JOINING an idol at a new club has helped Campbell Griffiths rediscover his love of cricket.
The 20-year-old has joined forces with fellow Sunraysia export and former Victorian bowler Jake Reed at Footscray in Victorian Premier Cricket in the back end of the 2022/23 season.
The former Merbein pace bowler played 30 games for Melbourne Cricket Club, including three first XI matches in early 2022, from 2019 until the end of last year.
However, constant cricket from the age of 13 and a new job as an electrician meant Griffiths was burnt out and struggling to find the enthusiasm for the game.
As the saying goes, a change is as good as a holiday.
“I’m living near Footscray and my house is about a five minute drive away from training, whereas I was finding it difficult with my new job to make it to Melbourne training and commit to it,” he said.
“I think I also lost my love for cricket over the last 12 months. I don’t think there was anything specific, I was just burnt out having played some much cricket from about 13 years old.
“The change has been refreshing, the guys at the club have been great and I think I’ve found my love of cricket again.”
Griffiths made his first appearance for the Bulldogs in second division on Saturday, taking 2/41 in a loss to Kingston Hawthorn.
Two days later, the former Under 19 Championship Cricket Australia XI bowler pulled on the red, white and blue alongside Reed in Footscray’s four-wicket loss to Geelong in the final round of the Vic SuperSlam, premier cricket’s Twenty20 tournament.
Via social media after the game, former Hobart Hurricanes player Reed described his first game alongside another Sunraysia export in Premier Cricket as “special”.
“That was really good,” Griffiths said.
“I feel like I just missed him when I was in Mildura and I was looking for an opportunity to play alongside him at some stage.
“He’s definitely someone I looked up to. When I was younger I remember a winter training session in Mildura put on by Victoria and he was really supportive and took time to work with each of us. I remember after that day I wanted to follow in his footsteps.
“He was great on the day (Super Slam). He could tell I was nervous being in a new team but he kept me calm.
“I had to bowl one of the super surge overs late in the game where you can only have two outfielders and he came and talked through it all with me. It helped me to relax I think that over only went for a couple of runs which kept us in the game.”
Griffiths is hopeful of breaking into Footscray’s first XI but following a month off, he has no expectations.
