EYE OF THE TIGER
WES CUSWORTH: I enjoyed seeing the start of your innings on Saturday and I thought you looked pretty calm and confident right from the outset. Given it was your return first XI game, was that how you felt?
NICK HYDEN: I was actually pretty nervous to be honest. I hadn’t had a hit at training for three weeks because we’ve had some training washed out, I’ve had some work commitments and we’ve had a couple of T20s. I managed to get a few runs in the twos on that wicket and it had been under covers all week. I took a little bit of confidence out of the knowledge that the wicket I got runs out of the week before still had a little bit more in it. I think if you asked Richie Oliver he would’ve been disappointed that he didn’t win the toss because it was pretty flat. I like batting at Grovey because you get good value for shots. I don’t think I’ve had a bad wicket up there.
WC: But you hadn’t seen a lot of the City boys apart from Adam Marsland.
NH: Barry (Tsitas) is really thorough and has his plans. He also does his research and sends us a little bit of information on opposition players and what they do. You know in the back of your mind that Marsy is going to run in and hit a length and take it away. I tried to leave as many balls as I could early and luckily it paid off.
WC: Your innings contrasted sharply with Michael Blain who soaked up 200 balls for his 57, while you knocked out 161 in 224.
NH: That was his job that we spoke about at the start of the day. He’s done it before and he’s played in premierships in both ones and twos. His job is just to bat time and then we can bat around him. We’ve batted together a bit this year and I quite enjoy it. We have a good understanding of one another’s games. It was pretty warm, so the longer we stayed out there the better it was for our guys.
WC: I recall you playing a season with former Australian quick Shane Harwood at Brown Hill when you were in Ballarat. What did you take out of that experience?
NH: It was fantastic. Despite being 40 when he came back he was still genuinely rapid and scary. It would be a bouncer one ball then he’d toss up a yorker next ball and the stumps would go flying. He also made some runs and he just hit the ball so hard. He changed my attitude to cricket because at Brown Hill we were pretty easygoing, but he certainly raised the seriousness at training. I was 24 at the time and the next year I arrived at Grovey where I was able to take my cricket to the next level.
WC: You came down to Grovedale with Tobias Hogg, what was behind that decision?
NH: We were studying together at uni in Ballarat and lived together for two years, but he wouldn’t come and play at Brown Hill. I tried to get him to Brown Hill but he said ‘no, I want to win a premiership at Grovedale’, and they’d just lost a grand final to Geelong West. Then they won one and he still wouldn’t leave because he said ‘I think we’ll win another one’. Not long after that I had a knee reconstruction and was playing seconds and thirds in Ballarat. I felt that I needed a fresh start and to step it up, so I looked at the move. After 10 minutes on the phone to Barry Tsitas I was sold.
WC: You’ve been fortunate to be a part of two premierships with the Tigers.
NH: I played in the back-toback ones. Luckily enough I got back from Europe in January of the second one and was fortunate to sneak my way into the side come finals. Fortunately I got some runs in the twos in the second last game. Once I got in I was fortunate to stay in.
WC: Well of course Mick McNeel and Barry Tsitas were the stars with the bat in that first grand final win against East Belmont in 2015-16. The second, the win over St Joeys by just two runs, was quite an extraordinary game of cricket with almost 600 runs scored between the teams.
NH: We shouldn’t have let that get as close as it did. We’ve taken the opportunity to have a few beers while watching the video. It’s pretty good viewing actually.
WC: This season has been a bit stop-start for Grovedale. Can a win tomorrow launch some consistent winning form?
NH: Absolutely. It’s not a position that we haven’t been in before. We lost games that we should have won and we’ve won games from positions that we shouldn’t have. It’s probably testimony to Barry Tsitas and his leadership and other guys like Gareth Yelland and Chris Young. It’s a long season, but we know how valuable wins before Christmas are. Posting a good score last Saturday gives us some confidence in having something to bowl at. If we can get a win and even the ledger then we can look forward to a big game against North Geelong heading into Christmas.