By RUSSELL BENNETT
IT’S so hard to quantify just what makes the greats so great, but one thing they all seem to have in common is an utterly relentless pursuit of perfection – no matter how futile that may be.
Pakenham’s Chris Smith rubber stamped his reputation as an absolute great of the West Gippsland Cricket Association by taking out the top individual honour – the Terry Stephenson Medal – at the league’s presentation night in Kooweerup last Friday night.
Smith polled 18 votes to win by two from Cardinia’s champion spinner Dwayne Doig, with Kooweerup legend Chris O’Hara a further vote behind.
The star Lions all-rounder had a simply brilliant all-around season, scoring a whopping 786 runs at an average of 49.1 – including four centuries.
But he was also stellar with the ball, taking 23 wickets at an average of just 11.6 and an economy rate of 2.7.
What separates the greats from the rest of the pack is that those great players refuse to rest on their laurels. They can’t – their minds won’t let them. They’re perfectionists.
“(The premiership) makes this so much sweeter,” Smith said about his medal on Friday night.
“It caps off a great year and you know you’ve contributed and done your part.
“Last season I had a down year by my personal and perceived standards.
“I’ve always been my own harshest critic – you can always do better.
“If you make a hundred, you can always make 150.”
Smith, 25, said Friday’s senior WGCA presentation night let the premiership – and Pakenham’s undefeated 2015/16 Premier campaign – sink in yet again.
“You appreciate what a good six months it was with your great mates,” he said.
“We had the perfect season. You wish for it, but you never really think it’s going to happen. Now that it’s started to sink in, you look back and realise how phenomenal it was – the good, the bad … you take it all in.”
Smith now admits he thought his side was “done and dusted” in its semi-final over Merinda Park, before winning it in remarkable circumstances.
“You start to think that we’ve had this season and now we’re done, but to fight back and to see the willpower from everyone to keep on pushing until the final ball … that was massive,” he said.
“It’d be hard to say we didn’t think it was all over, but we got through and we had one more week to prove ourselves.”
Lions club president Phil Anning knew Smith was something special from the moment he scored a century against Pakenham as a 15-year-old for Pakenham Upper-Toomuc.
“I’ve always had a lot of time for him but what I’ve seen in the past three years has made me think that he’s probably one of the best cricketers I’ve ever seen at this level,” he said.
“I’ve been involved in cricket in this area for over 45 years, and I’ve seen a lot of great players like Ed Lewis, Dallas Wyatt, Ron Ingram and Alex Duff, and I’d rate Chris right up there with them. That’s the esteem I hold him in.
“He’s just a lovely young man and I can’t speak highly enough of him.
“His team mates love him, and he loves them.”
Smith spoke about three of his premiership-winning team mates, in particular, last Friday.
“Jack Ryan is such a character – he lifts us when we’re down,” he said of the big speedster.
“We all love him. He means so much to the team and he can lift us all just by his passion and determination.
“Dom (Paynter) is that leader we all respect so much – you never want to let him down or do the wrong thing by him. You have to respect everything he does.
“And Robbie Elston – he brings so much experience and knowledge to the group. He’s an unbelievably calming influence. Because we’re such a young and vibrant group, we’re always so eager but he just keeps us calm. It’s incredible to get to learn off all his experience.”
For a full wrap-up of the WGCA senior presentation night, including a large selection of photographs, pick up a copy of this week’s Gazette.
