Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association club Yarraville’s First XI features three 14-year-olds
TV had young talent time. Victorian Sub-District club Yarraville has that — times three. And it’s confident the 14-year-olds playing First XI this summer are destined for big things.
The Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association keeps a record of the youngest players to have appeared in first grade “Subbies’’.
At the end of this season its list will need updating.
Remarkably, Yarraville is playing not one, not two, but three 14-year-olds in its First XI.
Yarraville coach Michael Sheedy is 43 and says the inclusion of teenagers Samar Partap Singh, Panav Doshi and Nikhil Suresh in the team keeps him young.
“It’s probably the reason I’m still going, I think, these kids,’’ Sheedy said.
“They make you relevant, to be honest. It’s why we put in so many hours and do what we do. It’s pretty fun. You see the smiles on their faces and it’s pretty cool.’’
Eagles captain Akshat Buch, 32, feels the same way.
When his team defeated Mt Waverley in Round 2 of the season, Buch enjoyed strong contributions from all three of his cubs.
Singh made 35, run out, from No. 7, putting on a vital 63 with Sheedy (69).
In the bowling effort to protect 9-244, Suresh (3-31 off eight overs) and Doshi (2-24 off 10) shared five wickets with their medium pace. Singh, who made his First XI debut last season at age 13, also took a catch.
Buch said the teenagers were exceptionally talented and he expected them to go on to higher cricket.
All three have been picked in Victorian Premier Cricket Dowling Shield teams as bottom-age players this season, Singh with Prahran, Suresh at Camberwell Magpies and Doshi at Footscray.
The seasoned Sheedy said Singh was “probably the most gifted kid’’ he had seen since Test player Ashton Agar.
He said he remembered the night he came across him at Truganina at Harshad Dixit’s Academy and being staggered at his natural talent.
“He’s a right-hand bat and obviously well developed for a 14-year-old,’’ Sheedy said.
“His ability to mix it with adults is something that Ashton was good at too and that’s where I saw the similarities. He fits in not only in a cricket sense of batting and bowling and fielding, but just the way he holds himself.
“He trains every night of the week, that’s how committed he is, and he’s got himself fitter. He’s pretty special. He bowls leg-spin as well and gets pretty good revs on it and he’s an exceptional fielder.’’
Sheedy said the personable Suresh was “super talented and different … he’s a bit like Bumrah in regards to his action and he’s deceivingly nippy and more importantly so consistent in where he puts the ball.’’
He said Doshi was something of a “bolter’’.
He played in Yarraville’s Fourth XI last season, scoring a century, but he’s broken into the top team with his skiddy right-arm mediums.
“All three of them have got game smarts – that will hold them in good stead – and they’re also sponges,’’ Sheedy said.
“They don’t think they know it all. They ask a lot of questions and then take it all in.’’
The whippersnappers have some old hands around them: aside from Sheedy, Yarraville’s team includes former Australian Under 19 captain and Premier Cricket batsman Matthew Harrison.
They’re also being coached at the Eagles by Subbies great Mark Thomas.
Ormond’s Anthony Meyer is the youngest player to have appeared in Sub-District First XI cricket: he was 13 years and 214 days when he played against Monash University in December, 1999.
Four other players were 13 when they debuted: Tim O’Brien for Melton in February, 2000; Michael Moss for Balwyn in January, 1964; Ryan Setia for Coburg in February this year; and George Thoms for Footscray in March, 1941.
Sixteen 14-year-olds have also played in the Subbies, including Brownlow Medal champion Peter Bedford for Port Melbourne, another former league footballer in James Gwilt and first-class players Mackenzie Harvey, Michael Hill, Geoff Parker, Robert Rowan and Peter Harper.
Originally published as Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association club Yarraville’s First XI features three 14-year-olds
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