58 injuries and counting: Wounded Magpie Chris Thewlis still knows how to fly

Chris Thewlis has done the maths – he has suffered 58 injuries playing Premier and Sub-District cricket, and now he knows why. The master batter and bat-maker tells his story to PAUL AMY.

Camberwell star Chris Thewlis knows his way around a bat.

Word of the innings spread in Premier Cricket at warp speed.

Messages flew between clubs and players, and around grounds jaws dropped as the run rate soared.

Chris Thewlis was away!

It was hard to keep up with him. He hit everything to the fence or well over it. He brought up his century for Camberwell Magpies in the 11th over and his double-century off 63 balls. It was astonishing striking.

At a Sub-District match, players tuned in to the livestream, the sweet thwack of bat meeting ball transported from Watson Park, Ashburton, as Thewlis took to hapless and helpless Kingston Hawthorn bowlers in the Victorian Premier Cricket Second XI match.

It was January, 2022 and the right-hander finished with 237 off 72 balls. More than 200 of his runs came in boundaries – there were 24 sixes and 20 fours.

Christopher Thewlis on the charge for Camberwell. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Most Victorian Premier Cricket followers were not surprised. Late into his long career with the Magpies, Thewlis had become renowned for getting hefty scores in a hurry and in spectacular style.

It’s the same now in Sub-District cricket. In his first season for Brunswick, he has blitzed two whirlwind centuries: 139 off 101 balls against Croydon and, last Saturday week, 143 off 74 deliveries against Endeavour Hills.

Again his name flashed around grounds. At Malvern, word came through from Noble Park president Craig Ortland, who was predicting Thewlis would get a double-century against the Hills.

“It was a good day for the Wicks,’’ Thewlis says, sitting in the garage of his Glen Iris home surrounded by the Badger cricket bats he makes.

“One of those days where everything went right for us and everything went wrong for them.’’ Brunswick won by 313 runs, an extraordinary margin for a one-dayer.

Thewlis followed three of his Camberwell Magpies teammates and great mates – Ben Rowles, Simon Hill and Dan Rawson – to Brunswick after retiring from Premier level.

He had intended to have a 17th season at the Camberwell club. But he was getting busy at work, and he and his wife had another child on the way.

And he was injured – again. He broke his leg playing winter cricket and then tore his hamstring in a Twenty20 competition in McKay. In his first training session back at Camberwell, Will Walker hip-and-shouldered him in the warm-up for a fielding session. He suffered two broken ribs and a punctured lung. His new home has brought old ailments: since he’s been at Brunswick, Thewlis has dislocated a shoulder, a thumb and a collarbone.

More than bowlers, injuries restricted him at Premier level. Now he knows why. Thewlis was recently diagnosed with EDS, a condition that affects connective tissue in the body.

Chris Thewlis after his double-century against Kingston Hawthorn.

“It means I’ve got brittles bones and muscles and probably explains why I’ve been falling apart for so many years,’’ he says.

“I get a lot of dislocations. My joints aren’t great. And then because I have a lot of dislocations it affects all the cartilage and tendons, which in turn affects the muscles. I’ve had a lot of torn muscles.

“I’ve had 58 separate injuries since I started in Premier Cricket at the age of 15. I only know because I had to list them all when I was going through the process (of diagnosis). There’s nothing you can do for it. My body hurts all the time.’’

He can have a chuckle over the confirmation of his condition.

“It’s funny with the timing of it all, after my Premier career. I spent years feeling like I was letting the team down by getting injured all the time and blokes hanging shit on me for drinking too many beers and being unfit and getting injured. I did put in with my rehab but it never seemed to work. So this makes me feel a little bit better about myself!’’

Thewlis, like the heavy-scoring Hill, is from Wangaratta and played senior cricket for the Magpies club at an early age.

He was also in North East Knights junior representative teams and was a Victorian Under 17 selection, counting Travis Dean, Alex Keath and Jackson Coleman among this teammates.

It was Hill who enticed him to Camberwell Magpies, a casual hit in the nets turning into a pre-season invitation.

Taking the leap from Wangaratta Magpies to Camberwell Magpies, Thewlis moved to Melbourne when he was 17.

“Camberwell’s been my home for half my life,’’ he says. “That’s why it was such a big move to go to Brunswick.’’

Chris Thewlis on battling injuries.

