THE DAY I SIGNED
It took a couple of big scalps, hard work and a bit of luck to finally see Chris Swan earn a state cap.
SWAN’S CRICKET RISE
DISMISSING Test batsmen helped but Chris Swan’s path to cricket’s big time started with one foot in front of the other.
For all the tales of sporting prodigies and elite pathways, there are also the inspiring and humorous stories that belong to those who just found a way to thrive.
Gold Coast pest controller Swan only made his Sheffield Shield debut for Queensland aged 28 but went on to become the backbone of the side from 2006-2011.
It was a 31-game foray that wasn’t written in the stars, merely earnt by paceman Swan deciding it was time to get serious.
“I can probably trace it all back to getting fitter; I was road-running and I had my biggest off-season when I was about 26 or 27,” said 41-yearold Swan, now the Gold Coast Dolphins coach.
“When I got as fit as I did I went out and bowled the house down in the Brisbane grade competition.
“I remember getting Matthew Hayden out caught by Andrew Robinson at second slip. And I remember bowling Martin Love.
“When you do that in the space of a couple of weeks you have to get noticed.
“That fitness allowed me to execute for longer and run in harder, because bowling is 90 per cent grunt.”
While he had long been a reliable performer for the Dolphins, that added fitness ultimately pitted Swan into an arms race at the Bulls.
Four quicks – Steve Magoffin, Ben Edmondson, Greg Schossow and “a pest controller from the Gold Coast” – were summoned by state selectors to aid a ravaged squad.
“There were injuries at the next level and it was quite bizarre: it was like a bowl-off,” Swan revealed.
“They didn’t call it that but (chairman of selectors) Ray Phillips asked four bowlers to come and have a bowl-off.
“I think Lovey even gave selectors a nod for me which helped and I got picked over those blokes.
“Everyone knows they got it wildly wrong because Magoffin went on to get 500 firstclass wickets, Ben Edmondson 250 or so and I got about 130. But I’m not giving my baggy maroon back.”
Armed with a contract of “about $3000 per match”, Swan would go on to make his name as a Sheffield Shield performer but a day at the track holds the secrets to his Queensland one-day debut.
“That’s a funny story. I was on the p*** on Melbourne Cup day at the Gold Coast Turf Club,” Swan recalled.
“Ray Phillips called and said (fellow quick) Ashley Noffke had a groin strain during the Shield game so they wanted me to fly to Western Australia the next day as cover (for the one-day game that followed).
“I got there and Noffke was no good in the warm-up but then I went to them and said ‘I’ve just tweaked my groin too’.
“They said ‘well, you’re here now and you may not get another chance so have a bowl’.
“I ended up opening the bowling with Scotty Brant who was a Dolphins player too, and I limped in and managed to get 4-24 and man-ofthe-match. I got Justin Langer first ball, Shaun Marsh and Luke Pomersbach so it wasn’t a bad start.”