Milestone dismissal for Dandenong wicketkeeper Jacques Augustin
After being nudged into the seconds at Fitzroy-Doncaster, the outstanding gloveman has found a happy home behind the sticks at Dandenong.
South East
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Just as his wicketkeeping is so neat it often goes unnoticed, Jacques Augustin was unaware of the milestone.
Augustin is a schoolteacher in Warragul, and when colleague and Casey South Melbourne opponent Jordan Wyatt offered him congratulations last Friday, he had no idea what he was talking about.
Only then did he learn he had reached his 250th dismissal in the First XI, as noted in the Victorian Premier Cricket round preview.
“It was a nice surprise,’’ Augustin said.
The 29-year-old met the 150-game mark last season and is a Dandenong premiership player and record-holder. By deed and title he is a keeper.
The premiership was won over Fitzroy-Doncaster in 2017-18. Asked to say a few words after the grand final, Lions captain Peter Dickson said the club was disappointed with the result, but delighted to see its former player Augustin having success.
It was clear Fitzroy-Doncaster held him in high and warm regard.
Encouraged by Lions opener Matty Bremner, he had gone there at the age of 18 and made his debut in his first season, 2008-09.
Augustin held the gloves for 95 matches before making way for Liam Banthorpe, a few years younger and better with the bat.
“He (Banthorpe) would probably see himself more as a batsman-wicketkeeper, whereas I see myself more as a traditional wicketkeeper-batsman,’’ he said.
“My stats would probably suggest that too.’’
That said, to a career average of around 15 can be added the sparkle of a century. It remains his only score beyond 50.
“Yeah, I got one (ton) … can hang the hat on that hundred against Prahran a while ago,’’ he said.
Rather than watch their popular wickie slave away in the seconds behind Banthorpe, Lions leaders encouraged him to look elsewhere for First XI openings.
That led him to Dandenong, which since the departure of John O’Hare a decade earlier had tried a succession of glovemen, so many that club stalwart Damian Bulakowski struggles to name them all.
“I sort of got stuck at Fitzroy after seven or eight years,’’ Augustin said. “I got stuck in the seconds behind Liam Banthorpe and probably had to find other opportunities. The boys were actually pretty good about it. They didn’t want to lose me but they also knew it was time for me to find greener pastures and play First XI cricket.’’
Augustin made contact with Dandenong assistant coach and fellow west Gippsland schoolteacher Paul Boraston. A meeting at the Drouin Hotel sealed the move for the 2016-17 season.
Soon the bowlers were talking up his glovework.
In 2017-18 he gratefully gobbled up 43 catches off them. There were five stumpings too as he established record dismissal aggregate of 48 for the Panthers. It’s going to take a lot of edges to catch him.
“He’s definitely up there as one of the best keepers in the comp,’’ Dandenong all-rounder James Nanopoulos said this morning of his teammate.
“Especially with his hands. He’s got unbelievable hands, really soft hands. Up to the stumps he’s incredible. He reads the ball beautifully and he creates a lot of chances just by being up to the stumps.
“His energy behind there as well really drives the group, his voice, his hustle through the overs, he tries to pressure the batsmen as much as he can from his position. He’s been doing the job for a long time now. He knows what’s required, and he does it as good as anyone in the comp.’’
Augustin works hard at his craft. At training he goes into the nets and keeps to medium pacers and spinners, always watching their hand movements for clues to the type of deliveries they are bowling.
Coming from Warragul, he needs to make his time count, and Augustin said a good session brought “20 to 30 minutes of high quality stuff rather than an hour of low quality stuff’’.
As for match days, he focuses on his ability to focus.
“I think concentration is a big part of it,’’ he said.
“Obviously it’s a long day, 96 overs, and you need to keep up the concentration to get that catch late in the day or that stumping. You have be able to switch off though. You can’t concentrate for six to eight hours a day – that will kill you.
“You can talk about the basics things like watching the ball into your hands and using soft hands but concentration is key.
“Fitness is an important thing too. You’ve got to be fit for repeat efforts, run up and back, squats, that sort of thing.’’
For his milestone 250th dismissal, Augustin caught Monash Tiger Mitch Perry off the bowling of Test man James Pattinson.