DVCA 2020-21: Whittlesea’s Nathan Fowler belts 13 sixes in big century
A star local footballer helped himself to 13 sixes in a massive knock of 163 in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association, earning praise from Whittlesea’s president.
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Whittlesea knew it had secured a handy signing in Nathan Fowler.
But if Saturday’s eye-popping knock in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association is an early sign of what he’s capable of, the Eagles have landed a genuine recruiting coup.
Fowler blasted 163 in Whittlesea’s thumping Mash Shield victory over Hurstbridge in a stunning display of power hitting as he launched 13 sixes.
“It’s probably the best knock I’ve seen in 30-odd years,” club president Blair Meeney said.
“I don’t think I’ve seen better than that for a long, long time, and I’ve been involved in cricket for nearly 40 years now.
“He hit them to all parts of the ground and some of the biggest sixes I’ve seen for a long time to be honest.
“For brutality, it’s probably the best knock I’ve ever seen.”
Fowler arrived at the crease with the Eagles 2-23 after they won the toss and elected to bat.
He was watchful early as the home side advanced the score to 2-63 after 20 overs.
But from there, no bowler from Hurstbridge’s shell-shocked attack was spared as Fowler belted the ball to all parts of A.F Walker Reserve.
Whittlesea piled on an extraordinary 246 runs from the last 20 overs of its innings to rack up a formidable 6-309, with Fowler finding support from Corey Baker (58) and Suresh Fernando (50).
“I reckon he (Fowler) went from 20 to 160 in 60-70 balls,” Meeney said.
“It took him probably 30 balls to get to 20 and then he just went berserk for the rest of it. It was just crazy.”
Fowler, who had a two-season stint with Northcote in Premier Cricket, arrived at the Eagles from McKinnon in Cricket Southern Bayside.
He is also a talented footballer for Wallan in the Riddell District Football League, booting 27 goals from 12 games in 2019, including a haul of nine against Rockbank.
“He came down with a couple of mates who had already been playing with us,” Meeney said.
“We heard he was a pretty decent cricketer and I saw him at training and thought he had a bit of ability, but we didn’t think he could play like that.”
Hurstbridge was bowled out for 107 in 28.2 overs in reply, with Rodney Pratt (3-20) and Baker (3-31) leading the way.
Meeney said it was finals or bust for the Eagles this season after they finished fifth in 2019-20.
“Our expectations would be to play finals,” he said.
“To say we’d be disappointed if we didn’t play finals would be an understatement to be honest.”
Meanwhile, promoted Banyule moved to 2-0 and sits on top of the ladder in the DVCA’s top-grade Barclay Shield after defeating Riverside by seven wickets.
The Bears cruised to 3-142 in response to the home side’s 138, with Joel Crook finishing unbeaten on 75.
North Eltham Wanderers (6-156) took the big scalp of Diamond Creek (153), while Rosanna (5-97) knocked off Lower Eltham (95) in a fixture dominated by the bowlers.
Epping (6-216) scored its first win of the season over Macleod (189) with Nathan Gardiner contributing 81 and Heidelberg (6-106) proved too strong for Plenty (104).
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