Vics take Lee ‘Stock’ Stockdale for national country championships in Barossa Valley

He had two stints at Premier level, only for the travel from Gippsland to get the better of him. But Lee Stockdale continues to go the extra mile for Victoria at the national country championships.

Lee Stockdale on the attack for the Traralgon District representative team against Warrnambool at Melbourne Country Week.

He was out.

Two weeks later, Lee Stockdale was in.

A few eyebrows were raised when the Victorian team for the national country championships was announced late last month.

Where was “Stocky’’?

The Gippsland all-rounder has been a state regular over the years and last season he not only captained the side, but made the team of the tournament, was player of the championships and broke the state games record.

It was a surprise, then, when his name was missing for the team for the 2024-25 carnival in the Barossa Valley.

Stockdale, 36, had been out with a knee injury, but declared himself fit and available for the trip.

The selectors, noting his absence from club cricket, had concerns over his ability to get through the busy schedule and left him out.

One of Stockdale’s biggest supporters, former Gippsland cricket region chair George Munro, was fuming.

“Mind boggling,’’ was one of the more generous descriptions Munro had for it.

Lee Stockdale batting for Fitzroy Doncaster in Victorian Premier Cricket.

But Stockdale was called into the team last week, the selectors apparently now satisfied of his fitness (in his comeback game for his club, Ex-Students, he hit 68 and took two wickets).

It means he’ll go to the Barossa for an eighth Australian country championship, building on his 59-match tally for the Vics.

Munro has been involved in Gippsland cricket for many years (as a player he was good enough to be picked for a Victorian regional team to meet Sri Lanka).

He puts Stockdale “right up there with the very best’’ players he’s seen from the region.

What sets him apart, he says, is his commitment to the Victorian country team.

“He’s made it part of his legacy,’’ Munro says.

Stockdale’s first state selection came in 2013-14 in Canberra. In the years since he’s been to Toowoomba, Shepparton, Geraldton, Wollongong and Newcastle.

“I was really keen on this one (Barossa Valley), because South Australia is the only participating state I hadn’t played in,’’ he says.

Former first-class paceman Mark Ridgway presents Lee Stockdale with his legend status plaque last year.

Stockdale, a crane driver/rigger, says the nationals are the highest level of cricket he can play and he likes the challenge of putting his best against other leading country cricketers.

“The standard is the reason I’ve made it a priority,’’ he says.

“There are some really good players and it’s also tough cricket because of the way it’s set out – it’s nine games virtually in seven days. It’s brutal. The good players at the carnival are the ones whose form doesn’t drop off too much from game one to game nine.’’

His achievements for the Vics are one part of his resume in representative cricket.

Stockdale has for a long time played for Cricket La Trobe Valley (formerly the Traralgon District association) in the Gippsland Cricket League (GCL) against other associations on Sundays.

Early last year he was made an official legend of Gippsland cricket in recognition of his four All-Gippsland caps and his service to the Victorian team.

He’s played in four GCL title-winning teams, including last season, two national championship crowns and six premierships for Ex-Students.

Two weeks ago he played his 200th game for the club.

Ex-Students put up his statistics from the previous 199 – 11 centuries, 45 half-centuries and 6739 runs at 37.62, and 343 wickets at 12.93.

Lee Stockdale is the Vic's games record-holder.

What’s he more proficient with: bat or ball?

Despite all those wickets with his left-arm spin, he says: “I’m definitely a batter. Put it this way, I wouldn’t mind facing my own bowling.’’

Ex-Students president Robert Voss has to think about the query.

“Geez, that’s a tough one. I’d say his batting. Just. He’s one of the blokes who, when you need him, he always steps up and leads from the front,’’ Voss says.

“But he’s very crafty with the ball. Varies his pace and his flight.’’

He says Stockdale “will probably go down as the best player we’ve ever had’’.

*****

Victorian Premier Cricket is also part of the Lee Stockdale story.

He had two stints at Fitzroy-Doncaster, playing exactly 50 matches in the First XI, with seven years separating his start and finish.

Stockdale played under the captaincy of Premier great Peter Dickson – and he often stayed at Dickson’s home on Friday nights.

Dickson recalls him as a “great country bloke, a knockabout, a tremendous fella’’ – and a good cricketer.

“He played with us when he was a kid, and probably when he got to his best years he was back in the country. Premier Cricket probably never saw the best of him,’’ Dickson says.

“He was a country boy through and through and he was always going to end up back home. But he was a real talent.’’

He recalls an important Stockdale innings to bat out the day in a final against Geelong.

The Lions had lost Tim Sheehan, Eric Ghasperidis, Gavin Kellar and Glenn Maxwell cheaply, but steadied through Dickson (52) and a partnership between Matt Bremner (87no) and Stockdale (38no).

“He never got overawed by situations. It was see ball, hit ball, sort of thing. He was a natural cricketer,’’ Dickson says.

Lee Stockdale bowling for the Lions. Picture: Stuart Milligan

That knock against the Cats was in Stockdale’s first season, in 2008-09.

Remarkably, he started it in the fourths. Three rounds later he was in the firsts, having skipped the seconds.

Stockdale says he had an “absolute ball’’ at Fitzroy-Doncaster.

“It was as good as cricket as I’ll ever play,’’ he says.

“The cricket was tough and I played in some really good sides and met some unbelievable people.’’

In 2015-16 he was part of the Lions’ white-ball premiership.

But the travel from Traralgon eventually got to him.

“I always struggled at the back-end of seasons,’’ he says.

Dickson has followed his former teammate’s exploits in country cricket and says they are exceptional.

After his second stint with the Lions, Stockdale returned to Ex-Students in 2016-17. It was a brilliant season for him, hitting two centuries at club level and one for the Traralgon association in the GCL.

Since then his representative duties – he’s also gone to Melbourne Country Week – have made him one of the busiest cricketers in the state.

In 2022-23, for example, he played 28 matches, a tally made up by club games, Country Week, GCL and the national championships.

“When I stopped playing cricket in Melbourne I was like, ‘Well, it’s time to wind down’,’’ he says. “I’ve ended up playing more cricket every year.’’

And fine cricket too.

* The 2024-25 Australian country championships start on January 3.

Originally published as Vics take Lee ‘Stock’ Stockdale for national country championships in Barossa Valley