Epic encounter ‘a blur’ for Dom
DOM McGlinchey went to bed hoping he’d get the chance to bowl to English superstar Kevin Pietersen.
But never in his wildest dreams did he expect to bowl to the Melbourne Stars kingpin, let alone knock him over.
Selected as a top-up player for the Melbourne Renegades in a warm-up “derby” against Melbourne Stars yesterday, and stepping on to the hallowed turf of the MCG alongside some of the biggest names in cricket, Geelong quick McGlinchey was pinching himself.
But the moment got a whole lot better, trapping Pietersen lbw.
“It was quite surreal,” McGlinchey said last night.
“Playing on the ’G is something I’ve always wanted to do and I got the ball thrown to me by Brad Hodge and it just so happened that KP was on strike. “It’s all a bit of a blur.” Bowling the sixth over of the innings, with Pietersen on 10, McGlinchey admitted feeling a touch of nerves.
But those jitters quickly turned to excitement. “I hit him on the knee roll, jumped up and I was lucky enough to get the nod (from the umpire),” McGlinchey said of the dismissal.
“I was pretty confident (it was out), but you never know. I just yelled as loud as I could and prayed he’d give it and I was lucky that the finger went up.
“It’s something I’ll never forget.”
Pietersen never questioned the decision, calmly walking back to the pavilion.
“I was confident it was out, but cricket is a game of inches and sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don’t,” McGlinchey said.
“You just ride it when they do go your way because I’ll probably get a dropped oppor- tunity later in the year. It just so happened that the stars aligned and it was KP.”
McGlinchey finished the day on a high, grabbing three wickets as the Renegades went down by five runs.
“It’s nice, a bit of reward,” he said.
“There were so many highs and lows. I got three wickets but Marcus Stoinis also came in and whacked back over my head.
“He hit me for a six and a four and then I got another wicket, it’s amazing.”
McGlinchey also removed former Australian all-rounder John Hastings and emerging Victorian star Seb Gotch.
Fellow Geelong batsman Tim Ludeman was also in form, making 48 at the top of the order for the ’Gades, who return to Geelong for an intraclub match tomorrow.