Nunawading Cricket Club’s David Cowell and Rod Jones reach 400-game milestone
It’s taken a long time to reach 400 games, but Nunawading Cricket Club’s David Cowell and Rod Jones couldn’t imagine doing anything else of a Saturday.
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When Nunawading took on Koonung Heights in a Box Hill Reporter and District Cricket Association D Grade clash last week, it honoured two stalwarts who’ve become the lifeblood of the club.
David Cowell and Rod Jones took a combined total of 802 games onto Stradbroke Park last Saturday, Jones beating Cowell to the 400 mark by just two weeks, and a host of former club mates were on hand to help reminisce.
“Both of us started about the same time, about 40-odd years ago,” Cowell, also in his seventh year as club president and beyond 30 as a committee member, said. “And the club got some of the old boys back together. We had two and a half thousand games between us. Two guys had played 300, two or three had played 250 plus.”
While it takes great commitment to give up sunny Saturday afternoons for four decades, Cowell said he never had to think twice about pulling on the whites every week.
“It’s the camaraderie,” he said. “Sporty guys like being around like-minded individuals. And it’s good for your mental health. It’s that banter and that laughter.
“If I didn’t socialise with my cricket mates, I wouldn’t have a social life.”
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A latecomer to the game, after playing baseball, Jones can’t imagine doing anything else with his Saturdays.
“I just enjoy playing,” he said. “I always enjoyed backyard cricket when I was younger, (but) I never played juniors.
“You get out and have a bit of exercise and you’re playing with guys you like.
“I’ve always played down the grades and I don’t mind, I just love cricket. We’ve had eight teams in the past and I reckon I’ve played in seven of them.”
In recent years, Jones said he’s enjoyed playing alongside some of the club’s junior players as they step up to the senior ranks.
“I play with some of the guys now that I played with their dads,” he said. “This year I got to bat with a 12 year old. We worked out at the time that there wouldn’t often be a 45-year age gap between batting partners.”