Rob Thornton - watch the ball in everything you do

Cricket has taken Rob Thornton too many places and it’s been a journey full of runs, wickets, premierships and love.

From Parkes, Tamworth, Sydney, Scotland and Newcastle as a player and now coach, it’s been quite the journey, so let’s find out more about Rob Thornton.

 

 

What year you were born?

1974

Can you remember you first game of cricket?

The first game of cricket I remember was as a year 4 playing for Parkes East Primary School, probably about 10 years old. I made 30 odd against year 6s 

Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?

After Primary School in Parkes and then a couple of years in Melbourne where my dad started a school team so I could play, we arrived in Tamworth in ‘88.

I played for Tamworth High and City United. I was always involved in representative cricket and played a season of Green Shield for Western Suburbs, where a very young Angus Fraser was the coach.

I virtually lived at the Tamworth Indoor Cricket Centre playing and umpiring every night (much to the dismay of some of the more traditional cricket coaches) and played indoor for NSW in age group national titles.

At under 21 level I had the honour of captaining the Emu Colts for two years ‘94 and ’95.

Both years we finished Day 2 of the test match in very strong positions and twice the entire third day was washed out – understandable in Christchurch, less so in Gunnedah!

I also played for NSW Country 21s in ’95 (incredibly we were also in a strong position going into day 3 against NSW U21s at Bankstown Oval and this was also washed out) and was then offered the chance to be overseas player for the Royal High School FPs in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Scottish cricket and conditions were a huge culture shock straight from Tamworth. In my first season I was caught more than once driving balls on the up which ballooned to the infield off the shoulder of the bat and I think I got a few looks from the locals going to the shops in thongs.

However, I loved Edinburgh and having experienced a dry summer and the Edinburgh Festival, and despite having spoken to Newcastle and Sydney grade clubs, I made the decision to stay through the winter and experienced my first white Christmas, it was -18 on Christmas Day.

This became permanent as I had full time work and by my third season I was captain of the merged Royal High Stewarts Melville (RHSM) club and had met my Scottish future wife.

Captaining a team following a merger between two rivals was a chastening experience and in 1999 I joined Carlton Cricket Club where I stayed until returning to Australia with my family in 2016.

During my time in Scotland I played in two Scottish Cup finals – ’97 with RHSM and 2014 with Carlton.

I also became very passionate about coaching and mentoring young players moving into senior cricket and my last two seasons I captained the 2nd XI which was made up predominately of players I had coached up until Under 15s and are now senior players in a very successful first team. 

When I returned to Australia, with a young family, my teenage son and I joined Toronto Workers, Cricket Southern Lakes where I have been playing Masters and coaching.

City United Cap

In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in grade cricket?

I am not exactly sure but I played 3rd and 2nd grade for City United in Tamworth. I remember making 80 odd for the 2s and pretty quickly progressing to first grade.

At what age did you make your first grade debut in grade cricket and can you remember how you performed in debut?

My debut will have been as a 15 or 16 year old keeper batsman for City United in Tamworth. I don’t remember who my first game was against or anything about runs or wickets but I do remember how nervous I felt playing with legends like Frank Gooley, Roger Newell, Mark Skewes and Tim Wooster.

I also remember the biggest change was the expectations of you as a first grader, for example it was the keeper’s responsibility to be able to provide info to the captain - how many balls were left in the over, what the ball was doing etc. It was also drummed into me that it was 11 v 2 in the middle and it didn’t matter if it was my best mate from rep cricket, I was not to talk to the batsman. As a batsman I was forbidden from hitting outside the “V” in my first 30 minutes at the crease.

If you can share with our audience, how would you describe yourself as a cricketer?

The ultimate jack of all, master of none! I was a wicketkeeper that ended up opening the bowling and an accumulator who ended up being a slogger. I had to change my batting when I was 16 having sliced open some tendons on my left hand on a broken window which permanently impacted my ability to always hit the ball along the ground, especially with cross bat shots.

