Premier Cricket: Richmond captain Dom Matarazzo takes 8-16 against Footscray
Dom Matarazzo made it back-to-back career-best bowling figures as he swept through the Footscray batting line-up at Central Reserve.
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Dom Matarazzo had one of those days most cricketers enjoy only in their dreams.
He “got on a roll’’.
He felt he could get a wicket with every ball.
“It was a lot of fun,’’ the 32-year-old Richmond captain said.
Matarazzo was the talk of Victorian Premier Cricket on Saturday – no easy feat given the impact of Covid – after a dazzling haul of 8-16 off 10 overs against Footscray at Central Reserve.
He took the first eight wickets as the Bulldogs collapsed from 0-35 to be all out for 86.
The Tigers replied with 4-88 in 23.3 overs.
Matarazzo said there was “plenty’’ in the pitch after rain during the week and it was a good toss for him to win.
The right-arm medium pacer took a wicket with his first delivery, bowling Footscray opener Nathan Caulfield for 21, and struck again three balls later.
He was on his way to career-best figures, just one round after collecting his previous best figures, 6-30, against Fitzroy-Doncaster.
“It just happened for me,’’ he was saying on Sunday.
“You get on a roll and it just felt every ball I might get a wicket. And it was fun, it was a lot of fun.
“Getting one first ball helped. That obviously settles you down. You think, ‘Well, at least I got something out of the day, I can relax now, it’s not going to be 0-40 off three, someone else is going to have to bowl’.
“I had four and then a couple of shouts to get five and then I thought maybe it wouldn’t happen, but at least we were back in the game.
“Then five, six, seven and eight seemed to happen really quickly and I had seven or eight balls to actually have a crack at nine and 10. Didn’t happen but it was nice just to have a chance.’’
Matarazzo chuckled as he noted he took only two five-fors in his first 149 matches. In his past two games he’s taken a combined 14-46. “Back-to-back career-bests,’’ he said, describing his method as bowling “90 to 100kmh and not trying to blast anyone out’’.
“If you can be annoying and nagging and consistent, you’ll get more guys out than trying to be faster and aggressive,’’ he said.
“I sort of accepted I was never going to be fast.’’
Richmond scorer Michael Robinson reported that Matarazzo’s return was the best from a Tiger since 1972-73.
It also matched former Dandenong star James Nanopoulos’ 8-16 last season against Kingston Hawthorn. “Nano’’ also grabbed 9-26 against Greenvale Kangaroos in 2019-20.
“Yeah, you read about him doing it pretty much every year and you wonder how it happens,’’ Matarazzo said.
“Then it happened to me yesterday.’’
And people were quick to tell him the bag of eight was great.
His phone “blew up’’ on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
“Everyone was saying well done and unreal and amazing and all that sort of stuff, even my footy mates, cricket, work, everywhere,’’ Matarazzo said.
Matarazzo joined Richmond from Vermont and made his debut in 2007-08.
He’s had his ups and downs. Last season he worked out he’d been dropped from the First XI “17 or 18 times’’.
Still, he’s made two centuries and more than 2000 runs, and is closing in on 200 wickets.
He considers himself “more of a bowler who can bat a little bit’’. Footscray would presumably agree.
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