DDCA: The legendary Steve Spoljaric to continue his cricket career in Gippsland
After nine seasons filled with runs and wickets in the Dandenong District Cricket Association, the great Steve Spoljaric is leaving the competition.
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Steve Spoljaric met every compliment the same way.
“I’m just doing my job,’’ he’d say whenever admirers gushed over his performances in the Dandenong District Cricket Association.
He did so again today as he discussed his departure from a competition he dominated for nine seasons, first at Parkfield, then Cranbourne and Springvale South.
Spoljaric won six Alan Wookey Medals as the DDCA’s best player, three at Parkfield, two at Cranny and one at South.
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“Like I always said brother, I was just doing my job,’’ he said.
“I got paid well to play cricket, didn’t I? It didn’t matter if it was Parkfield or Springy or Cranny, you have a look. The stats are all the same. I always put in for all of them, didn’t I? Disappointing with a couple of lost grand finals at Springy. It would have been the icing on the cake for me. We had our chances in both those grand finals but we didn’t take them. Doesn’t matter. Life goes on, mate.’’
For the past four years Spoljaric has travelled from mid-Gippsland to play in the DDCA, combining it with his successful greyhound training operation.
Since he was unable to train he considered cricket a “one-day a-week work’’.
But now at age 42 he’ll play closer to home, joining Bundalaguah, the cricketing home of the Wrigglesworth clan.
He’s keen to watch his seven-year-old son Marley learn hard-ball cricket. “He loves it,’’ Spoljaric said. “His last 12 months, he’s got pretty big on it. He’s always bowling the ball in the house and mum’s yelling at him to stop.’’
Spoljaric arrived in the DDCA in 2010-11, joining Parkfield from Premier club Hawthorn Monash University. The former Sydneysider came with a boom reputation — he had won a Ryder Medal in Premier ranks — and he only enhanced it, taking a Wookey in his first season at Dunblane Rd.
Runs came from his bat at a furious rate, good bowling attacks reduced to smithereens.
Not only did he score runs prolifically and powerfully, his accurate right-arm medium pace brought him a lot of wickets.
Spoljaric hit 19 Turf 1 centuries in the DDCA. Two stand out in his mind, both made for Parkfield in his last season there, 2013-14.
On a “terrible track’’ at Dunblane Rd he hit 105 out of 220 against Springy South, rescuing his team from 5-22.
It was a remarkably similar story in the grand final. Parkfield slumped to 6-28. Spoljaric cracked 106 to lift it to 241, and then took 4-49 off 30 overs to help dismiss Springvale South for 194.
“Those two stand out because I had more or less had to carry us to keep us in the race,’’ he said.
He was involved in two other unforgettable grand finals. In 2015-16 Cranbourne conjured a reverse-outright victory over Springvale South after being knocked over for 65 in the first innings.
Spoljaric admitted that after the first dig he didn’t see how Cranny could dismiss South cheaply again. But young leggie Cam Dinger burst through with 6-44 and Cranbourne blitzed 5-163 off 25.2 overs in its second innings to steal the premiership, Spoljaric cranking 61 off 41 balls.
“That’s never happening again, that, is it?’’ he said. “When we went back out there for Springy’s second innings my body was shot. ‘Cheeks’ (Matt Chasemore) was on anti-inflammatories and was struggling. All our bowlers were struggling. Lucky enough, Dinger came to the party, didn’t he? We had another bite of the cherry. We took it.’’
Last season South had “Spolly’’ on its side in the grand final but was disappointed again as it fell to Buckley Ridges, both teams scoring more than 300.
“We lost it,’’ Spoljaric said. “We dropped their best batsmen (David White) three times. There you go. That’s why we lost it. You make mistakes at the wrong time and you lose games. Happens all the time. Hey, give me three chances in a grand final. I‘ll give you the tip, I’d get 180 too.’’
It was it his work, Spoljaric would say. And, run by run and wicket by wicket, he did it for pay in the DDCA.
SPOLJARIC BY THE NUMBERS
PARKFIELD
2010-11: 757 runs at 94.6 (centuries of 124 and 84), 17 wickets at 15.6
2011-12: 600 runs at 42.9 (centuries of 150 and 136), 29 wickets at 13.6
2012-13: 808 at 73.5 (centuries of 160no and 125), 35 wickets at 13.5
2013-14: 890 at 63.6 (centuries of 101, 138no and 106), 36 wickets at 13.3
CRANBOURNE
2014-15: 918 runs at 70.6 (century of 104), 39 wickets at 13.7
2015-16: 759 runs at 47.4 (centuries of 132no and 110), 41 wickets at 10.7
2016-17: 949 runs at 59.3 (centuries of 153, 158no and 123no), 43 wickets at 15.8
SPRINGVALE SOUTH
2017-18: 770 runs at 45.3 (century of 108), 33 wickets at 13.3
2018-19: 783 runs at 48.9 (centuries of 107, 122no and 132), 7 wickets at 58.3
WOOKEY MEDALS
2010-11 (Parkfield)
2011-12 (Parkfield)
2013-14 (Parkfield)
2014-15 (Cranbourne)
2016-17 (Cranbourne)
2018-19 (Springvale South)
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