A SECOND LEASE AT CREASE
WHEN Premier Cricket veteran Anton Scholtz moved down to Torquay to start life with a young family, he had only one cricket connection.
It was long-time friend, opponent and more recently former teammate Paul Jubber, Ocean Grove’s playing captain-coach.
After a few years away from the game, the 41-year-old felt he still had a few more runs left in him and needed an outlet outside of being a full-time stay-at-home father.
So when he received a call from Jubber earlier this year, his decision to return to cricket was a straightforward one.
“I knew Jubbsy way back from school days, we played against each other in high school and played together for a long time at Melbourne Cricket Club,” Scholtz said.
“I kind of learnt you need a bit of an outlet, something to keep your sanity, and cricket was always my passion.”
Scholtz’s cricketing passport has seen stamps in Dublin, Elsternwick, Melbourne and now Ocean Grove, and he will bring a wealth of experience to a Grubbers side desperate to break its BPCA premiership drought.
Scholtz will slot into the top four in the batting line-up against Drysdale today.
He will also attempt to use his knowledge and views about the game to help reinforce Jub- bers’s messaging around standards they both gathered from their time playing Premier Cricket.
“I’ve always had leadership roles at the clubs that I’ve played at, so it was good to get the opportunity to be an assistant to Jubbsy,” he said.
“You play and train at high levels. You know the formula needed to play a really good brand of cricket, so we’re kind of cut from the same cloth there.
“Being at a big and powerful club with lots of pretty highclass players, allows you to form an opinion of how the game should be played competitively, what sort of structures that need to be put in place for a club not only to be successful on the field in the first grade but all through the lower grades as well as off the field.
“I share the same views of how the culture of the club should be maintained and what you need to do at training to produce successful cricket.”