Hastings a man in a hurry

AS I walked out to bat, John Hastings came with intent and met me halfway at McMahons Park, north of Richmond in Sydney's west.

John Hastings

AS I walked out to bat, John Hastings came with intent and met me halfway at McMahons Park, north of Richmond in Sydney's west.

With limited time before he had to pack up and head to a representative match that same afternoon Hastings, born in Penrith and raised in Londonderry, wanted the strike and me to stay at the non-striker's end.

"I've got to go so I'm either going to score plenty or I'm out of here," he said.

"Give me the strike and I'll whack them."

Not one to generally trouble the scorer, I complied and for the next five or six overs had the best seat in the house.

Batting on a synthetic pitch, Hastings sent the Kookaburra into orbit, tearing apart the North Richmond attack, racing to 80-odd in less time than what it would take to get a hair cut.

He was doing his best to score an unlikely century but it didn't eventuate, time was up and his mum Sue was waving from the sidelines for him to retire so he could head off and play for NSW.

This was a snapshot of playing under-16s for Windsor Leagues Cricket Club with the man who yesterday was honoured with the 430th Australian Test cap.

It was only park grade but there were shining lights on the team who were showing a bit of promise.

Batting high up the order and captain was Peter Forrest, who has also represented Australia in several one-day internationals.

The rest of the side was made of local guys like Brett Thompson, Richard Moellmer, Cameron Watson, Chris Pappas, Shaun Jones and a deadly leg-spinner - Alex Hirsch.

We won the competition but it wasn't a breeze as one might expect. Rolled for less than 90 in the final, with both Hastings and Forrest batting, we somehow managed to keep our opponents at bay.

Hastings now stands at 198cm and weighs 100kg and he wasn't much smaller a decade ago. He was intimidating with the bat but surprisingly rarely bowled.

Unlike yesterday when he steamed in with the new ball at the WACA, Hastings didn't bowl fast either at the time. He preferred medium pacers when he decided to roll the arm over.

As a teenager, cricket wasn't the only sport he excelled at. Going to school at St Dominic's College in Penrith, a noted rugby league nursery, Hastings was also a very handy footballer.

He was damaging with the ball in hand and those he tackled knew they had been hit. Hastings comes from a family steeped in harness racing with his uncle Fred the metropolitan racecaller in Sydney.

With his father Grahame a former trainer-driver, John drove mini-trotters in his younger years and was saddened in September when his beloved pony Pancho died.

Peter Forrest learned that his good mate got the call for the Test team while playing for Queensland in Canberra yesterday.

"I remember playing junior footy and cricket with him, he was a little fat kid and then he just got real big," Forrest said.