Final innings for cricket legend

The Wimmera is mourning with the death of one of the region’s greatest cricketers and personalities, Don Rush.

Mr Rush, celebrated as one of the greatest players to play Horsham district cricket, died peacefully in care in Ballarat on Sunday after a lengthy battle with dementia. He was 82.

Mr Rush grew up in Jung and as a boarding student at Wesley College developed into a schoolboy prodigy, quickly establishing a reputation for his sporting prowess in cricket, golf and football.

He played with South Melbourne firsts with Ian Johnson and Lindsay Hassett in Melbourne premier cricket and as a schoolboy also trained with Victorian Football League club Richmond.

School commitments forced him to abandon his efforts with the Tigers.

He left a promising sporting career in Melbourne in the 1950s to return home to Jung to help his father work the family farm and continued playing cricket with Jung club until the mid-1990s.

He captained a Victorian Country XI in Horsham in the early 1970s, prompting renowned sports journalist Ken Piesse to dub him ‘The Bush Bradman’.

He made between 50 and 100 centuries and captured countless wickets with his off-spinners and was a Horsham Cricket Association and Jung club life-member.

His sporting partnerships with his cousin, the late Alan ‘Jock’ Mcrae, are the subject of Horsham cricket legend. He also played football with Jung and Murtoa. Mr Rush was a popular businessman, operating Collins Shoe Store in Horsham’s Firebrace Street for many years.

Mr Rush and his late wife Betsy moved to Ballarat many years ago and Mr Rush had been in care since 2010.

He is survived by his brother Edward and three children Geoffrey, Meredith and Robert.

Family members were still arranging funeral details yesterday.