Above: Don Strachan reflects on his time as a player.
By Kath Gannaway
THE NAME Strachan is synonymous with cricket in the Yarra Valley.
More than that, it’s synonymous with cricket at its highest level.
To win the D. J. Strachan Shield is the best you get when the season ends each year.
Don Strachan is still a little bemused that he has inspired such a lofty honour.
“I remember going to a meeting … I don’t know how it came up but they must have had an idea they would change A Grade and call it something. My name must have got thrown up, probably because I’ve been around for a long while,” he says.
He gives an inkling into the actual reason when he adds “ … I’ve been involved not just as a player but also in the administration side of things.”
It’s the sort of understatement those who know him would not be surprised to hear.
Don started playing for Wandin Cricket Club at 14, just after the war.
Before that, he played social games because as he recalls, there was no under-age cricket and the Yarra Valley Cricket Association had not been reformed at that stage. The next year it was and Don started an association, which saw him involved with the club for more than six decades.
He doesn’t lay claim to a fierce passion for the game instead explaining that he just loved sport.
“I just liked playing. In those days you played cricket in the summer and football in the winter. Then on Sundays I used to play social tennis with friends.”
He found his forte as a batsman and says that was what made the game exciting for him.
The biggest thrill was winning 12 premierships. He says he was lucky, that the club was on a 20-year high at that time, a cycle, which both football and cricket seem to go through no matter what level is being played.
The local angle was important too.
“You knew every player and the same in football,” he said.
“You would just know everyone. Perhaps it was that not many people had a car. If you lived in Wandin, you played for Wandin. If you lived in Healesville, you played for Healesville. Now someone will be here for a year and next year they’re somewhere else.”
When the naming of the D. J. Strachan Shield was announced in 1992, YVCA secretary Keith Thompson provided an insight into what might have influenced their decision.
Don, he said attended his first AGM on 9 September 1948.
He was vice president for 12 years, secretary for 13 years, delegate to VCCL Zone 9 for 12 years, on the Permit Committee for 23 years, Auditor for 12 years, and a YVCA Tribunal member at that time since its commencement in 1988. His contribution continued in some areas even longer.
In 1964, he was made a life member of the YVCA.
His philosophy on the game is pretty much encapsulated in the old saying “that’s not cricket”.
He notes the difference between football – he played for Wandin for a number of years – and the more strategic, less spectator-driven cricket.
You didn’t get sledging in his day and even now there’s not a lot of activity at the tribunal on which he sat for a number of years.
He made his name as an opener and says his was known more for his stayability than his style.
“I wasn’t a natural … not by any means,” he said.
“I was just so keen, I practised and practised and that’s really how it came about.”
He had a reputation for being probably the hardest batsman to get out, but shies away from any “best” tags. “I don’t know how you define best,” he says.
It wasn’t slogging sixers, not for him anyway.
“I kept the ball on the ground. I didn’t believe in lifting the ball in the air.
“I would never give my hand away. If a bowler wanted my wicket, he would have to take it,” he said.
He played against some great players.
Harry Blenheim of Healesville, he rates as the best bowler of his era.
“I played against him and with him at Country Week and he was a real gentleman player,” he said.
Wally Thompson, father of Keith, also fits that bill, but he was a teammate so he never had to face him in a serious contest.
Jack Le Poidevin who played for Gladysdale, then Lilydale and later Seville when he returned to coach was his pick for best batsman.
“You wouldn’t get a game if you were just a good fielder,” he said,
“But you could include wicket keepers in with those who made the grade as bowlers or batsmen,” he said.
Bill Curtis who played with Wandin was one of those.
“That’s not just my opinion,” he chips in, aware that he might be seen to be favouring one of his own.
These days his chosen sport is bowls, but he gets up to watch his old team when the seasons overlap, or Wandin gets into the finals, and his bowls team doesn’t.
There are some great memories and wonderful associations from a life of involvement in a game that is both complex and simple.
As another season of cricket gets underway in the Yarra Valley, the best players will aspire to the D. J. Strachan Shield.
It’s a legacy Don is honoured to have had come his way.
