Keith’s good run

By Kath Gannaway
NO-ONE who knows Keith Thompson was very surprised when he rushed in and out of the Yarra Ranges Australia Day awards last week … to get back to a cricket match.
Accepting the Mayor’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his services to local and regional cricket, Mr Thompson explained, hastily, that he was involved in a cricket fundraiser at Bayswater.
The award recognises his contribution as an administrator, which began when he took on the job of secretary/treasurer of the YVCA at the tender age of 21 – a position he has held continuously for 31 seasons.
He has also chalked up 26 years as secretary for the South East Country region of the Victorian Country Cricket League (VCCL) and 26 years as a director of the VCCL board, the past three as secretary.
He started playing when he was about 10 or 11 with Wandin East.
“There was just one grade in the competition and as an 11-year-old, you had a better chance of getting a game with Wandin East than with Seville or Wandin,” he explained.
He started out as an all-rounder. “Every kid starts out thinking they are able to do everything, or thinks they can, but I ended up being a slow bowler,” he said.
He joined the Under 16s with Seville, playing a few games with the firsts while still a junior and moving up and down the ranks.
He was president of the Seville Cricket Club for seven years.
There’s nothing mysterious about why he has devoted his life to cricket.
“It’s just the overall thing … I enjoy the game,” he says, admitting to proudly wearing the badge of “cricket tragic”.