Sharks skipper declares Inglis’ 151 the classiest ever

“YOU won’t see a better knock at Richmond Crescent.”

It was high praise from a high-class cricketer.

Richie Oliver is adamant Luke Inglis’ swashbuckling innings of 151 for Geelong City against North Geelong last week was the best he’d seen at their home ground.

“That’s the way I described it to the people who were here watching it. They said ‘it was brilliant, wasn’t it’? and I said ‘you won’t see a better knock out here, whether that’s from me or anybody else’.

“It was really top-draw batting. He soaked up the pressure when he had to, he went through the gears when he had to. It was really classy, it was impressive.

“We’re not Test cricketers, and there were a couple of shots he could’ve put away, but he played to his strengths beautifully and I’m just hoping that gives him a platform to kick on for the rest of the year.”

The commendation is even more remarkable, given Oliver is regarded as one of the finest players to have played in the GCA, having notched more than a dozen tons.

“Maybe I'm biased, but I love him,” Oliver said of Inglis.

“Throughout that innings, one or two wickets would’ve put us on the back foot. So him and (Eamon) Fitzpatrick to put on 150 like they did, it wasn’t just crucial, it was high-quality batting. So that was my favourite part of it.

“Some knocks are made after the game is won, some are made at the back end of the day when the bowlers are tired, but he came in when we were in trouble and he got out after he’d done most of the damage.”

It was a knock full of maturity and character from the former Geelong batsman, who has dealt with his fair share of pressures in the off-season.

Having been coaxed into playing by Oliver and the Sharks, Inglis was dealt a hefty points tag when he crossed to City, forcing some of his teammates out of the first XI.

But Oliver stressed the points fiasco had no bearing on him. “You could look at it like that, but I think it’s about the atmosphere that we create,” he said.

“He feels comfortable to go out there without that sort of pressure. Fortunately we run quite a comfortable ship in terms of the environment.

“The other stuff is irrelevant when you put the whites on to go out and play. Whatever pressure he was feeling, if he was, it certainly wasn’t anything that we put on him.

“It’s nice to see him with a smile on his face, enjoying his cricket, because at one stage I think he wasn’t going to play at all this year.

“Having known him for five or six years now, that was the sort of innings that I’ve been waiting to see, so I was really pleased for him.”