Seth O’Hehir had quite the impact in his 54 balls of batting and 12.1 overs of bowling for Kooweerup A Grade this season.
That’s all it took – in his one and only game for the summer – to score 66 not out and take a stunning 8/41 in the Demons’ 189-run victory over Clyde at the Kooweerup Recreation Reserve.
It’s a ground O’Hehir knows well, with the recently turned 21-year-old one of the rising young key-position talents in West Gippsland football.
While Kooweerup cricketers were preparing for the season to start in early October, the focus for O’Hehir was on captaining the Southern Districts Crocs reserves team in the Northern Territory Football League.
But an injury received in round nine, on November 29 against Nightcliff, saw him forced to return home early and undergo reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder.
Sport was all of a sudden off the agenda, with O’Hehir appearing no chance of building on a promising junior cricket career.
He started in under 12s, before moving to Tooradin to play with close friend Tyler Evans; who he just pipped for best on ground honours in the under-18 premiership win in 2021/22.
“We still argue now about who should have won it, and we probably always will,” O’Hehir said with a chuckle.
“I made 37 and Tyler made 33 not out, but he took a wicket and I dropped a catch off his bowling that probably cost him.
“That was probably my greatest achievement in cricket; to win best on ground in a grand final.”
O’Hehir had no intentions of playing cricket this season, but got the itch after tentatively rolling over his right-arm medium pacers in a social T20 game between the Kooweerup cricket and football clubs in February.
“I haven’t played for the last two seasons, being up north, so was really missing cricket and it was nice to get out in the middle,” he said.
“They tried to get me to play A Grade because we were short on numbers, but I didn’t think it would play out the way it did.
“I thought I’d give it a go but I certainly didn’t expect 66 not out and eight-fa, that’s for sure.
“It’s left me wondering what it could have been like if I played the whole year.”
His batting on day one set the scene for his stellar all-round performance, but it almost didn’t occur.
“We spun the wheel to see who was going to bat from six to 11, and I kind of cracked it a bit and said ‘I’m not playing if I’m batting at 10,” he said with a laugh.
“I wanted to bat as high as I could and Tom Cairns, the captain, looked after me a bit.
“I told the boys before the game that I was going to make 50, and got a few laughs, but I was serious.
“I got very lucky, there were three or four dropped catches, one of them was quite early and a couple were a bit hard; but one was a sitter when I was on about 13.
“Then I took two wickets on the first day, and they weren’t my proudest wickets.
“The first one was a bottom edge down leg, and the second one wasn’t much better, and I was happy just to walk away with two-fa.
“But I felt a bit looser on Saturday, they were coming out a bit better, but no way did I expect to take eight wickets and all six wickets on the second day.
“I got a few through the gate and then got a couple under the bat down the order.”
One wicket in particular stood out; with O’Hehir even impressing himself.
The former leg-spinner, who gave up the craft after growing too much, nailed the perfect delivery.
“I can’t remember the batters’ name, but he played front foot defence and it went straight through the gate; he just sat there for a second, looking back and forth at his bat and the stumps; that was a pretty good nut,” he said.
O’Hehir said his success over the last fortnight and had re-pricked his interest in the game.
“I’d love to give it a go, but I like fishing and travelling and then there’s football and swimming and generally trying to keep fit,” he said.
“But I know what I’m like, I’m very passionate about everything I do, so if I do get sucked into training, I’ll probably play a full season.
“I wouldn’t mind having a crack at it and seeing how high I can go.”
Despite his dream fortnight on the field, O’Hehir does have one regret; that his biggest supporter was not on hand to witness it.
“I was stoked, it was a dream game, but the part that annoyed me the most was my pop Marty, he never misses a footy game or cricket game, he loves his cricket, he loves watching me play, but he wasn’t there for the batting or the bowling,” he said.
“I ripped into him about missing my batting and he said he would be there on Saturday, but I said ‘don’t worry about it…we’re bowling’.
“I ended up taking eight-fa; so, I wish he was there to see it.”