What were your strengths as a player?

Probably my versatility which meant I could find a role in every team I have played for. As a batsman, once I was in, I felt like I was “in the zone” and batting became very easy. As a keeper or fielder I had natural agility and reflexes – I was also the goalkeeper for RSL soccer team.

What was your highest score in senior cricket? 

180 not out for Tamworth against Manilla at No1 Oval. I think I was about 17 at the time and was going through this phase where I wouldn’t let my parents watch me play. Prime TV were filming the game and put some highlights on the local news and you could see my mum and brothers hiding behind the trees when I was batting.

What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?

6-13 v Arbroath in the Scottish Cup. I became a bowler in Scotland when Carlton had a few injuries and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to hit the seam and swing the dark Readers balls. My 6 for included Scotland Captain George Salmond and their professional, Peter Wooden, for a golden duck, both bowled and probably the two best balls I have ever bowled.

 

Who were the best three fast bowlers you have played against? 

Matt Pearson – South Tamworth. Matt was difficult because he had a short run up and then just let them go, this made him a real asset in indoor cricket as well. He was a big scary lad and I remember keeping in the final of the Nowland Cup at Narrabri, they needed one or two to win and we needed one wicket - Matt got a knick from the no.11 (I think it was Phil Worley) and was celebrating. It was quite intimidating having to tell him it hadn’t carried while he was giving me a big bear hug. Luckily he chipped one to square leg a couple of balls later.

Asim Butt – various teams in Scotland. A Pakistani first class player who became a Scotland international and took 1-21 off 10 against Australia in the ’99 World Cup. Fast, left arm, late inswing. He was also my team-mate in ’97 and a big reason we made the Scottish Cup final. I always found left arm inswingers the hardest to face but usually you had time to react, not with Asim.

Paul Hoffman – Aussie from Rockhampton, played a lot of games for Scotland and ran in hard and hit a difficult length so consistently. I got out to him playing back when I should have been forward and forward when I should have been back! Recently published a book on how to bowl fast.

Asim Butt

Who were the best three spinners you have played against? 

Nehemiah “Johnny” Perry – West Indian offie who played a few Tests. He was pro for a couple of years at Grange CC in Scotland and was the hardest I have ever found it judging the pace of the ball.

Ro Shelton – there weren’t many leggies going around in our day and Ro was a bit of a mentor to me through indoor. He was very fast through the air and consistent. I also remember him hitting a sweep against us at No.1 Oval that went for six without getting above fence height.

Leigh Kasperek – Leigh is a Carlton junior who I faced a few times in intra club games before she went to New Zealand, for whom she has been ranked Number 1 T20 bowler in Women’s cricket. Gets a lot of drift and will gets the most dip, or drop, I have ever seen from a spinner, in the 2018 world cup she dismissed Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy in the same innings all from false shots.

 

Nehemiah “Johnny” Perry

Who were the best 3 batsman you’ve played against? 

Terry Brown – Souths had Terry and we had Frank Gooley and they both just scored runs for fun. Very uncomplicated technique, I always thought he shuffled rather than big footwork, but his head position was always perfect. Like most great players he was on 20 before you knew it from nudging it around and then went through the gears.

Corey Richards – I played against Corey in school cricket, under 21s, and then when he was a pro for numerous Scottish clubs. He always made big scores. He also advised me once from second slip that he would rather be at work than watching me bat.

Iain Philip – in the second game I played in Scotland we played against a strong provincial team called Stenhousemuir. They had this older looking guy open the batting and he smoked the second ball of the match uppishly through the covers for four. As a mouthy young Aussie keeper I said something like “that was just hit and hope” and he turned around in a half Aussie/half Scottish accent and said “where the f*** did you learn how to play cricket??” 150 brutal runs later he was still smiling at me. Turns out he had spent his entire career mixing a prolific Scotland career with opening the batting in 1^st Grade in Perth every Aussie summer.

