How backyard baptism of fire made 300-game Premier Cricket champion David King
His steel was forged some three decades ago facing the wrath of two fast-bowling older brothers. This weekend, Ringwood’s David King joins the rarest of company when he etches his 300th First XI Premier Cricket match.
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IT was in the backyard where the Premier Cricket champion’s steel was forged in fire.
He wouldn’t flinch in the face of thunderbolts thrown down.
Just ask his brothers.
Ringwood captain David King has almost done it all in the top-flight across two decades – and this weekend he becomes just the 15th player in the competition’s century-long history to reach 300 First XI matches.
The rare feat joins three First XI premierships, more than 10,000 runs, in excess of 270 wickets, six Premier Team of the Year honours, five club champion awards, and a Ryder Medal to name a mere few honours.
Comfortably regarded as the Rams’ greatest in more than a century by a chorus of the club’s most decorated stalwarts, the 34-year-old has played the most matches of any active Victorian Premier cricketer.
He admits the milestone has tapped him on the shoulder as he joins an esteemed – and exclusive – rollcall.
“It’s a lot of games,” the Ringwood match record-holder quips.
“It’s almost crept up on me a little bit – I’m used to just coming back each year and going around again.
“When you look at all the names on the (300-game) list, and some of them up the top, it’s pretty cool to join the likes of (Warren) Ayres, (John) Scholes, (Jack) Ryder, and all those players who were a bit of the foundation for Victorian cricket back in those days.
“You just want to play the highest level you can for as long as you can … but it is a long time and the body certainly feels it.”
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There was nothing ‘hit and giggle’ about it – no less, for David.
The youngest of three brothers by some five and seven years to Matthew and Michael – both star cricketers in their own right and former teammates of David’s at Premier level – backyard matches were a rite of passage growing up at the King household.
They too involved cousin Daniel King who would also go on to represent Ringwood before becoming one of South Croydon Football Club’s greatest-ever players.
Age was no barrier as the competitive juices flowed – or more aptly, thrashed and crashed like a tidal wave – at the King residence.
“We certainly weren’t muckin’ around,” eldest brother Michael, more commonly known as ‘Zippy’, recalls.
“We were 16, 17, 18 bowling to a 12 or 13-year-old (David) and we weren’t holding back.
“Between us three and Daniel, we used to just play all the time, and you could imagine there were lots of fights.
“We’re very competitive and we hate losing.”
Matthew – now the captain-coach at South Croydon where he plays with Michael in the Ringwood & District Cricket Association – attests to the baptism of fire.
“It all started in backyard cricket and it (age) didn’t matter … at (David’s) age of five, we were still bowling as fast as we could at him, probably trying to hit him,” he laughs.
“But in a way it probably made him better.”
Perhaps it did.
A year ago, the former Australian under-19 representative and state cricketer cracked 10,000 First XI runs at Premier level to become the only player to reach the feat while at Ringwood – and one of just three players to mark the milestone at one club.
He sits eighth on the all-time list for First XI runs in Premier Cricket.
‘Zippy’ says David was quick to wise-up to cricket’s often psychological minefield.
“You could tell very early – it didn’t take long for him to be beating us in backyard cricket games,” he recalls.
“He just had this will, and nothing fazes him, it doesn’t matter what he’s facing.”
The older brothers declare the traits forged in the backyard were the makings of a special player – one who would win Premier Cricket’s highest individual accolade, the Jack Ryder Medal, in 2019-20.
“He’s obviously got natural talent with that hard work – but he’s also someone who’s very calm,” Matthew says.
“If you look at my older brother Michael, extreme talent but wasn’t so calm, then I was slightly least talented but worked hard – but also didn’t remain as calm as what David does.
“I think if you want to have a long, illustrious career like David, you’ve got to have those three factors.
“He’s just a very level-headed person.”
‘Zippy’ agrees.
“He’s just very relaxed – nothing gets to him, if he fails a couple of times, he doesn’t worry about opposition players and things like that – he’s just really strong-minded,” he says.
“He hasn’t got anything extravagant about his game, but he’s just so disciplined, has a good eye and doesn’t have a weakness in any area.”
Matthew adds: “I guess he’s someone who has always known his game. He hasn’t tried to go outside of those boundaries and knew what worked for him at a young age and he’s just perfected those basic skills.
“Talk about trust the process, he’s trusted that process his whole career. He’s been so consistent too, which has been one of the more outstanding things.”
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Making his First XI debut in 2006, David says his body, while starting to weary at 34, has allowed him the longevity of reaching 300 matches.
For years he juggled cricket commitments with a footy career in the Eastern league’s top-division at South Croydon, hanging up the boots in 2016.
“It (the milestone) probably just speaks a little bit to my durability, I suppose,” David says, who became a father earlier this year.
“I don’t think I’ve missed a game through injury throughout the 19 or 20 years I’ve been playing so that probably helps (and) I’ve kept the passion and love for the game which is great.
“But it is a time commitment to play at this level
“This is the first full year I’ve played with a little fella (a newborn son) – I’ve had great support from my wife and family over the years and the body’s held up OK.
“But don’t get me started on footy – I probably did my hamstring every four minutes!”
Eighteen years ago, a fresh-faced David received his First XI cap as a teenager from then-Ringwood skipper Sean Flynn.
