Jay was only a young lad of about 18 years of age when he wandered down to our ground. I remember him sitting on the bench at our pavilion all alone watching us train so Brad Bowler took it upon himself to invite Jay to train. Jay quickly proved that he had received very little cricket coaching in his native state of Queensland. He did however persist and eventually gained selection in one of teams. It wasn’t really his improvement that saw him selected, rather we were desperate for someone to fill in. Jay learned after his first three dismissals to stand behind the white batting crease and knew to change positions at the end of the over. He was slowly but surely getting the hang of this game.

The day came when he was trusted to stand at square leg to umpire and hold the broom. I don’t know who decided he was ready for this responsibility but I imagine that everyone else had done their stint and it was getting hot. This decision I believe cost me the chance of scoring a double century and possibly entering the club’s records for the highest score. Perhaps the dual holders of the record, David Gent and Brad Russell conspired against me. This is how it happened,

Jay had changed from square leg to a point because the sun at Chelsworth Park was getting in his eyes. How this could happen I don’t know because Jay always had the same peaked cap jammed tightly on his head, I can’t remember seeing him without it. He liked to wear sunglasses too. (which is another story). Anyway, Jay was at point and I was batting and on 161 runs at the time. The St.James bowler dropped the ball short outside off stump. I rocked back and cut a ball with such ferocity I expected it to rebound off the weeping willows 50 metres away and I’d have to duck as it came hurtling back towards me. You can imagine my horror as I watched the ball hit the broom handle in front of Jay’s forehead and the handle ricochet into his head. Poor Jay was lying flat on his back. I thought I’d killed him. I ran in a wide arc to survey the damage and noticed Jay was moving slightly but jerkily. I then noticed the St.James fieldsman had gathered the ball at cover and had thrown down the stumps before I reached my crease. I was OUT!!. Jay was now sitting up with a smile on his face with a broom handle impression left in his forehead, I had to be physically restrained from giving him a matching bat handle impression at the his other end. When I had calmed down, I was pleased that he was still alive and was experiencing no obvious ill effects from the blow (or was he?).

Jay walked everywhere, he lived up close to the Watsonia Army Barracks and his dad was an officer. It was a fair stroll down to our ground and back again. Once Jay was asked why he didn’t drive, he replied that he was epileptic and wasn’t allowed to drive. We later found out that he wasn’t allowed to drink either. It was later in the same season, after a particularly hot day and a great win, that I splurged and bought the whole team a beer. Jay was involved in the shout and although he didn’t have any money, he obviously took a liking to the amber fluid. After a few beers it was getting dark and was time for Jay to leave. He weaved his way up the path and was making his way home to Watsonia when he discovered he’d lost his sunglasses. About an hour later he returned to the clubrooms and accused us of taking his glasses. We began laughing, which made Jay get even more agitated to the point he was about to explode. He didn’t see the funny side of the fact that his glasses were actually perched on top of his head all the time and had been ever since the end of the game.