Special mention to Jeremy Bray and Andrew Sainsbury who were the classiest batsmen of our U21s generation and went on to first class cricket.

Corey Richards 

Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against? 

It’s a tie between two innings from the same player. In my four years at Royal High/RHSM I was lucky enough to play with two Pakistani brothers Manzoor and Zahoor Elahi, who with their younger brother Salim were the first set of three brothers after the Chappell’s to play Test cricket.

Zahoor and I opened the batting for two seasons and twice put on 150 where I made about 30. In both innings he went on to make 200 + which was unheard of in those days. Both opposition teams had South African first class opening bowlers and by the end of his innings, Zahoor was asking the wicketkeeper where he wanted him to hit the next ball for six.

Was there any bowler in particular who whatever reason always seemed to cause you a few problems?

My weakness was always full tosses, long hops and wide ones early in my innings, and I can remember Frank or Skewesy shaking their heads as I walked back to the pavilion having been caught not playing in the V. I was also a sucker for good slower balls, and was bamboozled multiple times by a young Ben Laughlin when he was playing for Clydesdale in Scotland.

There were three quicks in my age group – Craig Trigger Trindall, Ron Grieves (both from Narrabri) and Brett Ruttley from the coast, who hit the deck hard.

Can you recall a time when you thought, wow, this is a step or two up from what you were used to? 

To make the Country U21s we played a trial I think at Dubbo and the wicket was doing everything. I was facing Don Nash and Jamie Heath amongst others and got a couple on the thigh pad and higher and never felt in. I ended up getting 80 not out and 30 not out in a game when no-one else passed 50 and made the team. In the first innings Trigger (more about him later) came in at 11 and said he would help me get to 100 then got bowled first ball trying to hit it out of the ground!

 

Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against? 

I played for about 10 years with a brilliant keeper, and mate, called Jamie Kerr, a genius up to the stumps. However in my later years I played for the Scottish Forty Club, veterans cricket playing competitive matches against English counties and a lot of invitational games against schools.

In one game against The Edinburgh Academy our keeper was Alex Steele, who was 72 at the time. I opened the bowling and still at a decent pace and he stood up to the stumps, took a knick on the offside and a legside stumping, having given me the signal. In his day he was second in line to Alan Knott for England and a unique fact is that he is the only player ever to have stumped Desmond Haynes in international cricket. Even at 72 his hands were like silk taking the ball and I have just seen photos of him keeping on his 80^th birthday.

 

Alex Steele

Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?

Tim Wooster – an absolute dream to keep to once I knew what was coming. He must have been a nightmare to face, I don’t remember anyone getting on top of him and I don’t remember him ever thinking we couldn’t win a game. He could bat as well and was very successful in Indoor. With all his experience was such a mentor.

Cedric English – South African pro at Carlton who was so quick he is mentioned in Mark Boucher’s autobiography for taking people’s heads off at SA U19s training. Once he came to Scotland he worked out that just being rapid on UK pitches was what batsmen wanted and became a Scotland international as an accurate medium pacer who moved it both ways. I got a lot of wickets in partnership with Ced as I was the one people thought they could score off. He was also an accomplished No.3 who scored three centuries in a row for Scotland v County teams – pretty good. Head coach of Scotland U19s at the upcoming World Cup.

Who was the best captain you had the good fortune to play with?

Basil Penrith by miles – I don’t think I played with anyone who was so strongly respected by the whole team, but also always got his tactics spot on and led from the front with bat and ball. Such a skilful bowler who was the first player I really saw bowl a variety of slower balls and frequently outsmarted quality batsmen. I also remember when I played in CHS Carnivals seeing Basil’s name on the programmes next to the Waugh twins with run scoring and wicket taking records.

Who has been your funniest team mate?

