By Marcus Uhe
Playing Turf 1 cricket “wasn’t the plan” for Westley Nicholas at the beginning of the 2023/24 cricket season.
In fact, the Buckley Ridges’ veteran spinner was unsure if cricket would play a part in his summer whatsoever.
With the demands of family life taking precedence and his body getting another year older, Nicholas considered something he hadn’t done for a very long time, in leaving his cricket gear in the cupboard for the first time since childhood.
“Playing cricket for six/seven hours on a weekend, and being older means that not only Saturdays, but Sunday’s are ruined too,” Nicholas said.
“My kids are young and I want to hang out with them and I realised after over 30 years of cricket, I haven’t really had a summer without playing cricket.”
Agreeing to test the waters with some lower-level cricket, it wasn’t long before the spark came back, and coupled with seeing his long-time teammates mounting another tilt at a flag, it didn’t take much to reignite the old flame.
“I’ve been at the club for almost 20 years and all my mates that I’ve had success with and played Turf 1 with that are left, are all playing Turf 1; Hobba, Austy, Huss, they’re the three main guys.
“I have a few guys playing in the twos as well, but this year it turned out that, when I was playing twos, Suren (Ekanayake) was playing ones, so that never matched up.
“I really did miss playing with ‘my boys’, for lack of a better term.
“Especially making such a commitment or sacrifice to go and play cricket on a Saturday, train on a Thursday, I wanted to around these people that I’ve shared losses and wins with, we’ve all gone to each other’s weddings and we’re lifelong friends.
“I played over 40s with some of my family just to have fun with it and not worry about it too much, and then played two games in the twos and bowled alright, I suppose.
“There was a little bit of a drive there of competitiveness, which was maybe coming across as the ‘old angry bloke’ in the twos, but that was super awesome, I enjoyed my time there as well.
“Circumstances changed a bit and I ended up playing ones.”
Nicholas was a cool head the Bucks needed in the preliminary final win over Narre South, hitting the winning runs under immense pressure with a delightful clip off his pads, showing the class of a top-order player at number 10.
He played two matches in the Turf 1 reserves along with his stint for Dingley’s seconds in the Eastern Cricket Association’s RW Webster Shield, and returned to the Turf 1 side in round for a one-day contest against North Dandenong.
He bounced between seniors and reserves in the second half of the season but proved he still had the magic in the longer format with 4/73 against Berwick in round 13.
The Bucks picked two spinners for the qualifying final against the Bloods, with Sanka Dinesh selected to offer a dual-spinning option.
But the significant loss, and subsequent return to Park Oval, a spinner’s graveyard, meant one of the two had to miss out.
Despite playing more Turf 1 cricket this season, it was Dinesh that made way, and Nicholas justified Manjula Munasinghe’s faith with 2/64 to help the Bucks progress.
Not only was he forced to overcome rust and work his way back to his best, but he needed to convince himself that he still had what it takes, particularly with a batter like Jordan Wyatt to bowl to.
“Unfortunately for me, I’m a confidence bowler,” Nicholas said.
“I think that’s an ongoing battle for me, being a spinner.
“When my tail’s up, I’m doing well, and I work towards not worrying about that.
“Especially in a grand final and stuff, I keep reminding myself and all my mates that I play with keep reminding me that my best ball is a wicket-taking ball.
“With the way I train, later on in my career I know that I have to be able to bowl with 100 per cent effort and not particularly try to target anything.
“I know that my best ball is a wicket-taking ball, and my mentality in that is to get through my action because then I know that the ball is going to respond in the way that I want it to, either dropping it or turn it, stuff like that.”
When tossed the ball late in the opening session on day two with his side well-infront in the contest, he was bowling with the benefit of solid start for his side under their belts.
With limited opportunity to make an impact before the interval, he did exactly that.
Jackson Sketcher leant forward for a simple press, inside-edged the ball onto his bad into the awaiting hands of Josh Holden at short leg.
At 5/99, the wicket almost killed the contest, and the afternoon session shaped as a formality.
Nicholas finished with three more, taking 4/17, including the final scalp of Baxter that officially ended proceedings.
It’s a fourth Turf 1 premiership for Nicholas in Buckley blue from six attempts, with the overriding emotion for the tweaker at adding a fourth medal to the trophy cabinet being “relief”.
“I’ve enjoyed being at the club for so long and to be there for the last three years, it’s good to get over the line, especially against Springvale South.”
