By sports editor Russell Bennett
Jason Batson has the self-proclaimed nickname ‘Deadpool’, because – like the famous Marvel character – you can’t kill him.
He’ll talk that up that to any and all who’ll listen, and after this year surviving his fourth cancer battle, it’s clear to see why.
Clearly Sam, Jason’s eldest son, doesn’t have to search too far for motivation – for living every day to the fullest.
The Western Park Cricket Club captain-coach and senior Garfield footy captain is still only 24, but he has an incredible level of maturity and calmness well beyond his years.
What he’s crammed into his senior sporting career already defies belief, but he’s nowhere near satisfied.
Instead, after a 2020 massively impacted by the Covid pandemic, he’s hell-bent on making every post a winner.
After suffering a nasty shoulder injury that required a reconstruction, Sam made it back to the pitch at a rate of knots. He had no time to lose.
He’d already seen the amount of time Jason had to spend away from the field – battling for his life, but also with some severe injuries of his own such as two torn achilles tendons.
“The past couple of years have been a bit harder with injury, but – with my shoulder – I was probably meant to miss a lot more time than I did,” Sam explained.
“I just got sick of watching, and – this is applicable to sport in general, but particularly cricket – if you’re happy to just sit on the sidelines and not be out there with your mates, then you’re probably not going to get the success you want.
“Cricket comes with its challenges. Injuries have been a bit frustrating but I’m now two years on from my shoulder reconstruction and it’s definitely feeling back to pretty much 100 per cent, and I’m feeling a big difference in my bowling especially.”
A motived, fit and firing Batson spells serious trouble for opposing WDCA and Gippsland Cricket League batsmen.
He’s proven that time, and time again – and his start with the ball to Western Park’s 2020/21 campaign has been nothing short of astonishing.
After snaring 6/16 in the final of the WDCA’s A Grade Covid Cup against Drouin, Batson backed that up in the first round of the Division 1 season proper – running rampant against Neerim District to snare the ridiculous figures of 12/34 for the match, including 7/15 in the first innings.
The Stags had no answer for him.
But, truth be told, batsmen the competition over have struggled to find any answer to Batson for years now.
Despite his young age, in his 123 Division 1 matches so far he’s snared 281 wickets (including 18 hauls of five or more scalps) at an average of just 11.56.
Batson is already fourth on the Division 1 wickets tally in the MyCricket era, behind association champions Dale Weller, Simon Gardiner, and Simon Phillips.
And it seems like he’s just getting started.
It’s no coincidence that he’s so heavily involved at both the Garfield footy club and Western Park Cricket Club, along with his brother and father, and so many from his tight network of mates.
They’re genuinely happier for each other’s success than they are their own – as evidenced by the reaction to the now-famous footage of one of the group, Jack Barnes, belting a six down the ground to win the B Grade Covid Cup for Western Park.
Sam’s old man hadn’t won a senior flag in footy or cricket until he joined Western Park, and Sam says he watched every ball of that game and it meant more to him than any success he’s had.
“A fair few of my mates are quite close to him too – he’s probably almost a second father figure to some of them – so it meant a hell of a lot, and he’s definitely a massive inspiration to me, a big reason why I’m still at Western Park, and why I love the club so much.”
And Sam speaks with as much pride about his younger brother Joel’s cricketing journey as he does their father’s.
Joel is forging his own path in the Division 1 side, and Sam couldn’t be prouder of his continued development and commitment to improving his own game.
“And what we’ve developed at Western Park in the past few years is a massive crossover between each team,” Sam explained.
“It doesn’t matter what grade you play or how good you are, the genuine mateship we have transcends whatever we do on the field.
“When you know people for a long time, you know what their strengths are, and you know what their weaknesses are.
“I really do love to see everyone do well with their opportunity. When you really know people and know what makes them tick, it makes it a lot easier to tailor individual roles to them.”
Sam is a sporting tragic – there’s no two ways about it.
“Whether it’s cricket or footy, I’ll spend most of my week thinking about it – much to my partner’s dismay,” he said with a laugh.
