Grady Turner hits back-to-back centuries in Mackay Cricket Association
Scoring a century is the pinnacle of any cricketer’s career, and a Proserpine prodigy has reached the milestone twice in just two matches.
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Recent performances on the fields of Mackay are forcing state cricket scouts to take notice of a regional prodigious talent.
Proserpine teen Grady Turner is enjoying a run of form rarely seen at the Australian level, let alone for an under-15s batter.
Turner waltzed his way to 101* off 59 balls for Proserpine against Norths, just one week after notching 117* off 65 against Walkerston.
The talented cricketer said consistency was a goal of his for the 2021/22 season.
“It’s really exciting to be able to hit back-to-back centuries, usually for me after I hit a good score I drop away,” he said.
“I was really focused on finding some consistency with my runs, and luckily I was able to get there.”
Turner’s ability with the bat extends beyond this season, with the prodigy carrying a career batting average of 65.92 for Proserpine and 44.5 in all formats of cricket.
He said his time playing U17s cricket as a 13 year old helped him develop his mental game.
“Playing against the older kids always made me a bit nervous, but now I’ve moved back into my age bracket it’s easier,” he said.
“I’m facing kids the same age and I’m able to use that experience to my advantage, I’m not nervous anymore so I can just go out and play my natural game.
“Last week I had my best mate (Ben Valmadre) on the field when I scored my hundred, then this week I had another good mate (Darcy Milne) out there so that was pretty special for me.”
With Turner piling on the runs, he said it was hard not to picture himself in the green and gold one day.
“It’s always been a dream for me to go far in cricket and play at the highest level,” Turner said.
“I’ve been in the Mackay-Whitsunday team since under-12s, I’ve gone to state championships and played for North Queensland, so I’ve played good cricket.
“We’ll see how we go, you just need to keep scoring runs.”
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