A BOYHOOD dream became an “old man’s dream”, but one that will still be realised for local cricketers Brad Purdue and John ‘Jed’ Mensforth.
The duo will represent Australia A in next month’s veterans’ cricket international Tri-Series in Mildura against Australia and New Zealand, prior to the first Spirit of Cricket veterans T20 franchise tournament in the region.
The events organised by former Willowfest president Anthony Telfer have been dubbed the “Spirit of Cricket Festivale”.
Purdue and Mensforth have both been playing veterans cricket in South Australia for multiple years, while also competing locally and playing in over-50s national championships.
“It’s an honour for sure,” Purdue said.
“I guess it’s a reward for the hard work we’ve put in for the past three or four years, travelling to Adelaide pretty much every second week for training and to be able to play our comp over there.
“It’s a bit of a bonus for us guys that it’s being played in Mildura because we know the conditions pretty well here too and hopefully that helps us out.”
“We do a lot of travelling on Sundays and we have the nationals in there as well plus the local stuff so it’s a lot of cricket,” Mensforth added.
“It’s good fun and we’re looking forward to doing this.
“It’s obviously a lot of time spent on the road and away from family as well which is the hard bit. We’re of course thankful to them for their support in letting use chase what’s essentially our boyhood dream … well old man’s dream now!”
The Tri-Series will run in Mildura from Tuesday, September 17 to Wednesday, September 25.
The selection is even more exciting for the Sunraysia duo who get to play alongside a great mate.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Purdue said.
“For Jed and I to be coming into the Aus A line-up together, we’ve been pretty good mates for a long time.
“We’ve played a lot of cricket together, we umpire football together, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Both know they will face some strong competition during the event.
“I went over with the 55s to New Zealand and played in a national system over there and they were pretty strong,” Mensforth said.
Both are also keen to see the incoming Franchise T20 tournament as well, for which Purdue will play for Lightning Storm as one of a number of Sunraysia players competing.
“It’s an interesting concept there and I can really see it kicking on big time,” he said.
“It’s new because it is T20, we’ve never really played that in over-50s but it’s a totally different so there will be some adjustment.”
