THE sense of relief in Campbell Griffiths’ voice and the way he carries himself are obvious.
The 17-year-old Merbein South Cricket Club product had already experienced the highs and lows of cricket after what could be said was a rollercoaster past year and a half, which took him from international representation to debilitating injury and a long layoff.
Griffiths was hoping to be back on the uptick with Victoria Country at the Cricket Australia Under 19 National Championships starting this weekend in Perth.
That was 2pm Tuesday.
By 4pm that same day he’d gotten another phone call from cricket authorities, saying he’d been removed from the Victoria Country side.
Instead he’ll play at the national championships in Cricket Australia’s Under 18 side.
“That was definitely a surprise,” Griffiths said.
“It wasn’t even on my mind that could happen.”
The selection was another twist in the already topsy-turvy tale of Griffiths’ cricket career – and he isn’t even 18 yet.
After having played for the Cricket Australia Under 16s at the Under 17 National Championships the October 2017 in similar circumstances to his latest call-up, he then made his international underage debut.
In April 2018, at under 16 level, he donned the green and gold in an international match against Pakistan playing for a Cricket Australia XI, taking his first international wicket.
At that time the tearaway left-arm paceman looked destined to emulate the likes of Mitchell Starc – it was all just a matter of time.
But he pulled up sore after bowling just three overs and was sent for scans, which revealed a stress fracture in his lumbar spine.
He played his first game back in March this year and is now bowling free of restrictions, capitalising with 6/59 from 25
overs in Merbein South’s round 9 SCA loss to Nichols Point over the past two weekends.
“It feels really good, it feels really rewarding to be back after such hard work doing rehab and stuff, following Cricket Victoria’s orders pretty much for 11 months,” Griffiths said.
“It’s good to be back not under restrictions.
“I wasn’t able to run or jump or do any strenuous activity for seven months and then I got into running rehab and then bowling.
“I was just bowling by myself in a net for a good couple of months and that helped keep my head up, pretty much.”
Griffiths’ efforts against Nichols Point certainly raised eyebrows.
Pointers wicketkeeper-batsman Glen Bridson, who had made 42 before becoming Griffiths’ fifth wicket, described him as the quickest bowler he’d faced that season – quicker than Settlers speedster and regular Willowfest Express winner Luke Coates.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Griffiths said on hearing those words from an opponent.
“It makes me a bit happy, to be honest, after so much hard work.”
He said he’d been clocked bowling at 134km/h in March but he was yet to be tested this season.
Griffiths said he’d been working hard on maximising his 194.5cm frame to ensure he was bowling as best he could.
“I’ve done a lot of work with Tim McAskill at Cricket Victoria, I did this stuff where
I had a shirt on and they slow motion-recorded my action and looked at it, fixing counter-rotations and stuff,” he said.
“I was bowling off probably two or three steps for a month or a month and a half just to get it right, and even leading into this season I was changing it even more.”
Once the national championships are done, Griffiths has his eyes set on representing the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Club in Victorian Premier Cricket.
“Hopefully over the school holidays I’ll go down nearly every weekend and play for Melbourne,” he said.
“It feels like I become a better cricketer each time I play down there, I just learn so much and it’s just a good experience to be playing such high-level cricket.”
Meanwhile, with a switch of teams, Griffiths will now play against former Coomealla Wentworth paceman Kobe Smith (Victoria Country), who is now based in Melbourne and plays for Fitzroy Doncaster in Premier Cricket.
Smith and Griffiths had been taking the ball as a new-ball partnership in a recent practice match for Victoria Country against Victoria Metro in Bendigo.
Should he find himself bowling to his fellow Sunraysia product, Griffiths said he wouldn’t get too aggressive.
“I think we will work something out, I don’t think I’ll bounce him or anything – nothing too harsh,” he said with a laugh.
