Category Archives: peter lalor

September 6, 2011 · 9:52 am

From Tearaway Pace to Refined Medium Variety, that’s Watson

Peter Lalor, in The Australian, 5 September 2011

Pic from AP

AFTER proving himself Australia’s most damaging reverse-swing bowler in Galle, opening batsman Shane Watson took a moment to confess he had a wasted youth. He admitted he made mistakes. That he lived fast and damaged his health. Like many a young man before him, it was only when the damage he had done began to take hold that he realised he had to slow down or perish.

Of course, we’re not talking drink, drugs and fast women here. We are talking fast bowling. Continue reading →

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Filed under Australian cricket, cricket and life, performance, peter lalor, player selections, tower of strength, work ethic

September 6, 2011 · 9:44 am

Tom Moody’s tough talk leads Shaun Marsh to the Baggy Green

Peter Lalor, in The Australian, 6 September 2011

Pic from ZeeNews

SHAUN Marsh is set to make his Test debut in Kandy this week, but he has had the baggy green withheld and withdrawn too often to get ahead of himself.  The West Australian’s father, Geoff, was a veteran of 50 Tests and although Shaun grew up around cricketers and was exposed to all elements of the game, there was one thing that was off limits — his dad’s baggy green. “He kept it away from us kids,” Shaun said. “We didn’t see it too many times. It was hidden.”

Geoff wanted his children to understand the value of the cap, to know it was no play thing, nothing that was handed down from father to son. It was a sacred object and one you had to earn. Continue reading →

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September 4, 2011 · 2:58 am

Aussie Country Boys strike Pay Dirt at Galle

Peter Lalor, in The Weekend Australian, 3-4 September 2011

Pic from AFP

 NATHAN Lyon had a dream. Country boys don’t dream too big, but he had ambitions. The agricultural worker’s son from rural NSW wanted one day to make it right to the top of the pile and be the head curator at the Adelaide Oval.  As a teenager he packed up his bags and moved from Young, a cherry-growing district with a population of a little over 7000, and moved to the big smoke. Once in Canberra he gained an apprenticeship as a groundsman, working for four years watching the grass grow at Manuka.

Things really started to happen for him when he landed a job with the ground staff at his field of dreams: the Adelaide Oval. To this point Banjo Patterson had done a rough draft of the hungry-looking part-time cricketer’s script, from here on in the bloke that penned Shane Warne’s improbable script took over and hammed up the story line. Continue reading →

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Filed under Australian cricket, backyard cricket, baggy green, banjo patterson, bowling average, cricket and life, performance, peter lalor, player selections, shane warne