REAPING REWARDS

Tony Caccaviello’s capabilities as a new-ball bowler were on full display last week when the towering 27-year-old was named in the Australian Country XI, along with Grovedale’s Jordan Moran. Making his debut for Victoria at the national championships in S

WES CUSWORTH: You must be delighted after having firstly made the Victorian Country XI, performing so well at the carnival in Shepparton and then capping that with Australian Country selection.

TONY CACCAVIELLO: Absolutely stoked. I’m still pinching myself a little bit. I’ve been trying out for the Vic Country team for a while. Two years ago I was selected as an emergency and then last year work commitments wouldn’t allow for it. So I’ve been working towards it. Getting picked for the team was awesome, it was a great couple of weeks.

I was super-excited about playing with such a talented bunch of blokes because you pick up so much stuff being around different people. So I learnt a heap and I look forward to continuing to utilise those sorts of things and applying them to my game going forward.

WC: You make an enormous sacrifice each week travelling from Horsham to play cricket in Geelong. What’s the rationale behind that?

TC: Just over a year ago I got my new job working in the cricket space. It’s always been a passion of mine. Working in it and rubbing shoulders with cricket people, the sport has taken on even greater importance in my life. I’ve played cricket in Swan Hill, where I’m from, in Horsham and a little bit of park cricket in Melbourne, but I decided I wanted to test myself, to see where I stacked up. I wanted to challenge myself while I was relatively young. At the time my wife and I didn’t have any children, since then that’s changed as we are expecting a little one at the end of this month. I decided I wanted to try a bit of higher-level cricket. I grew up in the same town as Leigh Kentish and he has been at me to come and play another season with him and so I finally gave into that, and thought I’d come and play in the GCA. It’s been really good for my cricket as it’s a much higher standard than I’ve played before.

WC: Did you play with Leigh at TooleybucManangatang?

TC: Yes, we grew up in the same town of Piangil and we played together back in about 2008, between Leigh’s Ballarat days and his GCA days. I travelled back from Melbourne to play a bit of cricket with him.

WC: Watching you bowl at the Australian Country Championships in Shepparton, I observed with interest that you didn’t do a lot different than what you did in Geelong before Christmas. However, while you excelled at the Championships, the rewards didn’t appear to be there for you locally. Was there a bit of self-imposed pressure starting out this season in the GCA?

TC: 100 per cent! It’s hard because everything is new and you’re trying to fit in. You’re trying to find out if you good enough for this kind of cricket. I didn’t take many wickets, but the last month and a half I feel that I’ve been bowling well. Cricket is a funny game — sometimes statistics don’t paint an accurate picture of the impact that you can have on a game.

You’re right, I don’t think I was doing anything different in Shepparton than I was in Geelong, but I was lucky enough to get the wickets. The important thing is you’re doing your job and creating pressure at your end, and hopefully wickets fall.

WC: Climbing to third on the back of last week’s win over Grovedale must give St Joseph’s a sense they are among the serious contenders.

TC: Definitely. There’s a good sense of belief among the Joeys boys. On paper we’ve got a strong team and I think we’ve got the talent to win. We’ve just got to back ourselves and perform. I think we’ve been on a bit of a roll since a T20 victory over Geelong City.

WC: Tomorrow you face another contender in Lara, it’s obviously a vital game.

TC: Obviously I haven’t played against them yet, but listening to some of the heads around, they’re saying this year is one of the hottest around. The Association is so deep, any team can win on its day. It’s a great competition and I’ve learnt if you miss a small patch of a game it can be the difference between a win and a loss on any weekend.