HAU IS THAT?
YOUNG GUN SON JOINS CHAMP DAD:
BRAD Hauenstein has always dreamt of the day when he would line up alongside his sons on the cricket field.
But not even Hauenstein, a legend of the GCA and South Barwon, could have envisaged it would happen so soon.
Today, the champion allrounder will stride onto South Barwon Reserve with his eldest son Harry, who will make his first XI debut at just 14 years of age.
“I’m pretty proud,” Hauenstein said last night.
“I’ve always wanted to play cricket with both my boys. It’s come a lot quicker than I always thought it was going to be.
“I thought it might be in the lower grades where I’d play a year or half a year with him before I finished up, but he’s developed really, really quickly and he’s going well, so it’s pretty exciting for him and myself to play a game together.”
A talented ball striker and a gifted right-arm swing bowler, Harry rapidly emerged as a first XI candidate after a solid preseason.
“He was pretty close in Round 1,” Hauenstein said.
“If it was a two-day game he might have played, but we didn’t know if he’d be strong enough to bat around No.8 and finish off a game.
“The plan in place from the selectors was that he’d fit in best in two-day cricket. I’m not a selector this year, which means he’s earned his stripes.”
With more than 6500 runs and 400-plus career wickets, Hauenstein is one of the GCA’s finest all-rounders. But the veteran doesn’t believe Harry is a “chip off the old block”.
“He’s a lot more skilled than what I am,” Hauenstein said.
“He’s a left-handed bat and plays all the shots. He hasn’t got the major power game, but he’s developing that. He’s tall and lean at the moment, but he’ll fill out eventually.
“He strikes the cricket ball really well and can play shots on both sides of the body, but he also bowls medium pacers with a really nice action.”
Known for his ability to swing the four-piece ball, Hauenstein said Harry was also developing a reputation as a wicket taker.
“He moves the ball a little bit,” Hauenstein said.
“He’s certainly got a higher action that mine, I’m a dirty slinger, but he’s got a nice action to watch.”
Ever since he could hold a bat, Harry has turned heads.
He has burst through the jun- ior ranks and forced his way into pathway squads at both regional and state level.
“He followed me everywhere at cricket and footy with my other boy Jack, so he developed quickly as a kid and he also listens to me which is a real positive,” Hauenstein said.
“He’s playing under-17s this year as a bottom, bottom-age player. He can still play under-15s.
“He played his first under-17 game last week and got 55 retired. He’s only been dismissed a couple of times in the last couple of seasons.
“He played in the under-14 Rockets last year and he was picked in the under-16 Rockets this year as a bottom ager and he’s currently trying out for the under-15 Vic Country side, so he’s had a power of training up in Melbourne over the last four or five months.
“I think the world’s his oyster in terms of opportunity.
“He’ll set himself up to play some good cricket in the next year or so at South, but I also expect that he’ll want to go down and play some district cricket and see where it takes him.
“He loves his cricket and if he wants to progress further, he’ll have to make that call soon.”