I had a group of amigos during those under 21 years – Chris Mongan, Craig “Trigger” Trindall, Steve “Sword” Sewell, Matt Wilkes, Murray McCartney and Jason Archer. There are a million stories on and of the pitch, deep heat in the box etc, and getting to and from games or carnivals in Mongo’s blue Gemini, such as getting completely lost on the back roads from Gloucester, Mongo and I coming back from Trigger and Sword’s housewarming in Armidale to play against each other after sleeping in the Gemini - he got 200 that day. I also destroyed Arch’s knee wiping out a golf cart chasing Mongo at Inverell Golf Course and Wilkesy’s dancing ability was something to behold. We played a bit of cricket as well.

Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?

I was lucky enough to play in a Reschs Cup (formerly Tooheys Cup) game at No1 Oval and after Mongo and Jason Stanley gave Glenn McGrath a bit of tap, I batted for a few overs with Mark Waugh. When we were fielding Gavin Robertson was floating up “hit me” balls to Shane Lee who was wacking them onto Kable Avenue. Mark Waugh was at deep square leg, I was deep midwicket and Mongo was deep mid-on.

There were thousands of kids coming on in between balls asking for autographs and I steadfastly refused and sent them across to mark Waugh. That was until one lad came up to me with a brand new Greg Chappell hat and a black marker pen and I looked down at the hat and saw in big letters, C Mongan followed by “Sword Sewell” with a drawing of a sword and “Trigger Trindall” with a picture of a gun. Imagine what mum and dad thought when he brought that home...

City United Tamworth Grand Final team

What was your most embarrassing dismissal in senior cricket?

I played a club game at Grange in Scotland at the ground where Scotland were about to play against Australia so were filming some pre-game interviews for Sky Sports (Foxtel). My flatmate told me to press play on the VCR when I got home and the only ball they showed from 100 overs of cricket was my first ball when I shouldered arms to a pretty average medium pacer. It was missing off and leg and I was on national TV walking for an LBW.

Who was your childhood hero?

Allan Border and then Steve Waugh. It was also well known locally that I idolised Frank Gooley and Nigel Taylor who were coach and captain of the Tamworth High team and first graders.

Frank was probably the reason I joined City. I was in the School First XI as a year 8 and we made it to the Davidson Shield Quarter Finals, an away trip to Endeavour High in Sutherland. I think Nigel was quite embarrassed by this little kid following him around and shouting “shot Nige” from the boundary every time he hit the ball.

Allan Border 

Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?

Isiah Thomas (Detroit Pistons Basketballer), Eric Cantona and unfortunately it’s too late, but Diego Maradona

Eric Cantona

 

Who’s your favourite cricket commentator? 

I love when recent players get right into the tactics and predict what the players are trying to do, like Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, the analysts on ABC radio and a lot of the English guys. My actual favourite is Ian Bishop, I watch every game of cricket going – currently Ireland v Zimbabwe is on my TV, and Bishop does all of the above and doesn’t get to excitable like some of the others. 

What was your favourite ground to play at?

My last season in Tamworth was the first one where No1 Oval didn’t have a cycle track, and my son has now played there for Newcastle Colts last season, and took a couple of wickets, which I have never done as a bowler.

The Carlton home ground in Scotland, Grange Loan, is stunning, it is surrounded by a stone fence, with a view of Arthur’s Seat and has a ridiculous hill on one side of the ground, if the pitch is on the other side of the square there are no boundaries to the hill side in a whole day. The pitch is the best in Scotland.

What there a particular team you especially looked forward to playing against?

There was just something about those Souths v City games in the 90s. They had a great bowling attack, usually including Pearso, Parso, Richard Hinton and Tex. Barry Everingham  keeping and batting with Terry, Mongo, Mark Sweeney all run scorers. I think there was a period in the ‘90s we played each other in every grand final. I think we won 4 and City hasn’t won since, although they were very close last season.

What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?

