FIELD OF DREAMS
Two hat-tricks in a day for roaring Lion:
WITH one hat-trick already in his pocket, Shane Field was strangely calm at the top of his mark as he aimed for a second.
The East Belmont left-arm swing bowler was just about to put the finishing touches on his best day in cricket on Saturday.
“I kind of thought I was a better chance to get the second one than the first to be honest,” he said.
“I felt like all I really had to do was get it on the stumps and I would be a big chance.”
And a big chance he was. Field cleaned up Lara captain Scott Teesdale to take his second hat-trick of the day and his eighth wicket.
It was a remarkable afternoon for the Fourth XI bowler, who finished with career best figures of 8-18 from nine overs in a comfortable victory.
The paceman, who describes himself as “a pretty consistent hard wicket cricketer” began the day by taking two wickets in two balls to leave Lara 2-3.
His first hat-trick ball was “on the hip and was played into the on-side” but he didn’t miss out a second time.
After bowling Tyson Woodhouse and Varinder Cheema (five of Field’s eight wickets on the day were bowled), he struck Ben Goodwin on the pad in front of the stumps.
“The (first) hat-trick was LBW which I honestly wasn’t expecting (the stand in umpire from the batting side) to give,” Field said.
“It doesn’t happen a lot (giving LBWs) in our grades so it was nice for him to put the finger up at the right time.”
GCA coronavirus restrictions were forgotten for a moment as Field was engulfed in “a fair bit of being pulled and tugged around” in celebration with his teammates.
The second hat-trick came when he had Dane Marum caught and Benjamin Pike LBW before knocking over Teesdale as part of a triplewicket maiden in his final over.
After finishing so strongly, Field joked that his teammates half expected him to miss the pitch all together this weekend.
The haul was just Field’s second five-wicket effort in a decade of senior cricket following a 7-14 effort in a semi-final 2016-17.
To mark his feat, Field enjoyed a couple of drinks in the East Belmont rooms before a typical Geelong celebration.
“I actually ended up in town for about the first time in 10 years,” he said.