Doveton legend Keith ‘Smokey’ Dawson to play his 500th match for the club
Keith ‘Smokey’ Dawson first played for Doveton as a 14-year-old, helping make up the numbers for a junior team. Now he’s poised to play his 500th match for the club.
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Keith Dawson as 14 when two mates from school asked him to fill in for the Doveton Under 15 team.
He hadn’t played cricket – at that stage he preferred basketball – but he did help make up the numbers.
It was the start of a 50-year association with the Doves.
Despite making a duck, Dawson enjoyed that first game helping make up the numbers, decided to keep playing and the next year went into senior cricket.
That’s where he still is today, at the age of 66.
This week the man whose head turns to “Smokey’’ plays his 500th game for the club. It will be for the Turf 5 team, against Cranbourne, at home on the wicket he curates.
A few speakers have been lined up to say a few words about Dawson before the match but the celebrations won’t be anything like those for his 400th.
Since that milestone 15 years ago he’s played “a few games here and there’’. This Saturday they’ll add up to 500.
“It’s been a slow old haul to get here,’’ he said.
“I didn’t even realise I was that close to 500. When I got to 400 I thought it was virtually all over. But I played five games here, five games there and now it’s come up.
“Funny thing is, I’d had a lot of knee injuries but as I’ve got older it’s not as bad.’’
For years Dawson was known for his fast-medium bowling and lower-order batting, a good all-rounder, but he started out as a wicketkeeper.
When he did start bowling, he let go a few leggies – and took six wickets.
“I never even bowled in the nets. I just loved wicketkeeping,’’ he said.
“I was at a mate’s wedding, just up at Holy Family, and when I ducked back here they said, ‘Can you have a bowl?’
“I said I’d never bowled before. But they threw me the ball and I got a few.’’
Dawson eventually turned to quicker stuff, and was good at it, leading strong Doveton teams in the West Gippsland competition and then the DDCA.
The Doves won the A grade premiership in West Gippy in 1981-82, one of 13 flags Dawson has played in. He regards it as one of the best times of his cricket.
Before then, he said, Doveton had decent sides but never put it together.
The recruitment of John Robertson from Buckley Ridges changed that.
“We’d sort of got used to losing, and when ‘Robbo’ came, instead of just batting and bowling, we were doing fielding practice and other things to improve,’’ Dawson said.
“We were only young and he trained us hard and we loved it. We binded together and started winning some games. He turned it all around with his attitude. He wouldn’t take any rubbish on the field either, ‘Robbo’.’’
Dawson still remembers the tea times in West Gippsland. As soon as the break came players would jump in their cars, take off to the nearest pub and tip back as many pots as they could. Then they’d return for the last session.
“When I was a young bloke I was shell-shocked, watching all these blokes run for their cars,’’ he said. “When you got back it was all serious again on the ground.’’
One year after the premiership the Doves joined the Dandenong association. A sustained period of success was ahead of them with teams built around Dawson, keeper-batsman Graeme Downe and all-rounder Stuart Batten.
He regards Downe and Batten as two of the best players he’s seen at the club.
Much earlier Dawson had played with John Thomson, who one season took more than 100 wickets with his topspinners.
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“Smokey’’ was a tough competitor, never shy about giving batsmen some sharp words of advice.
“If you could get under their skin, they’d be more worried about having a go at you than concentrating on their batting,’’ he said.
“I couldn’t think of how many wickets I would have picked up due to that, a friendly sledge to take them off their game.’’
Some numbers: Dawson has taken 600 wickets, made 8000 runs, was senior coach three times and a junior coach for 18 years. He received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 for his service to cricket.
The Doves went through tough times in the past few years, but they’ve steadied under a young committee. They have five senior teams this season.
“Some of the kids who I’d coached in the Under 12s put their hand up to run the club, and they’ve done a magnificent job,’’ Dawson said.
For a long time Dawson and his wife, Karen, had overseen the off-field effort. He had three stints as president and Karen had a long run as secretary (he is thankful for the support of Karen and their son David, saying they “keep me going’’).
The Dawsons were asked to come back to the committee but they resisted.
“You know the old story, they kept saying, ‘You’ve got to do it Smokey, you’ve got to get Karen, you’ve got to get ‘Hendo’ (Steve Hendy),’’ he said.
“But you can only do so much with your life. I didn’t like to see them struggling but I pressured the younger ones to put their hands up instead of waiting for us to bail them out, and they did. Like I said, they’ve done a great job.
“Even if we never go higher up than Turf 2, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be able to have a club like we’ve got now, with a lot of young guys and we’re hardly paying anyone any money and they’re just happy to play here. You can’t build your club up and then it just collapses.’’
It’s a good thing Doveton is going well again. It’s the cricketing home of the Pattinsons, Darren and James, Test cricketers both.
And it’s the home of the legendary Keith “Smokey’’ Dawson, still putting in after filling in all those years ago.