This is the hardest question to answer as I think, like most cricketers apart from the very best, my cricket career is littered with many “nearly” memorable moments and not one that stands out, mainly my own fault and sometimes through bad luck – nearly won both Emus tests, and nearly got centuries in both first innings (out to bad balls), nearly won two Scottish Cups, nearly got picked for Scotland, probably could have had a decent career in Sydney Grade Cricket.

It’s a massive cliché but in the end what is most memorable is the massive list of team-mates I have shared dressing rooms, gone into battle with and the beers afterwards.

The truth is I probably wouldn’t swap any of that for a handful of first class games. I met my wife as a direct result of my cricket (even though she didn’t even know what it was), when I was 42. I had lived 21 years in Australia and 21 in Scotland because of cricket, and now I’m doing it all again as a coach and a parent.

What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?

It was actually as coach of the Carlton U15s and there were two incredible wins in one week. We had won the Scottish T20 Cup, which meant we were entered in the English Cup, and the first two rounds were against the champions of Durham and then Northumberland, very strong areas. The Durham team, South Shields, only needed 20 something with 9 wickets in hand but the lads didn’t give up and went through them with great skill and composure, winning by one run. The game against the Northumberland team, Hexham, was even closer, again defending an average total and winning on countback after the match was tied. These really were significant achievements for a Scottish side and it led to travelling to York to play the champions of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?

I would love to have everyone from the City United teams I played in, but if I have to name 3 Basil Penrith, Tim Wooster and Frank Gooley.

What are your hobbies?

When we’re not locked down I spend most of my evenings and weekends driving, watching or coaching my two sons at cricket, football (soccer) or basketball.

What’s the best advice you’ve received?

Trevor Bayliss helped coach our Country U21s team and was emphatic about watching the ball in everything you did. He told us that Mark Taylor at catching practice would not throw the ball back until he had looked at it and said “there it is” out loud – annoying for everyone else but training his brain to always watch the ball and I get every kids team I coach to do the same thing – it sounds simple but watching the ball is the single most important thing a cricketer must do (and other sports) and often neglect to do.

What is your occupation?

I am an Operational Risk Manager at Mine Super (AUSCOAL) – the industry Super Fund for coal miners, and for the first time we are number 1 in the Super performance ratings!

Are you still involved in cricket and if so, in what capacity?

Yes, I am very passionate about coaching junior cricket and building up teams of young players with the right mentality to succeed in senior cricket. I am coach of the Newcastle Under 12s rep team this year and into my fifth season as co-ordinator of the Toronto Academy of Cricket Excellence (TACE) which is currently being done remotely. I am definitely not a believer in having a “no dickhead” policy, especially in younger teams – you should have a “why is he a dickhead” policy and provide the pastoral support these kids are often missing in life, you never know what a diamond you might end up with.

If you were running a state cricket association what would your 2 priorities to ensure cricket in the state remained strong and successful on and off the field?

For me there is only one pathway in cricket, junior to senior through club cricket and you earn higher honours through performing, not one person thinking you have potential. The thing I dislike most about the current pathways system is that young players who are in the system give up on cricket once they reach 16 or 17 because there is so much going on in life, HSC etc, they see playing grade cricket as a failure and can’t handle going from playing 3 or 4 games a week to potentially only batting once in three weeks in grade cricket.

My first priority is to impose requirements for players to have reached a minimum performance level in senior grade cricket to qualify for selection State Second XI cricket and then the Sheffield Shield. This will have a benefit up and down the chain as; 1. Young players who develop later still have the same opportunities and there is still incentive for them to keep going if they have difficulties when they are 15-17, and 2. Sheffield Shield and 2nd XI state cricket will get back to being competitive matches between players who have had to battle.

Priority 2 – Increased incentivisation for all junior rep cricketers to assist with coaching and umpire younger age groups. This is another way that keeps them in the game and it also works with the development of the younger groups, not just being coached by someone’s dad, but someone who was them 3 or 4 years ago and shares their love of the game.