Luke Hewitt - be better for longer than the opposition
Hastings Cricket Club | April 29, 2023
Luke Hewitt has played all his junior and seniors cricket with Hastings Cricket Club.
Luke is the clubs current First XI captain and has scored over 5,000 runs and taken in excess of 280 wickets for the club.
Let’s find out more about Luke’s journey in the game
What year you were born?
1992
Can you remember you first game of cricket?
It was playing for Hastings. I think the game was at Hastings too. I was 8 years old and was a bit of a thanks for coming, I don’t think I batted or bowled.
Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?
I have always played at Hastings and been lucky enough to play with some great cricketers and blokes that have come to Hastings for a few seasons over the journey. I’ve also played for the MPCA on a few occasions, so that has been good to listen to new people and see how they go about their cricket at a higher level.
In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in senior cricket?
I think I was about 13. I started off in Hasting’s 3rds or 4ths (C grade) as a keeper, then moved into opening the batting. I debuted in the 1sts at 15 or 16, batted at 11 and bowled a little bit. My 1s debut we played Carrum at Carrum, I remember walking out at 11 as a young bloke and just copping an absolute barrage of abuse from Boonie, safe to say it wasn’t a nice introduction to 1s cricket.
What was the highest grade you played and can you remember what you were feeling when you were selected and how did you perform on debut?
Highest grade I’ve played has been country week in the development squad. I was a late inclusion, got a call on the Saturday night (cheers Liam O’Connor!) and we started on the Monday. I took 4/30 off 10 and made 15 not out batting at 9. I ended up playing well throughout the week, had great fun, learned a lot and ended up winning a premiership! I then played a few more years and loved it.
Unfortunately, after I finished University, work meant I was unavailable to play 1s country week, otherwise I would have loved that opportunity too. That week also gave me the chance to be a net bowler for the Vic’s one-day squad and Melbourne Renegades. Looking back, I should have given premier cricket a crack, but I’m also happy with how my local cricket journey has turned out.
If you can share with our audience, how would you describe yourself as a cricketer?
An all-rounder that opens the bowling and can open the batting or bat 4/5, but have been opening the batting for the past few years. Cover or mid-off fielder.
What were your strengths as a player?
Bowling – Being able to swing the new and old ball and get early wickets.
Batting – A bat that can play shots all around the ground and hit boundaries. I try to have an adaptable game plan where I could score quickly if needed, but also dig in and be someone hard to bowl/ captain against.
Fielding – A player that used to be able to move pretty well (pre-injuries), along with reading the play and creating and taking half chances.
What was your highest score in senior cricket?
101 in a Jack Peacock game against Crib at Hastings. In a two-day game, 99 not out against Ballam Park at Hastings (Cheers Macca haha)
What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?
7/43 against Rosebud at Hastings in a semi-final (In one spell, Rosebud went from being 2/55 to 8/62 and as he often did, Jugga saved the day for Rosebud).
Who were the best three fast bowlers you have played against?
Jason Nagel – Great control, consistency and moved it.
Jackson Fry – Left armer, bowled with decent pace and could swing the new ball. Glad he went to Premier Cricket
There’s probably many more greats I faced in the past, but only faced them a couple times or I was too young and naïve to realise.
Who were the best three spinners you have played against? And if you could add a few words as to why
Ricky Ramsdale – The slow left armers, more drift than spin from Ram, but he’d get often just wear you down (mentally more than anything) and then outsmart you.
Peneeth Goonawardena from Mt Eliza – He was very smart with his variation and had great control.
As above, I’ve probably played many great spinners but not often enough. Tim Birch would be the best I’ve seen.
Who were the best 3 batsman you’ve played against? And if you could add a few words as to why
Bobby Wilson – Bowling to Bobby seemed like your best ball wasn’t good enough, and anything else you bowled he could put it away. When he was at Moorooduc we played a game where Bobby made 110, he walked out at 2/15 and when he was out the score was 5/143. Still one of the best knocks I’ve seen in local cricket.
Simon Dart – From the first ball I bowled to Darty you could tell he was just a class above everyone else. Makes it look effortless.
Shaun Foster – With Foz you gotta take the early chance, otherwise you’re chasing balls around all day. Hits the ball so hard and clean. Foz is so hard to bowl to as he always put the pressure back on the bowler and can easily throw you off lines and lengths.
Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
The day Scotty Phillips made 200 against YCW at Frank Street was incredible. The first 100 was great, then he went from 100 to 200 in about 10 overs. Just smashed boundaries for fun. Izzy and Scotty put on 127 for the 8th wicket, Izzy made 5 of them.
Dyl O’Malley made 150 at country week against Hamilton one day, that was pretty special too, just a great batting display.
Was there any bowler in particular who for whatever reason always seemed to cause you a few problems?
Probably Jason Nagel, he was just so accurate and consistent. Didn’t give you much and then could swing the ball away and nip it back, he also bowled that awkward medium pace.
Any non-bowler or lower grade bowlers at training in the Hastings nets, just ask Foz about them.
