By Adem Saricaoglu
FOOTSCRAY-EDGEWATER cricketer Hamish Winter-Irving is not a man of many words, but he is enjoying his time playing representative cricket.
Winter-Irving is currently in Adelaide for the Under-19 National Championships, where Victoria is scheduled to play a series of one-day, two-day and Twenty20 matches against seven other states and territories over 10 days.
The paceman has already represented Victoria at under-17 level and said he was simply enjoying the experience. “It’s been pretty good so far,” he said.
“I’m enjoying it. I’ve got to know some of the boys and I’ve played with some of them before, but I do want to get to know everyone here.”
Winter-Irving has played 12 games for the Bulldogs so far this summer and has put together decent performances with both bat and ball.
Batting at number nine he hit two sixes on his way to 50 not out off 49 balls in a win over Carlton on October 16.
Against Essendon, nine of his 16.5 overs were maidens as he took 3/16, while in a win over Dandenong he tore through the top order to take 4/44 in a two-day game.
Footscray coach Barry Neivandt said Winter-Irving is a “terrific lad and a real workhorse”.“He bowls a pretty impeccable line, especially with a heavy ball,” Neivandt said. “He’s been really tremendous with how consistent his bowling has been.”
The 18-year-old from Nagambie currently lives in Bendigo with relatives and travels to Melbourne every week to play for Footscray.
Despite his very tidy figures and his knack for bowling maidens, Winter-Irving was very modest about his form this season.
“I actually didn’t think that I would get into the team, so it’s good that my hard work has paid off,” he said.
Neivandt said such modesty is to be expected from Winter-Irving. “He’s really level headed and he has a terrific head on his shoulders. And he’s also extremely considerate,” he said.
Winter-Irving will return to Footscray after his time with the Victorian state team, and he said he hoped to improve his game while in South Australia. “I always want to learn things because you can learn so much playing at this level of cricket,” he said. “I want to be able to take what I learn here back to senior cricket when I go back, and hopefully improve.”