“On Friday nights, especially during cricket season, I barely sleep – just thinking about the game the next day. I can’t help but think tactics.
“Last Friday night we’d already won the game, but I only slept three or four hours because I sat up thinking about every batsman in their line-up and how I wanted to get them out. I can’t help it. Before a practice match I’d be the exact same – it’s an obsession.”
With this year’s footy season abandoned due to Covid, Sam can’t wait to hit the ground running with his Garfield team mates in 2021. He hasn’t won a footy final since 2014, and it’s something he desperately wants to change.
That same dogged determination drives him in his cricket journey too. Western Park has had an incredible win/loss ratio in recent years, but it hasn’t translated into premiership glory as much as he would have liked.
And although they won the 2019/20 Division 1 title by virtue of being the highest-placed qualifier for the grand final (which couldn’t be played), Batson said it wouldn’t mean anywhere near as much if they couldn’t win it again this season.
He’s not shying away from that – no one at Western Park is.
They want to win – together, as a group.
“Cricket is a sport where I’m a big believer that it’s a lot about your experience, rather than your age, and luckily for us we’ve got a lot of guys who’ve played a lot of cricket even though most of us are from 20 to 25 years of age,” Sam said.
“I found it easier when I was 16 or so, and then for a couple of years when you get up into the ones you’re still trying to figure out what kind of player you want to be – I mean, I was a spinner until I was 17 and then I probably bowled a lot quicker when I was 18 or 19 than I do now, but I bowled this terrible, flat leg-spin that didn’t actually spin prior to that.”
And now, as the competition’s leading seamer, he’s still working on honing his craft – studying the art of fast bowling and continually adding new weapons to his arsenal.
“I think cricket is a game where there’s a lot within your own control, especially as a bowler,” Sam said.
“You may not always get a heap of luck going your way, but you can certainly make your own.
“My old man has never told me what he thinks I should do, but he’ll always be there to support me. He’ll give me his thoughts, but he’s never once tried to push them on to me. My main thing is enjoying it, first and foremost.
“Dad just cherishes being at the same club with us. You can take it for granted, but Thursday nights down at training, you’re there with your mates and your old man and your brother. It’s pretty special. He’s still playing at age 51 and he’s going pretty well.”
That’s somewhat of an understatement. Despite hardly bowling at all when he first joined Western Park, Jason now has 166 wickets to his name since 2006/07 – at an average of just 15.52.
“When we first won the A Grade flag as a group, the old man was sick that year but he watched the grand final and he was more nervous than us,” Sam said.
“That was really special to have him there, but then the next year he was pretty happy to go back to playing because he’d seen enough of us. He just wanted to get back playing!”
Sam has had a stint in the Super Slam Twenty20 competition for Frankston Peninsula, and he said he’s often asked why he’s not playing in the Victorian Premier Cricket system each week.
“With everything going on in the world right now, being able to spend two nights during the week and your whole Saturday with a group of people you really enjoy spending time with – I won’t ever take that for granted,” he said.
“Playing with my best mates, especially after the year we’ve had, it’s hard not be over the moon with that. I remember I didn’t play well against Ellinbank the other week but we still had a win, and I remember driving home after that and I was really happy for Jack Armour to make his first 50 for the club, and for ‘Swarley’ Wans to perform with the ball. I just said to myself it was just bloody good to be back playing sport.”
And it’s not just the pandemic that’s put life into perspective. Western Park, and the greater Warragul region, has lost a number of men in the most tragic of circumstances – including John-Paul D’Amico, Corey Maric and Tyson Bale.
“I saw a car exactly like John-Paul’s on the way to cricket recently, and just for a split second I thought that’s JP driving to the ground to play,” Sam explained.
“Then all of a sudden you realise he’s not coming back and it puts everything into real perspective. Cricket can be a tough game if you’re not playing well, but I think if you can simplify things and just get that enjoyment out of it, we’re pretty lucky to be able to play it together. At this stage with what I need in my life and what I enjoy, I’m definitely not wanting for more.”