Can you recall a time when you thought, wow, this is a step or two up from what you were used to?
Only when I first started playing 1s cricket and I was a young fella batting at 11 against some guys that bowled genuine pace. Made some runs through the slips in those days.
Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
Hard to split Trevor Johnstone and Robbie Hearn. At their best they were both unbelievable. Would take screamers both sides of the wicket and super sharp with stumping’s. I saw TJ keep up to the stumps to Scotty Philips and that was incredible, then Hearny could keep up to Mitchy Floyd and Izzy when the ball was doing plenty.
Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?
Tim Birch would be one of the best I’ve played with. Just a real old-school winning mentality. Many times he carried the team on his shoulders with either bat or ball. Could do the unthinkable when you needed it most. Never seen a guy make as many 70s that were worth big 100s like Birchy did.
Against – Either Ricky Ramsdale or Boonie (David James). You always know it’s going to be a tough day against those guys. They’ll try to throw you off your game, but then thrive off it when you start giving it back. They’d always find a way to win and play well. But no matter how heated the game got they were always the first blokes to sit down and have a beer with you after the game.
Who was the best captain you had the good fortune to play with?
I always liked playing under Darren Kerr, he was a real leader of men and could get the best out of them. Performed when he needed to and always had a plan.
Johnny Forrest was good to learn from too, a deep thinker of the game and simplified his message to get it across in an effective way. I would have loved to have played more under Ox.
Who has been your funniest team mate?
Ryan McNamara was always pretty funny, very lippy for a young bloke, but always came out with something good, he’d every now and then do or say something stupid and that would make you laugh too.
Darren Kerr was pretty funny too.
Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?
Start of last year we played YCW at YCW. Paddy Wilson was batting and the umpire miscounted balls and they ended up bowling a 7 ball over, unfortunately Paddy went out on that 7th ball. Then the next time we played them Paddy faced the 7th ball of an over because of a wide or no-ball and he went out to it again. He hasn’t lived it down and I don’t think the YCW boys will let him either, makes it funnier when a few of their footy guys came down and watched a few weeks ago and they got stuck into Paddy about it when he was batting.
Another time, Darren Kerr spoke about batting in the nude against Red Hill which was pretty funny.
Who was your childhood hero?
Ricky Ponting – In his prime he was unstoppable. Anytime you had a bat in your hand or something resembling a bat (often a broomstick) You just wanted to imitate those glorious pull shots and drives.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Jacques Kallis – In the conversation as the GOAT, his record as an all-rounder will be near untouched, especially considering he batted in the top order.
Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?
Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Michael Jordan
Who’s your favourite cricket commentator?
Ricky Ponting – Love the way he thinks and talks about the game. Could listen to Punter and the English commentary team all day.
What was your favourite ground to play at?
Hastings, if you can make runs on the big, slow ground with a pitch that does funny things you can make them anywhere. As a non-biased opinion, I like the nice wide deck at Carrum and good ground. I also enjoyed the day I got to play at Williamstown VFL ground.
What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?
The two premierships. First one I took for granted a little bit as we had a super team, but I played a good knock in the grand final and contributed when we were in trouble early. The second premiership I didn’t have a massive game, but had a good year and played well in the semi.
What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?
Outside of premierships for both Hastings and Country week, we had an outright win at Hastings against Seaford Tigers. Neither side made over 100 for either innings, but it a really tense and heated game. Always good memories around that game.
Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?
Darren Kerr, then the 2012/13 country week team for our upcoming 10 year premiership reunion that Jonny Forrest needs to organise.
What are your hobbies?
Cricket, Football and waterskiing/wakeboarding.
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
Be better for longer than your opposition.
Always be working towards achieving goals.
What’s your occupation?
I teach grade 5/6 at St Joseph’s in Crib Point and also teach Phys Ed at St Mary’s in Hastings.
If you were running a state cricket association what would your 2 priorities to ensure cricket in the state remained strong and successful on and off the field?
Accessibility! – I think there has been some great initiatives put in place recently (half one day, half two day season, juniors having matches on weeknights) but we need to make the game as accessible as possible. All clubs should have equal opportunity when it comes to facilities. Bit hard for clubs that have terrible nets and 5 minutes down the road another club has everything state of the art and regularly upgraded. Put in place a free holiday program for kids to just play and train and move it around the peninsula, have it at schools and clubs, so it isn’t tied to just one club, promote it through schools and local clubs.
Marketing – It would be great to see more cricket in schools. Cricket on TV (state games back on free to air). Cricket in your face everywhere, I think Cricket Australia needs to keep promoting the game and getting kids interested. Would be great to see state players or BBL players head to schools (like the AFL have done in the past) and run clinics and same with local clubs. At the moment seems like cricket has a bit of an uncool and boring reputation among school kids. Cricket Australia needs to work hard to change this thinking.
I’d also love as a pipe dream to see the MPCA become a turf comp. If we’re aiming to be a high standard competition and attract high quality players, then we need to be playing proper turf cricket. It would also help produce cricketers ready for the pathway programs and premier cricket.
