IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN
ANDREW Webb can only sit back and admire as he watches another sweetly timed cover drive from Matt Harrison.
Webb is quick to lavish praise on the left-hander — and for good reason. The former Premier cricketer has plundered more than 400 runs this summer for Newcomb & District.
The Dinos coach describes Harrison as one of those rare players who when you watch them bat you know they are so clearly above the level they’re playing.
Harrison, who was selected in this season’s initial GCA country week squad, sits comfortably in that category.
“It sounds stupid, but it’s a different sound when he hits the ball,” Webb laughs.
“He hits it and it sounds so pure compared to other guys. Some good batsmen hit it and hit it well, but it just doesn’t sound the same.
“It looks effortless and it sounds like a gun shot.”
Harrison returned to the club after a distinguished Premier career for Geelong and Prahran that included nine centuries, five of them in the first grade.
Harrison’s dad, affectionately known as ‘Skinny’ who is also the Newcomb & District curator, mentioned to Webb that his son might be interested in coming back during last season and the seed was planted for his return.
“Every year people talk about him coming back, and he did actually a couple of years back when we were in GCA2 and he was still way above the level,” Webb said.
“Now he’s not playing Premier cricket, he was playing sub-district and Skinny said, ‘Let’s have a chat to Matt’.
“We didn’t pressure him at all. He knew what we were building with the demographic we’ve got. We said we could use a guy like him to guide us, and he’s a great help. Me and ‘Burkey’ (Jackson Burke) are the co-captains but he’s basically the overseer.
“When you’ve got a guy who’s played the cricket he’s played, you take every chance you get.”
Harrison’s class has shone through, making 433 runs at an average of more than 50, and scores of 78, 88 and 87 could’ve easily turned into centuries.
But it was Harrison’s first game back for the club, against Thomson in Round 1, that sticks out to Webb.
He only made 37, but it was the way he went about his work.
“The way he thinks about the game is great too. He is very calculated about what he does,” Webb said.
“Talking between overs he said, ‘The spinner is bowling well, I’m going to take a risk and hit him over the top and make them push a man back and then there’s a single there all day’.
“The way he thinks about the game, it’s like he’s two steps ahead.”