Bleeds red & black
DOUG Fairchild couldn’t bare the thought of a Saturday without cricket.
And he doesn’t even want to contemplate a life without his beloved Little River Cricket Club.
“I love it,” said 50-year-old Fairchild, who will today notch his 400th club match for the Redbacks.
“The saddest day is when I’ll have to say, ‘ I can’t play anymore’. I’m hoping I’ve got a few more years left.”
A life member of more than a decade and a stalwart who donned the whites as a 13-yearold in the juniors some 37 years ago, Fairchild bleeds red and black.
“Definitely. I just love the club, I always have,” said Fairchild, who has a tattoo of a Redback on his left shoulder.
“When I was younger, people said, ‘ Come and play with us’ and I was like, ‘ No, I’d never leave Little River’. I love the people.
“A lot of these guys (teammates) think I’m some old hack but when I was their age I could actually play a little bit, but I keep battling on.”
A lifelong Little River local, Fairchild said the club was like a “second home”.
“I started playing senior cricket here when I was 15 and I turned 50 recently … so it’s been 35 years of senior cricket,” he said. “I’ve lived in Little River my whole life.
“I love the people, I love the guys that I play with — and there’s been a number of them over the years — I just love everything about the club and the town.”
Fairchild’s family is also firmly entrenched at Little River.
His son Dylan is the former president, while younger children Nick and Jordan have also donned the red and black.
“Nick’s down at Newtown and I hope I’m still around when he comes back, but that might be a few years off,” Fairchild said. “Dylan plays here as well, but he changed careers and he can only play every second week, but I’m lucky that I get to play with him on Saturday.
“My daughter Jordan has been terrorised in the backyard ‘The saddest day is when I’ll have to say, ‘I can’t play anymore’. I’m hoping I’ve got a few more years left. I just love the club, I always have’ as a girl in a family of cricketers and she actually played for us one year because we were short.
“She ended up playing for the season and played in the Barwon Rockettes as well, which I was pretty proud about.
“The kids have grown up around here, but as I was going down the grades, they were coming up. They passed me pretty quickly.”
Once a regular in A Grade, Fairchild is now the glue that holds the lower grades together.
“This year I’ve played in the Bs and Cs because I want to get back into two-day cricket,” Fairchild said. “The body’s coping with 60-over games at the moment. I played my first game in C Grade and I spent a lot of time in B Grade shortly after that and I played a lot of A Grade cricket as well.”
Fairchild has captained a B Grade premiership — one of five flags across the grades in his career — and has crunched five centuries. He also has a career average of 21.
“I’ve made the best of limited ability,” Fairchild quipped. “I’m not naturally endowed with skill, but I think I’ve made the best of it.
“I’m nearly up to 8000 runs — I keep track of all my records — and I’ve set my goals to make 8000 runs, get 200 wickets and take 200 catches.
“I’m at 192 wickets, but I don’t bowl that often, and I think I’ve taken 197 catches and that’s almost the record.”
Fairchild won’t blast a bowler out of the attack, but he has proved tough to dislodge.
“I like to think I’m slow and steady,” Fairchild said of his batting credentials.
“I’m not the one to go out there and score quickly — that’s just not my game — but I’ve had to adapt in one-day cricket and play shots that aren’t natural. “But it’s all part of cricket.” With up to 10 matches remaining in the season, Fairchild can edge closer to the club games record, but he will have to play on next season to surpass it.
“The record for Little River is 416 games, held by Andy Richmond, and I think I’ve got that covered,” Fairchild said. GC: I last played in a T20 for Newtown in 2010. That was back when Ben Neville was skipper. The last time I played cricket in the ones I got skittled for 99. I was in my 40s. GC: I grew up in Ballarat and I played footy and cricket down there. Originally I was from the bush, the Stony Rises between Cobden and Camperdown, and that’s where my family are from. I moved to Geelong when I was 17-18. GC: I played in an era where there was some quality fast bowling. I was starting when “Crunch” (Damian De Grandi) was finishing, Peter Quick was a fantastic bowler, and I played with and against him. He was one of the sharpest going around — anywhere — and with Glen Wiese from North Geelong, they made a formidable attack. I wouldn’t say I was as quick as them. We had a good opening bowling partnership at Leopold though with myself and Darren Kiddle, and then when I went to Newtown, myself and Scott Hucker were at times difficult to deal with, but I’m not sure personally if I was as good as them. GC: I thought Alf Clark was consistently one of the best players going around. He was as good as it gets in my time. Mick Dunn at East Belmont was a quality player and was always hard to get out. He never wore a helmet, just sat there and dispatched you to the fence. Jason Bakker was exceptionally hard to get out as well. GC: Exactly right. I started at Leopold and they were always good. I was a similar age to Darren and Rod Kiddle and Darren Barmby, and we were well led by “Grappa” (Breheny). He was a fantastic mentor and source of inspiration, and equally so when I went to Newtown, I was very fortunate to have the likes of Greg Wells as a leader and mentor.
LITTLE RIVER 400GAMER DOUG FAIRCHILD