Prahran star Neil Schlittler has retired to become an umpire

PRAHRAN games record-holder Neil Schlittler has retired but he won’t be lost to Premier Cricket: he’s set to become an umpire

Neil Schlittler on the go for Prahran last season. Pic: Nigel Long

NEIL Schlittler explains his retirement from Premier Cricket with the same unfussiness with which he hit the ball.

“Unfortunately my ability doesn’t match my ambition at the moment. My foot work’s gone,’’ Prahran’s games record-holder said this afternoon.

“I can’t train properly because of work and my family commitments, and if you can’t give it everything at First XI level you’re not doing your teammates or the club any favours.’’

He said he didn’t want to be remembered as a player averaging 15 and keeping his place in the team owing to earlier deeds.

But although Schlittler has put away the bat that brought him more than 6500 runs, he will continue to be associated with Premier Cricket.

Howzthis? He’s turning to umpiring, believing it could be the path to first-class cricket that his batting ultimately couldn’t clear.

He has completed four of the six classes ahead of an exam.

“Everyone’s dream is to play at the highest level they can and my playing ability is going backwards,’’ Schlittler, 37, said.

“I see my skills in life as cricket and conflict management, and the two go well together with umpiring, so it could be a way to reach first-class cricket.’’

Cricket Australia umpire educator and former Cricket Victoria umpiring manager Bob Parry alerted Schlittler to the possibilities of umpiring four years ago. He’s since seen former Victorian and St Kilda player Shawn Craig graduate from Premier Cricket to the national panel and former Hawthorn Monash University paceman David Shepard make a smooth transition from asking the questions to answering them.

Last year’s Ashes series was another spur. “With some of the terrible umpiring that went on, I thought, geez, there’s an opportunity there if I’m good at it!’’

Schlittler envisages starting in the Third XI. But he has high expectations, setting himself to reach the national panel within seven years.

Cricket Victoria umpires manager Richard Patterson said it was pleasing a player of Schlittler’s stature was taking up umpiring.

“It’s fantastic. There should be more of it,’’ he said.

Known as “The Hurry Master’’ for his crack-it-hard approach at the creases, Schlittler won five batting averages and hit nine centuries in a 234-match True Blues career that began in 1997-98.

He said he was proud of his achievements at Prahran but regretted that he neither played higher nor experienced a premiership.

“I love the Prahran Cricket Club and to be known, hopefully for a short time, as the longest serving player is something I can hang my hat on. Yeah, I’m happy. I probably should have made more hundreds but it wasn’t to be.’’