About Me

Nick Garling

Student

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Still enjoying playing cricket in my mid 50's with Old Ignatians' in Masters and Classics comps in Sydney. Have also enjoyed playing with Port Jackson Vets Cricket and Vets Cricket NSW 50s and 55s. Worked for ~30 years in sales, trading and management roles at investment banks including Lehman Brothers and UBS Warburg, about a decade overseas in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Ran an ASX listed gold exploration and mining company 2005-2016 and did a bit of Pitt St farming in Gerringong area with an Airbnb / country weddings twist for the past 10-15 years. Studying law currently and do some Cricket and Rugby Coach Coordination at St Ignatius' College at Riverview in Sydney. Loads of kids, couple of grand-kids and an extremely tolerant wife...

Favourite players: Gilly Damien Martyn Mark Waugh AB

Favourite grounds: Antigua Recreation Ground, St Johns, Antigua. St Paul's College Sydney University. Peter Fenwicke Oval, Walcha, NSW. Dr Ross Memorial Ground, Molong, NSW.

All-time cricket hero: My old man

Favourite bat: Kimberley John Hughes

Most memorable moment in cricket:
140* to win a match batting #8 chasing 250 - City & Suburban comp for Old Aloysians' CC circa 1987-88

What’s the best cricket advice you’ve ever received:
Spear the bowler with your elbow...

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Q: With Nick Hockley stepping down as CEO of Cricket Australia in March 2025, I believe the appointment of his successor is one of the most pivotal moments in Australian cricket history.

In your view, what qualities and skills should the Cricket Australia board prioritize when selecting the next CEO? Additionally, what do you think should be the key priorities for the new CEO to focus on during their first 12 months in the role?

A: Can we please get a person involved who;

a/ understands the cricket landscape in Australia
b/ isn't a woke virtue-signaller
c/ who is appointed on merit not connections or herd-ideology
d/ who can reassess what the hell is going on in cricket pathways across the States
e/ who can equip and resource a team & strategy to fight-back at the primary & high school and junior club level to ensure kids are getting involved and hopefully staying in the game
f/ point (e) above would include a team of schools ambassadors who actually understand what's going on in the school parent cohort and co-curriculum cohort and also are across the wider sports pathways and funding process in places such as NSWIS (but also so many other "bodies"), who are putting other sports way ahead of our national sport cricket.

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Q: Cranbrook School Sydney First XI Cricket team - 1983

Back Row - Phil Sinclair, Peter Lovitt, Troy Warfield, James Bush, Gus McRitchie
Front Row - Mark Patterson, Chris Lane, Will Vicars (Captain), Peter Roebuck (Coach), Pat Crammond, David Ulm, Anthony Tobin

A: A good bunch of fellas for the most part! Willie with his wily little medium outswingers... Pat was usually difficult to dislodge with all his brand-new SP gear....

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Q: I hear people talk about the spirit of cricket and would say it means different things to different people.
I’d like to ask what in your opinion is the spirit of cricket?

A: This is an interesting one because cricket is a game where we keep score and typically there is a winner and a loser - obviously there are drawn games (and on rare occasions ties). I always think about "spirit" and "sportsmanship" in a similar way. That is to say that conducting yourself along the lines of the rules and with good grace at all times is paramount. That is an individual standard but it goes without saying that cheating or seeking to gain an advantage in ways that aren't universally accepted, are a no go area. That's why if you did a survey following sandpaper-gate, (this is a guess of course), you might find that cricketing public (and us players), felt hugely let down, embarrassed, and simply couldn't believe senior players and coaching staff (which ones we really don't know) could allow that to happen. So a straw poll might reveal huge disapointment in the actions of for example David Warner (the ball warden), skipper Smithy for evidently walking past a standard that he was ambivalent about or prepared to accept, and then poor old young bloke Bancroft who despite having the most red ball runs for two years never gets picked or mentioned as a viable batter in the Test side......) and wghat abouyt the coach and administrators who were happy to pick perhaps the 5th or 6th best WK because he "had good chat" over a fine gloveman like a Nevill or a Peirson etc... but I digress! Did that incident pass the pub-test on spirit of cricket or sportsmanship? Absolutely not. There's not many arguments there - although some hard-core people tell you "everyone cheats so why shouldn't we?!".. if that is your attitude, it's a race to the bottom situation isn't it? But back to spirit of cricket... Cricket is a mental game (played in the head as much as physically) and I accept different players have a different attitude towards the way they conduct themselves and their approach to team mates, success, failure and of course, the dreaded opposition! Getting on in years and playing loads of Vets 40s and 50s cricket around NSW and Australia, the great irony is the lasting friendships you can make in cricket and how many of them are forged with opposition, who you once hated, feared and were highly circumspect about! That is certainly my experience in being involved with Port Jackson Vets Cricket - a loose conglomeration of guys representing greater Sydney in State comps for the Port Jackson club... Recently I saw an aftermatch speech by a Queensland grade and sometime Shield legend - I won't embarass him by naming him as I don't know him well anyway - but have played against him occasionally over the years. Anyway here was a guy, entering early middle age, body fairly broken from 1000's of hours of cricket in Qld and around the place, whose main message was; "forget what just happened out there, the best thing is we are here, enjoying each others company playing a game we've all grown up with and love. The best thing is the men's shed aspect and the fact we can compete out there, and now settle in and slap each other on the back, get to know each other and speak some bullsh*t." They were very prescient words I felt from a guy that has achieved pretty much everything in cricket - way more than myself I hasten to add. So the way you conduct yourself is a good roadmap for life really. Be prepared to listen and learn and conquer those head noises! To answer the question after that long-winded diatribe... Spirit of Cricket for me, is all about having a sense of fairness, accepting that many things on a cricket field are not linear, it's not a game of 'fairness', you have good days and bad days and sometimes, you bowl well, get flogged and drop catches and sometimes you edge your way to 50 or bowl half-trackers and take a bag of wickets! And no-one is any different really. So accept with good grace that you're out there making fiends and influencing people and don't be remembered as a bad sport or a pr*ck - life is way to short.

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Q: What is the most surreal moment you've experienced in cricket?

A: 1. Facing Richard "Barry" Stobo circa 1982 in my first game of 1st XI school cricket and realising that tall fast bowlers are actually trying to knock your head off every other ball and it might be worth developing a backfoot game!
2. Playing Blackjack with AB, Peter Who and the late great Deano in a hotel/casino in Antigua in 1991 after the 5th Test (which Australia had won, Mark Waugh and Tubby Taylor scoring great centuries)

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Q: What's the best advice you've received in relation to cricket?

A: Try to join a Club or team with a no d**khead policy. Life is too short to play with them.