Nick Riewoldt and Bob Murphy star for Birregurra in country cricket match

THE SCORE: Nick Riewoldt and Bob Murphy are big hits in Birregurra, Mick Malthouse’s surprise Brownlow tip and which AFL clubs are leading the race for free agent Tom Lynch?

Nick Riewoldt played cricket for Birregurra. Picture: Peter Ristevski

IT’S probably not a good idea to sledge Nick Riewoldt.

We hear there may have been a bit of mouthing off towards the former St Kilda champion during a cameo appearance with a bush cricket team on Saturday.

Riewoldt and Western Bulldogs great Bob Murphy both turned out for Birregurra against Warrion in division two of the Colac District Cricket Association.

They were there as a favour to local Peter Hanlon — a leading sportswriter who’d worked on books with both AFL stars — with the match doubling as a fundraiser for Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision.

Apparently one of the Warrion bowlers had got on social media the morning of the game promising to give Riewoldt some chin music and then even chipped him when he was in the field.

So how do you think Riewoldt reacted?

He hit the loud mouth bowler for two massive sixes on his way to a quickfire 51 off 27 balls. Murphy didn’t miss out, scoring a majestic 60 off 42 balls which included six fours and three sixes.

Birregurra won the game easily with the function afterwards raising $8000 for Maddie’s Vision, the highlight being Murphy getting behind the microphone with the band for two impressive singing sets.

MICK CHIPS IN WITH BROWNLOW TIP

THE highlight of the inaugural Herald Sun Classic golf tournament happened off the course.

While former North Melbourne star David King was the best performed of the celebrities who took on the Commonwealth Golf Club course to aid the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, it was Mick Malthouse who stole the limelight.

The former Collingwood premiership coach certainly caught everyone’s attention when he made a bold prediction about the Brownlow Medal.

Malthouse declared that Essendon full-forward Joe Daniher had the potential to break the midfield stranglehold on the league’s best and fairest award in years to come.

Yes Joe, Mick Malthouse was serious. Pic: Getty Images

FORMER CRICKETER SNOWS HIS STUFF

A LOT of conversations throughout Australia on Sunday night as Britt Cox and Jakara Anthony were going for gold in the women’s moguls finals would have centred around the identity of Channel Seven’s special comments man.

And when it was revealed that the man sitting next to Basil Zempilas in the commentary box was Dirk Nannes, the inevitable follow up for many was: “Dirk Nannes the cricketer! What the hell is he doing commentating at the Winter Olympics?”

Howzat for commentary? Dirk Nannes loves skiing.

Well, for those who aren’t across the Nannes life story, here is the reason he’s front and square in PyeongChang.

Cricket wasn’t his first love, it was skiing and during his teens he would work all year in a pub to come up with enough money to compete on all the best powder in Europe on the World Cup circuit.

He mixed it with the world’s best for about three years and actually came close to representing Australia in moguls at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

Nannes decided he didn’t want to wait around for another four years to live his Olympic dream so instead started up a ski travel agency and began playing park cricket for Vermont in Melbourne.

Soon his cricket career took off as he graduated to district ranks with Hawthorn, then quickly to the Victorian team and eventually into the Australian team where in 2010 he was a member of the World Twenty20 squad.

But Nannes never let go of the snow bug, developing his ski tour and ski camps business which led him to buying a ski lodge in Niseko, Japan.

The Gold Coast Suns face a fight to retain free agent Tom Lynch. Pic: Michael Klein

THE WHISPER

Speculation about Tom Lynch’s future is going to become a weekly event throughout the season.

But the early mail on the chase for the Gold Coast star is that it’s already down to two clubs, both of whom recently acquired silverware.