Alan Doble an outstanding cricketer and footballer
Doble was a star sporting all-rounder for Ormond, and his cricket took him to Sheffield Shiel level with Victoria.
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Alan Doble is one of only 22 people to have played top-team cricket and football for Ormond.
But few have done it with the panache or success of Doble, who died in December at the age of 77.
In both sports he was a mighty Monder.
A left-arm fast bowler, Doble was a champion cricketer, good enough to represent Victoria in five matches.
And he was an accomplished footballer until, bizarrely, his amateur status was withdrawn over out-of-pocket expenses he accepted while playing Sheffield Shield cricket.
Doble started as a junior for Ormond Cricket Club in 1956.
Three years later, and still a teenager, he grabbed 7-0 against Balwyn in a Second XI match.
From 1960-66 he played for District club North Melbourne, rising to the state squad.
He returned to Ormond for the 1967-68 season and played for the club through to 1980-81, along the way winning the 1970-71 VSDCA Hatch Medal and a pile of other awards.
By the time he retired he had long been regarded as one of the finest bowlers seen in Subbies cricket.
Doble was a five-time First XI premiership player, won the First XI bowling average on nine occasions, and from 177 matches harvested 606 wickets at an average of 12.58. His best performance of 9-15 came against Oakleigh.
Doble took 60 wickets or more four times; what heights he hit in 1974-75, when he stacked up a record 75 wickets in a premiership season. On 47 occasions he took five or more in an innings.
Long-time teammate and Ormond great John Craig said Doble was pacy and, being a tall man, often gained “awkward lift’’ off the pitch.
“When a good player came out to bat, like a Les Joslin or Jack Potter, the real stars, you took a couple of metres in the slips because you knew he was going to slip himself up a cog,’’ Craig said.
“He lifted for the better players, and if they got the nick you knew it was going to come quickly to you.
“He was a quiet sort of a bloke, unassuming — he didn’t hang himself with any great accolades — but he loved to win.’’
Craig said Doble’s tally of 47 five-fors was remarkable.
“He’s right up there with the best of anyone who has played Sub-District cricket,’’ he said.
Doble also made his mark as a coach of junior cricketers, guiding Under 16 and Under 12 teams to premierships.
It was no surprise when the Monders made him an inaugural inductee to their hall of fame in 2017, with “legend’’ status.
Doble kicked off with Ormond Amateur Football Club in the Under 19s in 1961.
He was a member of 1963 senior team that finished runner-up in the A Grade grand final, was captain in 1964 and represented the VAFA in 1963 and ’64.
Many more honours awaited him but the loss of his amateur status cut short his football career.
Doble coached the Under 19s to a premiership in 1973. Life membership of the club had come in 1972.
“He was a tremendous leader and a great ruckman with all the skills of a top VFL/AFL player,’’ Ormond president Richard Simon said.
A memorial service for Alan Doble was held at EE Gunn Reserve on Sunday, January 5.