Bankstown v Gordon in my first grade debut at Bankstown Oval and I was opening the batting with Garry Crowfoot.

Crowie did the right thing and took strike the first ball of the game. Second ball he nudged one behind square for a single, which brought me down on strike to face the 3rd ball of the over (my first ball in 1st grade cricket).

I was facing up to Richard Stobo, who happened to be the opening bowler for the NSW shield team at the time (so he was no mug). First ball he put it on good length just outside off stump which I tried to play a forward defensive shot too but luckily it missed everything (including the outside edge of my bat). The big Sheriff wasn’t overly impressed. He gave me a stare and trudged back to his bowling mark.

Next ball, carbon copy of the previous ball – another play and miss. This time the stare was slightly longer, accompanied with some muttering under his breath.

Next ball was an action replay of previous 2 balls, another perfectly pitched outswinger which I wasn’t good enough to lay bat on. At this stage I could see smoke coming out of the Sheriffs ears, he was getting shitty, and was probably wondering who this bloke is.

Final ball of the over, the Sheriff is now steaming in, I’m thinking to myself for Christ’s sake just get some bat on ball. Anyhow he bowls a ball that nips back off the pitch (unlike the previous 3 outswingers) which I manage to get an inside edge and the ball goes down to fine leg. Finally managed to lay bat on ball, and I’m off the mark (though not very convincing).

As I’m running to non-strikers end, the Sheriff is standing mid pitch with teapot stance shaking his head turns to me and says…” for f*ck sake mate you must have been adopted”