Stoinis shows real mettle
MARCUS Stoinis will stride to the middle of the WACA Ground today knowing that big runs could secure him the lifelong dream of an Ashes Test debut.
But all he’s really thinking about is getting back to the hospital after play ends.
For a decade now, Stoinis’s father, Chris, has battled NonHodgkin lymphoma and over the past 18 months his condition has deteriorated.
This family struggle is why Stoinis has moved from Victoria back home to Western Australia this season, it’s why he missed WA’s one-day cup final win last week, and it’s why every time the all-rounder travels overseas for an international tour, there is a dread in the back of his mind.
The fact Stoinis, 28, has managed to average nearly 90 with the bat from seven oneday internationals this year and is in serious contention for the No.6 Test spot is a testament to one of the toughest characters in cricket. Every sacrifice Stoinis has made since leaving home at 20 has been at his father’s urging.
“In terms of the pressures of an upcoming Test series now, and selection, at the moment I don’t think any further ahead than right now,” Stoinis said.
“Because I’ll leave here and go straight to the hospital. That’s just every day. It’s cliched, but I think when you’re faced with tough conditions, you just get brought back down to earth and humbled and you can’t be anywhere else except the present.”
The guidance and support of mentor, coach and close friend Justin Langer, who recently lost his own mother to cancer, has meant the world.
Stoinis is encouraged by the fact his father has improved after a procedure last Friday.
He is part of a close-knit family, and his only sibling, Natasha, a doctor, is involved in their father’s treatment.
Stoinis says it’s his father’s belief that has got him to the verge of the Test arena.