His second season with the Magpies brought an eventful First XI debut. Driving from Wangaratta with his older brother Matt, who was also playing at Camberwell Magpies at the time, he got a call when they were at Euroa, informing him there had been a late change and he would be playing in the firsts at Frankston, not the seconds.

“I thought, ‘Righto, shit, that adds an hour to the trip’,’’ he says. “We didn’t know where the Frankston ground was. My brother dropped me off on the wrong side. The toss had been taken. The warm-ups had been done and I was running across the ground with my kit-bag introducing myself to as handful of players. The first ball got hit at me, I picked it up and made a direct-hit run-out. The boys thought I was the duck’s nuts. That was until the next ball got chipped at me and went straight through my legs for four. Typical cricket. Brought me back down to earth really quickly.’’

His debut, perhaps, stands as a summation of his career. There were ups. There were downs. He was to finish with 77 First XI matches spread from 2009-10 to 2023-24, hitting 1587 runs at 21.16. His sole century came against Melbourne University, a dazzling 135 off 98 balls, in 2016-17.

Camberwell’s Christopher Thewlis is ultra-aggressive with the bat. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Thewlis hit tons in all grades for Camberwell Magpies.

But he says it took him a long time to work out his game and ultimately his career was “disappointing, unfulfilled’’.

He had stuck to the maxim espoused by his captains: be two wickets down at lunch and four down at tea, and bat time. Be there.

“I spent a lot of time injured and a lot of time trying to play the way that didn’t suit my natural play,’’ Thewlis says. “I tried to be something I wasn’t, trying to be defensive. I’d get out to a half-arsed shot. It went against my natural instincts. The last few years, I started to work it out and that was when I got injured. I spent a lot of time sitting and watching, drinking too many beers feeling sorry for myself and thinking I let the team down.’’

T20s were a turning point for him, he says.

Asked to open, he went after the white ball, going over the top and “hitting a few dingers’’.

It was the first time he had any real success in the top team and decided to make it his approach in all formats. He hasn’t changed it.

“I’ve played enough cricket, I’ve hit enough balls to know what I’m doing. I just need to breathe and watch the ball,’’ Thewlis says.

“When I tap my bat, I tap it twice as the bowler comes in. The first one is ‘Breathe’ and I take a big, deep breath through my nose, and the second one is ‘Watch the ball’.

“I try to zone everything else out, because I find when I’m frantic and thinking too much, I’m not breathing properly. Oxygen to the brain helps decision-making. I just try to keep it simple.’’

The secret to Chris Thewlis' success.

That double-century blast against Kingston Hawthorn brought him a lot of attention but no great satisfaction. He says it was made on a flat wicket on a thirds and fourths ground and he had his share of luck.

The highlight of his time at Camberwell came when the Magpies won the club championship under the coaching of Brendan Drew in 2016.

“I’ve never really enjoyed training. But I can remember enjoying training when he was running the show,’’ he says. “Everyone was on board, all going in the same direction. It was a good place to be and geez we had some fun. We’d have a few beers and smoke a few cigars.’’

In the past few years, Thewlis has played in a few local Twenty20 competitions, getting away often, as when he hit 103 off 39 balls for Kerrimuir United three years ago and 105 off 43 for Golden Square last season.

He uses his suburban and country cameos to promote his Badger bats.

Thewlis saw the possibilities in bat-making after using one of Cameron White’s old blades.

Brunswick CC star Chris Thewlis and his many Badger bats.

He was astonished. “A pro bat is like having steroids,’’ he says. “It helped change the way I batted and also I became obsessed with the process and why some bats are so much better than others.

“You wouldn’t believe how much it helps having a proper bat in your hand. You can have confidence when you swing that you can hit it for six.’’

After taking a couple of classes with renowned bat-maker Lachlan Fisher, Thewlis began Badger in 2016, put it in hibernation because of Covid, but got going again two years ago, in part to keep his little brother Jimmy busy.

He had also come to Melbourne to play with the Magpies but has since returned to Wangaratta, leaving his brother to shape solo. He’s also doing repairs.

“I gave up the corporate job and I’m doing this full-time now,’’ he says.

Thewlis has Premier players Lachie Bangs, Tommy Russ and Liam Fitzpatrick using Badgers.

They think he shapes a good bat. They know he swings one well too.

Originally published as 58 injuries and counting: Wounded Magpie Chris Thewlis still knows how to fly