the right spirit. And my Carrum teammate Peter Ridgway who had the game of cricket all worked out: he played it hard, he was a very skilful and guileful player, enjoyed a lot of success (4 Premierships and multiple Bowling Awards and Best & Fairest’s) but was always good for a laugh, never took himself too seriously, just enjoyed the challenge and always led from the front.
Who was the best captain you had the good fortune to play with?
Two of my captains at Carrum, Jeremy Graves and Josh Dent, both great captains, different in their style, but equally effective, great thinkers of the game, strategic and competitive, and both 1st X1 premiership captains for the Lions.
Who has been your funniest team mate?
Two guys I loved playing with at Carrum were Kevin Bull and Dallas Power. Two of the greatest, and funniest, blokes you’d ever meet. Very good cricketers and guys I loved going into battle with each week. I was very proud to play in a couple of Premierships with these two great characters.
Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?
I won’t name names but one day at Carrum we were playing against a particularly volatile MPCA player who wanted to impress his girlfriend on the boundary and as he moved from backward square leg to extra cover in between overs, he’d do cartwheels and backflips. He was a real poser.
The following week he strutted out to bat, chest puffing out, and I knocked his off-stump back second ball. As he walked off, our keeper said “give us a cartwheel champ” and he walked up to our keeper, who was wearing a cap, and headbutted him, wearing a helmet.
The helmet’s grill split our keeper’s nose open and the hothead copped a 2 year holiday from the tribunal. It wasn’t funny at the time but in hindsight it’s an unbelievable moment and I still laugh at those words “give us a cartwheel champ”!!!
Who was your childhood hero?
I had 3 sporting heroes: Alex Jesaulenko, Greg Chappell and Greg Norman. All 3 were great champions and role models who gave me a lot of joy over the years.
Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?
The 3 guys I just named: Jezza, Greg Chappell and the Shark.
Who’s your favourite cricket commentator?
Benaud and Lawry are irreplaceable. These days I like James Brayshaw and Mark Waugh.
What was your favourite ground to play at?
While at Richmond I was lucky enough to play some of the great suburban grounds: Punt Road, Junction Oval, Windy Hill, but by far my favourite was the Albert Cricket Ground.
What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?
I’ve played in 4 Premierships and coached one, so they are all very special memories, but playing a season of 1st X1 cricket at Carrum with my son Jackson (2011/12) was an incredible experience we’ll both never forget.
What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?
Apart from Finals, the very first game Jackson and I played together in the 1st X1 was against Delacombe Park and they were cruising at 4/123 chasing 170. Our season was in the balance, if we lost we’d fall well behind the pack. Then the captain tossed me the ball and I took 4/17, including a great catch by Jacko, as they lost 6/35 in 12 overs, to be all out 158. We pulled off an incredible win which gave us momentum and belief which took us undefeated for the rest of the home & away season (before losing a very close semi-final to Langwarrin.) I will never forget that win.
Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?
Jeremy Graves, Josh Dent, Jackson Fry. Great blokes, great company.
What are your hobbies?
Writing (I’ve published 2 books), keeping fit, and playing golf (off 12.2)
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
My dad taught me that whenever you’re in a difficult situation or a challenging or stressful position, ask yourself “what’s the worst thing that can happen?”
Once you think about it calmly and rationally you soon realise the world isn’t going to end and that the stress and worry isn’t worth it. Then you can work through the situation in a strategic and logical manner to find a solution.
If you were running a state cricket association what would your 2 priorities to ensure cricket in the state remained strong and successful on and off the field?
There’s 2 glaring challenges facing grassroots cricket: umpiring and participation.
We need more, and better, umpires: I’d like to see more encouragement in getting ex-players involved in umpiring, they need to be incentivised to take up umpiring after they stop playing. This would increase the numbers of umpires and the quality of umpiring.
Participation: too many young people stop playing cricket between the ages of 15 and 20. So many talented young players are lost to the game for various reasons. More support is needed for clubs at a grassroots level to invest in their young talent and keep them involved in the great game.