Almost 20 years later and Flynn, who returned as coach in 2020, will watch his former protégé enter rare air this weekend.
David played in the 2007-08 and ’08-09 First XI flags under Flynn – and broke his games record, 244, in 2020-21.
The milestone man owes plenty to his mentor.
“He’s been a big influence on my career,” David says of Flynn.
“Sean played with my dad (Robin) – and in my first two-and-a-half-years, he was captain and we were lucky enough to get a couple of flags.
“Since he’s come back as coach we were going through a bit of a lean run from a success point of view and he turned it around from a whole club perspective and has got us back playing to the level we know we can.”
Just as Flynn took a young David King under his wing, the soon-to-be 300-gamer continues to do the same with the emerging crop at Ringwood, noting five teenagers made up its First XI last weekend.
“Part of the reason I’m sticking around is to help guide them through – a little bit like Sean did when we had a pretty young side when I first started,” David says.
“It can be tough coming in as a 17-year-old and it’s a tough competition.”
Flynn, who was recently elevated to legend status at Ringwood Cricket Club, was among those lauding the current captain as the Rams’ greatest ahead of his 250th First XI match three years ago.
“Most definitely he is,” Flynn said at the time.
“He averages 38 with the bat, which is going to put him up with Darren Dempsey, Brendan Ricci and Tom Stray on the batting side of things, then add in his couple of hundred or so wickets, hat-tricks and other bits and pieces … all-round impact, he’s unrivalled.”
A collection of 271 wickets has been highlighted by a best of 6-31 against Footscray Edgewater in 2007-08 – which included a hat-trick.
David also took home the LH McLeod Trophy – Ringwood’s First XI bowling award – in 2019-20.
Despite the accolades, ‘Zippy’ believes his little brother to be somewhat unsung with the ball as a right-arm medium-pacer.
“He’s been underrated as a bowler for his whole career as well – 270 wickets is astonishing for someone who would have taken a lot more wickets if it wasn’t for that period from 2007 to ’11 where we (Ringwood) had such a good bowling attack and he barely got a bowl.”
David concedes his time with the ball is shrinking in the twilight of his career – but he feels at home as ever at the crease.
“I’m certainly coming towards the end – the body’s starting to tell me that a little bit,” he says.
“I probably should give up the ball but I get bored in the field – I can still contribute however, but the body can’t go as long, so a couple of spells will do me.
“But I still think I’ve got a bit in the tank … I feel pretty good with the bat and as I’ve got older, I feel there’s a bit more freedom with the way I play.”
‘A bit in the tank’? Last season, David King won a fifth club champion award.
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Sibling rivalries of yesteryear aside, the pride swells for Matthew and Michael ahead of the youngest brother’s latest feat.
“Pretty early on in the piece, with the way things were going, it was probably always going to be that he was going to outshine us … as an older brother that’s not a bad thing, it’s exciting seeing any sibling, definitely a younger sibling, having as much success as what he has,” Matthew says.
‘Zippy’ adds: “He’s done extremely well – he’s had an amazing career.
“(There was) an incredible amount of time put in by our dad, Robin, and uncle Noel and all the family – Daniel as well.
“Three hundred games is just incredible and he’s done it while batting and bowling as well as captaining for a lot of that time as well. He’s been a huge reason why Ringwood’s been so successful for a long time now.”
But there’ll be no gloating about this weekend’s glory – “It’s not what he does,” Matthew remarks of his youngest brother despite a CV bursting with honours.
Some three decades after the first thunderbolt came hurtling down the backyard pitch, David humbly credits the baptism of fire in helping shape him as a cricketer.
“I think it helps with that drive and want to get better because you’re trying to be better than your older brothers in whatever format you’re playing,” he says.
“But I certainly haven’t reminded them of the milestone!”
David King – career statistics via Victorian Premier Cricket (as of completion of Round 2, 2024-25)
By the numbers
299 matches
316 innings – 30 not outs, 10,617 runs @ 37.12, high score 171* vs. Monash Tigers 2011-12, 20 centuries, 61 half-centuries
271 wickets @ 22.59 – including a best bowling of 6-31 vs. Footscray Edgewater 2007-08 (including hat-trick), two five-wicket hauls, 102 catches
Honours
Ringwood First XI cap No. 165 (debut 2006-07)
Ringwood CC life member
Ringwood CC First XI captain – 2016-17 to 2017-18, 2021-22 to present
Ringwood CC First XI premiership player – 2007-08, 2008-09, 2014-15
Club Champion (Don Mathieson Trophy) – 2011-12, 2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2023-24
First XI Batting Award (LK Ewart Trophy) – 2011-12, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18
First XI Bowling Award (LH McLeod Trophy) – 2019-20
Most Promising Player – 2006-07
Team of the Decade selection – 2001-2010 & 2011-2020
Ringwood CC Team of the 50 Years in Premier Cricket selection
Ringwood CC record – batting aggregate in season - 916 Runs (2015-16)
Victorian First Class cap No. 841
Australian under-19 representative – 2007-08 World Cup
Victorian under-17 & under-19 representative
Jack Ryder medallist – 2019-20
CV Future Star Award – 2008-09
Premier Men’s Team of the Season – 2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20
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