ANDREW Petrie joked with his good mate Mark Cleary on Friday night that it’d be “something else” if he could get a stumping off the former Australia A speed demon on day two of Mildura Settlers’ Division 1 Sunraysia cricket clash with Mildura West.
Jokes turned into reality shortly after play started on Saturday as the Setts wicketkeeper whipped off the bails in a legside stumping of West opener Sean Hawking, coming off Cleary’s bowling.
“That one meant a lot to me. We had been joking about it the day before and I said, ‘I’d love to get a stumped Petrie, bowled Cleary’.
“Mark’s played for Australia A and used to bowl really fast. Now I can tell people that I got a stumping off Cleary,” he added with a laugh.
Cleary didn’t quite share his mate’s great delight, fearing this type of dismissal would “damage my reputation” as a former first-class quick.
“I was very disappointed. I’ve been telling people that he threw the stumps down from 40 metres away,” Cleary jokingly said.
“Seriously, though, he took it really well. It was very good glove work.”
Both 40-year-old Petrie and 41-year-old Cleary came out of retirement this season, linking up for the first time since they played junior cricket together at Setts.
“We’re really good mates and I’d played with him in the Under-16s before I went to Workers Gol Gol for a number of years,” Petrie said.
“I said to him one day last year, ‘Would you come back and play one year with me if I came across to play with Setts?’ … and here we are,” Petrie said.
Petrie, a PE teacher at St Joseph’s College, was having a lean trot with the bat before Setts’ do-or-die final-round encounter with West. His highest score was 30 against Gol Gol in Round 12.
However, as predicted by his team’s skipper Braidyn Turner, he turned it all around on day one against West with a gritty 102 not out.
“It’s been a bit of a battle to remember how to bat again,” Petrie said.
“Obviously my body is not the same as it was, conditioning-wise. And my footwork and balance had been a bit messy, and I was finding soft ways to get out.
“But I was determined to get through some tough overs (against West) and help build our team’s innings.”
Petrie’s pivotal knock saw Setts post 8/261 before the home side dismissed West for 139 and then made a quick-fire 6/97 in their second dig on Saturday.
It meant Setts rocketed up from fourth to first on the ladder.
“We’ve gone from looking like we’d miss the finals to finishing top, all in the space of a month. It’s been an incredible turnaround,” Petrie said.
“The buzz around the place is electric, and it means a lot as the club celebrates our 50th anniversary.”
Setts are now primed to win their fourth top-grade title on the trot. They host fourth-placed Irymple this weekend, while second-placed Coomealla Wentworth will meet third-placed Gol Gol at Coomie.
As the Player of the Round, Petrie receives a $50 voucher from Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club.
