DDCA: Andrew Sharp hits 10,000th run for Springvale South
The Bloods champion may have slipped down the grades but he’s still making runs on turf for a club he joined at the age of 13.
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He needed 34 runs for the milestone.
Reach for the red ink for the scorebook: Andrew Sharp scored 34 not out.
And so Springvale South’s venerable left-hander could walk off the ground against Hampton Park last week with precisely 10,000 runs for the Bloods in the Dandenong association.
Sharp, 48, said he had given little thought to the mark until it was highlighted by former president Kevin Murphy.
On reflection, he said, it was “a pretty good effort’’ to make so many runs for one club.
“I’ve probably limped my way to the line in the past four or five years,’’ he said with a laugh.
“I wasn’t exactly racing towards 10,000.’’
The bulk of Sharp’s runs were made in Turf 1, and a fair few through the gully area: the left-hander cut more often than a hairdresser.
In doing so he helped Springy South to become a Turf 1 power after they regained their place in the top division in 1992-93.
Sharp is the club’s most successful Turf 1 player, having appeared in five premiership teams, the last of them when he was past the age of 40.
But don’t worry, he said, “we’ve lost a big hunk of grand finals too’’.
He won seven First XI batting averages at Harold Rd, was captain for three seasons and is a life member of the Bloods.
Sharp has made a strong off-field contribution too, serving as chairman of selectors for a decade, co-ordinating sponsorship and developing the junior section.
He has been a South staple since he began with the Under 14s. His first senior cricket was as a junior in “E or F grade’’. A firsts debut came when he was 17, and, save for a season with Parkfield (whom he joined to play in Turf 1), he stayed there for many years, a dominating and attacking batsman in the middle-order and a demon in the field.
His highest score of 153 came against Parkfield.
As for his bowling, the great Bloods administrator Ray Nicholls more than once hollered “Spread out’’ at the sight of Sharp being tossed the ball.
But, a competitor from top to toe, he took 186 wickets to go with his 6402 runs.
Sharp’s last Turf 1 match was in 2014-15, when he made 22 against Buckley Ridges. He has played in the seconds and thirds in the past few years with long-time teammates Gregory Scott, Ben Goodey, Mark Keatinge and Rory Ingram.
“I still have fun, especially playing with those older guys,’’ he said. “The enjoyment is still there. I still like the competitiveness of it. But it’s more about the enjoyment now than wins or losses. We seem to be ticking along as a group. If one or two of us said we might throw it in, then we all would.’’
He must still be seeing them OK: last Sunday he hit 80 not out against Dingley in Turf 4.
Sharp – who is only eight games shy of 400 for Springvale South – was added to the DDCA hall of fame last year, with Johnny Hammond and Moose Shaw.
Happily for the Bloods, his son Brayden has picked up the Turf 1 baton and is giving it a twirl.