By Jonty Ralphsmith
Ryan Hendy spent the Friday night prior to his farewell match at ‘Cricket Connect’ in Hallam facing a bowling machine.
The always fierce competitor was there with brother-in-law and skipper Nathan Wilson.
The all-rounder wanted to hit a few out of the middle in his final game of competitive cricket, having averaged just 5.6 for the season from 12 hits.
Unable to make training frequently due to family, work and Devon Meadows football coaching commitments, the number of balls he was typically hitting mid-week was low, if any.
Entering after the loss of two early wickets, he spent an unnerving amount of time on zero before getting off the mark with a flashing square drive through backward point for a single.
In crunching a textbook lofted off drive for four, and front foot cut shot for six, he showed flashes of the old Hendy who was capable of turning a Turf 1 game on its head because his team needed it.
St Kilda legend Paddy Ryder, recruited to Devon Meadows this season, was down watching his coach and ran gloves and a helmet to him mid-innings on multiple occasions.
Ultimately, he was bowled for 20 off 33 deliveries, his dismissal cuing the captain, next-in to bat, to call for his teammates to applaud him off, but they needed not be told, cheering along with the Hendy entourage.
Doveton organised for several icons to get down and give speeches pre-match, among them Brad Downe, Keith Dawson, Nathan Wilson, and also DDCA president Michael Hawking.
Each shared a different memory of ‘Spanner’, the underlying theme being that he’s irreplaceable.
In writing stories about a retiring great or veteran, journalists will quickly pick up a thread in the responses to centre the story around, a common denominator only club-people know them by.
Hendy was different, with everyone highlighting a separate memory, emotion or standout trait which came through in the speeches.
Nostalgia was the protagonist of the day.
There were plenty of Hendys in attendance throughout the day, too.
Robinson Reserve, 92 Paperbark Street, Doveton, is essentially a second home for their family.
Dad, Stephen is another icon of the club.
Even Ryan’s grandmother, Fay, who has followed his cricket journey closely for many years, got down to watch, parking herself in front of the club canteen, shaded from the balmy heat.
His final spell yielded figures of 1/58 off 12 overs.
Hendy’s first five overs were typical of the off-spinner’s tight reliability with ball in hand.
On a flat deck conducive for big first-innings runs, he conceded just eight runs, varying the speed on his balls and getting Eagles opener Dean McDonell LBW with one that kept low.
It was Doveton’s only wicket in the first 38 overs.
When he was brought on for his second spell, he got lippy with the Eagles batters, prompting the umpires to get involved.
“There was no surer thing than he’d do that!” said a bunch of Doves on the sidelines.
It’s known that’s when he is playing his best cricket.
“He will initiate engagement and hope for a bite back to get himself into the fight for the team, and the juices flowing,” Wilson said.
“It an added edge to his game where it felt like it was personal.
“Sometimes he might have been on the line, or just over the line, but that’s exactly where you wanted him to be as a teammate.”
He couldn’t find the breakthrough despite creating questions, doubt and a couple of chances to dismiss set batters that fell either in gaps or were grassed.
His friends and family, fittingly, viewed his final ball, a shortish quick one eased for a single, to the tune of Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’, gently playing over the speaker under the gazebo.
In the absence of Hendy’s passion on-field, Doveton Cricket Club will never be the same.
To quote the song: “Why don’t we leave it at that? Nothin’ to say; when everything gets in the way; seems you cannot be replaced.”
RETURNING TO DOVETON
He’s on just about every honour board at Doveton.
For club champions, First XI batting averages, First XI bowling averages.
Ryan Hendy’s legacy is part of the fabric of the club, but one board he’s missing from is Best Clubman Award.
The names on that one haven’t been printed on for the best part of a decade.
If there was a name printed on that board for the 2019-2020 season, there’s a fair chance it would’ve been Hendy’s.
He had an ambition to return the club to the Turf 1 powerhouse it once was.
“He told me that over a few beers one night and I laughed a little bit at him,” said Brad Downe, who many at Doveton put Hendy alongside as the best all-rounder they’ve played with.
“But knowing Spanner, if he puts his mind to something, he is a chance of getting it, and with a bit of luck this year they would have been playing finals.”
A Turf 1 stalwart, returning to his home club meant essentially playing for the 40th best team in the DDCA Turf competition.
The Doves were coming off a fourth placed finish the previous year in Turf 4, with 12 teams in each Turf competition above them.
“I am always going to remember him as the bloke that came back when it was at its worst,” said now president Kaine Bundy.
“If you look in Turf 4 now, I don’t think there’s too many Ryan Hendys running around or ever has been.
“That’s the kind of bloke he is for the club.”
For good measure, too, he got 117 batting at four in that grand final to lead Doveton to 9/210, before taking seven of Doveton’s wickets in a 37-run win.
HENDY’S MOST MEMORABLE
They came to the game needing a win to make Turf 1 finals in 2009-10.
The Doves found out at tea that they needed to win outright thanks to Buckley Ridges, which sat behind them coming into the round, winning outright.
Mordialloc had started its second innings but the openers were both unbeaten, so the Doves would need 10 wickets in a session.
They hadn’t looked like taking one yet.
Enter Ryan Hendy.
“He got everyone up at tea and came on and kept getting wickets,” said Brad Downe, who played in that match.
“We got them out with heaps of time to spare, when everyone thought ‘we’re gone here’.
“The wicket wasn’t turning, it was pretty dry, but he was just bowling at them building the pressure.
“They were just trying to survive and he was getting them bowled and caught in close.”
After getting seven wickets in the first innings to dismiss the Bloodhounds, chasing 277, he finished with eight in the second, including the first seven.
Mordialloc, trying to see out he day, went from 0/57 to all out for 84.
For good measure, too, Hendy, who that season won the Wookey Medal as the best Turf 1 DDCA player, made 54 with the blade.
“It was one of those ones where we thought we were playing finals, then two hours before game finished we were told we’re not, so we had to put it all on the line and ended up doing it somehow,” Hendy said.
“A lot of people thought the game was rigged but I guarantee you it wasn’t! It was a pretty special game that one.”
HOW HENDY SCORED HIS LAST 20 RUNS
Over 7.1: Flashing square drive through backward point to man on rope for a single.
7.5: Clipped full ball on leg stump cleanly to deep fine leg for one.
10.1: Gentle push to a gap in the infield for one.
11.3: Lofted straight drive pitches just inside long off boundary for four runs off quick bowler Jakeb Thomas.
12.4: Rode a pull shot to fine leg for a single off a ball angling into his body.
13.1: Controlled dab between slip and gully for four.
13.2: Miscued pull shot off his gloves for one.
13.4: Controlled late cut to third man for a single.
15.1: Cuts Thomas on the front foot over the cover-point boundary for six.
