By David Nagel
Only very special cricketers produce what Luke McMaster did against Clyde at the Kooweerup Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
The exquisitely talented all-rounder – still just 23 – carved a career-best 193, off 208 balls, to lead his Demons to an impregnable 321 against the Cougars at Denhams Road.
It was McMaster’s first transport into triple figures, and came in his first game as captain of the senior XI – leading some of his idols from years gone by into battle.
His biggest idol, Michael ‘Doofy’ Giles, provided the opportunity for McMaster to captain after suffering a long-term groin injury.
“Doofy was my favourite player to watch growing up, I’d rock up just to watch him bat, and when he went out, I’d go home,” McMaster said.
McMaster was a Kooweerup junior, a local boy, before his talents were recognised in year-12 and he earned a cricket scholarship at Haileybury.
That elevation led to a connection with Dandenong, where he won a premiership in the lower grades in his three years at the club.
But it was a journey that never reached the expected great heights due to injury.
“I ended up in the twos but kept breaking down with stress fractures in my back,” he explained.
“I was a batter at Kooweerup as a junior, but was more of a bowler at Haileybury and Dandenong.
“The back injury stopped me in my tracks, I couldn’t bowl for two years, and was only batting here and there.
“The last time I broke down was the final straw and I decided to come back home to Koowee.
“I came back as a bat, but then the bowling came back and I was mainly a bowler for the first two years.”
That was until an opportunity presented itself to open, and the fast-bowling, hard-hitting all-rounder, pounced on the chance to flourish.
In partnership with the punishing Chris Bright, McMaster blossomed at the top-of-the-order last season.
He made 407 runs, averaging 33.92, while still hitting the bat as hard as any bowler in the competition.
Saturday’s coming-out parade…well it will not surprise many who have played with or against him in recent times.
“I felt good last year, started converting 30s and 40s into 70s and 80s and made more runs than I ever have,” he said.
“When Doofy came back this year he was keen for me to open from day one, even with the transition to the red-ball.
“Even up until Saturday I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, because I’d never opened in seniors against a new red ball, which is a completely different game.
“I just got out there on Saturday and I’ve never concentrated like that before, I was just concentrating every ball and felt switched on.
“Usually, I’m concentrating until the ball is let go, and then something happens between ball and the bat and I play a completely different shot to what I should.
“But on Saturday, I concentrated ball-by-ball for the whole 73 overs.”
McMaster believes the responsibility of opening has had a massive impact on his mindset.
“I was a batter, then became a bowler, and sometimes it doesn’t matter that much when you come in down the order,” he explained.
“If you’re batting at number eight you really don’t have much pride, and every situation is different, but as an opener I’ve noticed a massive difference with the concentrating.
“When you’re really concentrating and switched on, it feels like no-one can get you out…you seem to always get yourself out.
“That’s the biggest thing for me, concentrating on every single ball.
“I have to play my natural game, because if I don’t, I’ll just get myself out, but it’s all about being a bit more selective about when to go and when to rein it in.
“My natural game is hitting it along the ground, scoring boundaries that way, so it’s about picking the right ball to make that happen.”
The Demons skipper launched a Daniel Lever off-spinner over square leg, just after tea, to bring up his maiden century…that lived up to expectations.
“I middled it, and then the noise came and it’s something I’ll remember for a very long time to come,” he said.
“It definitely did (live up to expectations), it was more relief for myself because I knew I was capable of doing it but didn’t know when it might happen, to bat for that long and make a century,” he said.
“It lived up to everything I thought it would be, and the biggest thing was when ‘Doofy’ told me when I got there to not throw it away.
“He said, ‘make a big score’, not just a hundred.
“That’s a great mindset to have.”
McMaster can’t believe he is now leading some of the best and most successful premiership players at the club.
“Seriously, when I was kid growing up these blokes were my idols,” he said.
“Doofy obviously, and then to see what Wombat (Chris Bright) has turned into, from when he started, when he batting eight, wasn’t wicketkeeping, he just took things onboard and can now be whatever he wants to be.
“I think a lot of young cricketers can learn from his progression.
“And then there’s Tubsy (Chris O’Hara), he has supported me the whole time I’ve been back, getting into my ear about being a batter and how to go about it…that’s experience and advice you can’t buy.
“They’ve made it easy for me, but it could have been difficult to captain blokes on the weekend that I’ve looked up to growing up.
“I keep asking myself, ‘should I really be telling them what to do, because they already know what they’re doing.
“A lot of these great players want me to be the next captain and I feel like I’ve got the full support of them.
“They’re support is probably the reason I feel comfortable and why I’m playing the way I am.
“Doofy has really taken me under his wing.
“He wants me to speak in front of the group, take drills, run training, learning skills that will help me develop as a leader
“I’m a pretty quiet person, but what’s happening is helping me grow as a person.”
So, is it Kooweerup forever, or does the lure of higher honours still linger?
“It’s always in the back of my mind, because if I had have stayed at Dandenong and stayed fit, I feel I could have broken in to the first XI,” he said.
“It’s still open I suppose, but I’m content with staying at Kooweerup at the moment.
“I’ll just keep on trying to improve, and we’ll see where that takes us.”
That’s a very ominous warning from an exquisitely talented all-rounder who is just realising his full potential.
