Premier Cricket 2018-19: Matthew Elliott’s sons Zac and Sam debut together for Fitzroy Doncaster
MATTHEW Elliott’s sons Zac and Sam added to their family’s proud cricket history when they made their First XI debuts for Fitzroy Doncaster together in Round 1.
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The left-handed opener now gets the same joy he had raising his bat from watching his sons play Premier Cricket at Fitzroy Doncaster.
Zac, 20, and Sam, 18, added to their family’s proud cricket history when they made their First XI debuts together on Saturday.
Zac and Sam received their maroon caps from Australian star and proud Lions product Glenn Maxwell before the Round 1 fixture against Essendon.
Captain Ejaaz Alavi tapped the siblings on the shoulder just after they had placed down the covers at Schramms Reserve on Thursday night, informing them they would play their maiden top grade game on the same day.
Sam may have already made his First XI debut if it wasn’t for a series of injury setbacks.
His progress has been halted by stress fractures in his back, ruling him out of the game for the best part of two years.
The obstacles made his debut all the more sweeter.
“To come back and play, not only to debut with Zac, but that first game back with him was pretty special,” Sam said.
“I was just emotional because it’s obviously been so long and Fitzroy has stuck by me and been so helpful in whatever I need.
“MOS (coach Michael O’Sullivan) has been great and Peter (Dickson) and Ejaaz, obviously knowing them so well, it was just so good to be playing alongside them finally.”
While Sam is regarded as one of Fitzroy Doncaster’s most promising quicks, he showed his prowess with the bat in the 42-run Round 1 win over the Bombers at Windy Hill.
He hammered a crisp 58 not out from just 49 deliveries, stroking four boundaries and two sixes, in an unbroken 87-run eighth-wicket stand with wicketkeeper Liam Banthorpe, taking the Lions from a precarious 7-120 to a promising 7-207 at the end of their 50 overs.
He then captured a tidy 1-21 from six overs as Essendon collapsed from 0-87 to 165 all out.
Zac, a left-handed opening batsman like his father, was touted as a player to watch during the pre-season after topping the Lions’ Second XI run charts with 408 runs in 2017-18.
“I was bloody excited,” Zac said of the news he would be making his debut.
“I’ve put a lot of things in place to make sure I could give myself the best chance I could to get to this point.
“I paid for myself to go to India earlier in the year and do some cricket over there.
“It was a pretty proud moment until Friday when the nerves started kicking in.”
Both harbour ambitions of reaching the peak in Australian cricket and pulling on the baggy green like their father.
“We’ve got one baggy green in the house but I think three would be unreal,” Zac said.
“I’m just trying to put in as much work as I can for Fitzroy and make sure we’re up there again this season and hopefully get into another grand final.
“If I do that and focus on putting my best foot forward for Fitzroy, which is such a great club, I think the rest of it will take care of itself.”
Sam said: “That’s the ultimate goal to do what he did.
“It would be pretty special if I could manage something like that.
“Obviously I’d like to play as high as I can but I want stick it out for the rest of this season with Fitzroy.
“I just want to play with all the blokes at Fitzroy because it’s such a good club and they’ve helped me so much.”
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