North Geelong stalwart Sam Hall set to play 300th game in blockbuster against East Belmont

Magpies stalwart Sam Hall is set to notch up his 300th game against East Belmont, but the premiership hero is more focused on keeping his side on top.

02-02-2023 Sam Hall plays his 300th game for North Geelong CC on Saturday. Picture: Brad Fleet

NORTH Geelong stalwart Sam Hall says he has barely thought about the personal importance of Saturday’s game against East Belmont, instead solely focused on finals ramifications in the top-of-the-table clash.

The hard-hitting opener will play his 300th senior game for the club in a career spanning across three decades, but in his eyes there is no more important game than the one on Saturday.

Hall said there had been a bit of chatter about the milestone, but the group’s attention was firmly on beating the Lions.

“It’s a pretty big game this week being first against second, there’s a game between us and a fair bit of history there over the last few years,” he said.

“It has definitely been the main focus for us this week, a couple of the boys mentioned they were planning some celebrations after the game but the game comes first.

“We’re having a good season so far, so are they and they’ll be pretty keen to knock us off I would think.”

02-02-2023 Sam Hall plays his 300th game for North Geelong CC on Saturday. Picture: Brad Fleet

Hall, who has made 8337 runs at 17 centuries in his North Geelong career, was an integral piece to the premiership win last season when the Magpies triumphed against East Belmont.

The opener belted an undefeated 104 off 59 balls to set up a famous 10-wicket win, chasing the 170-run total in just 18 overs.

Hall said the Magpies, who “crept into finals” last season, had not changed their approach to cricket this season despite being undefeated up until this point.

“We kind of just scraped in last year, which we forget a bit because our two finals wins were pretty dominant,” he said.

“You obviously want to win as much cricket as you can, so the game against East Belmont will be another one where we want to win.

“Our run into finals will be a good one, we obviously played Grovedale last week and we won’t play them again, but the thing we know is coming is that we’re going to get sides that are fighting for that third and fourth spot.

“Everyone’s competitive, but we can’t really afford to be complacent because if you do have an off day you’re going to get beaten, especially by these teams that are fighting to make it.

“So I think our end to the season should be a really good run into finals and provide us a competitive preparation there.”

Originally published as North Geelong stalwart Sam Hall set to play 300th game in blockbuster against East Belmont