By Nick Creely
Even after 400 senior games for the Beaconsfield Cricket Club, Alan ‘Munga’ Sauvarin still turns up in his cricket gear each and every week for one simple reason.
“If I didn’t like the place, I wouldn’t be there,” he said with a wry smile.
“I just love the game.”
From humble beginnings since walking through the door of the club in 1983/84, Sauvarin reached a significant milestone – and the first in club history – to reach 400 games of senior cricket in a Dandenong District Cricket Assocation D Grade clash against St Mary’s on 8 February.
And he even hit the winning runs – pushing the ball into the covers and calling through for a single – in a dominant Tigers win at Holm Park Reserve.
“Gidge Campbell, an old friend who I’ve played with and against over the years, tossed the coin and he called correctly and they batted,” he said of the record-breaking day.
“They batted slow which wasn’t too bad, then Rick Cashman – a St Mary’s legend – he’s come out to bat, and he’s got my gloves, my pads, my bat, and all my gear on, and he said ‘I’ve raided your bag Al’.
“He made 50, whinged about the bat until he tonked one over the fence, and then it was our turn to bat, and the captain asked me where I wanted to bat.
“I had a sash made up to bat in but it was so windy – the boys got off to a good start and we’d only lost one wicket and I wasn’t going to get a hit batting at four.
“Craig Hocking retired and Wayne Holden and I scratched around, and he was trying to get me the winning runs and I got to the end and pushed a single and we won.”
Just days earlier, the club celebrated Sauvarin’s achievement at the club, with many past players, and ‘friends’ returning to the clubrooms to have a drink, reminiscence and share stories over his long and illustrious journey at the club.
“There was a hell of a lot of people that came back for the night, a lot of ex-players and people that come back to wish me well,” he said.
“I won’t say I was emotional, but I was chuffed that these people have come back – it wasn’t like I’ve been the best cricketer, I’ve just been there a long time, and they’ve come and gone, and I’m still there.
“It was just fantastic – that Thursday night was so good because so many friends I’d played with came back to say well done.”
In actual fact, Sauvarin has played well in excess of 400 games when considering his involvement in veterans cricket and juniors.
Starting out his journey in juniors in Leongatha for the Imperials Cricket Club, Sauvarin also played for Washington Park in the SECA before venturing out to Beaconsfield through a friend after moving to his house in Narre Warren in 1983.
It was home, and it stuck.
“A friend was playing football at Beaconsfield, and he suggested for me to go play cricket there,” he said.
“I’d had a few sleeps at the rooms before I’d made a cricket comeback, and stayed there ever since.”
From his first game – where only one teammate knew how to get to the ground – to hitting the winning runs 399 matches later, it’s been some journey at the club.
And even his first game – despite not knowing exactly how the game transpired – was an introduction of just what was to come at the club.
“We were going to play at Rythdale, which is now Cardinia, and the only one who knew how to get to the ground was Brian Parkes, so we made him captain before we left and then followed him to the ground,” he said of his first game.
“I don’t remember much after that, but it was my introduction. I’ve played with good people over the years – every club probably does have those people, and I’ve had a few falling outs over my time, but I just keep coming back.”
Aside from the club life member also serving numerous roles as secretary, junior coach, junior coordinator, Sauvarin has accumulated over 4000 runs, almost 200 wickets, and one special premiership with his teammates in the 1990s, one he still remembers vividly.
“We won the toss and bowled, played the Yabbies and bowled them out for under 70,” he said.
“We passed them two down at the end of the day, and they decided not to come back, so we beat them at 5pm on the first day.
“That season I got into this team – I was batting low, and was hardly getting a bowl, but I had an inkling this could be the year.
“I zipped my lip and enjoyed the ride.”
Despite managing to score a ton of runs, Sauvarin described himself as just a modest cricketer, but one that plays for the love of the game, the camaraderie…and for fielding.
“That’s (the runs) just through the weight of games, it’s only an average of about 11 – but I’ll take that,” he said.
“I got as high as the twos, but I’ve played mainly in the lower grades.
“I actually really enjoy fielding, and I’m not very good at it, but I just love it when a wicket gets taken, and when someone takes a catch, but it’s better when I take them.”
So what was Sauvarin’s favourite individual moment from 400 senior games for the club?
“My first and only hundred (against Lynbrook in 2015 in F Grade),” he said with a chuckle.
“Wayne Hocking made one on the same day, we put on a big partnership, and he talked me through most of it.
“I got tired, I got cramp, and I was just trying to hit across the line, and he kept saying ‘keep your head down’.
“No disrespect to Lynbrook, they didn’t have a great bowling side, and I thought ‘I’ve waited 350 games for a bowling attack like this’, and we made 350, and ended up winning the game which was good.”
But another magic moment, this time with the ball, came in a close second.
“I took 7/16 against Nyora in 1992 – I came on, it was after 5pm, and turned the game from ninth change,” he said.
“I remember that game because I was just dawdling along, and I think I got seven wickets off about four overs.
“We ended up winning outright, and it got us into the finals that year.”
While Sauvarin still adores the game as much as he did in 1983 when he first rocked up to the club – and even plays veterans cricket these days too – he understands that he won’t be able to play forever.
“I’m playing over 60s for Endeavour Hills and I’m enjoying that because you don’t have these mad quicks – you’ve just got cagey old buggers bowling them on the spot,” he said.
“It’s like cricket in slow motion, but I don’t think I’ve got too many more years of Saturday and Sunday cricket – but I’ve played lots of games.”
But he does believe someone at Beaconsfield will come along and knock off his record in the near future.
“Someone will come along and break it,” he said.
“There are a few guys that are 50 or so games behind, so there’s not too many more left in me now. I’m getting old and breaking down.
“And there could be a kid that comes to the club and stays 30 or 40 years and can get there.”
