08 December 2022
Heroing the helpers behind our cricketers. Part 2
It’s the helpers behind Australia’s cricketers who make our national game thrive. That’s why we’re applauding the volunteers and helpers who feed the sport with their passion and experience; from the scorer who supported Usman Khawaja’s rise to greatness, the bowling coach who helped Cam Green find his edge and the high school teacher who supported Ashleigh Gardiner’s ambitions.
Ken Lilley has been nominated by Australian national team cricketer, Cam Green. He was Cam’s bowling coach and mentor in his formative teen years.
Q. You brought valuable player history with you when you became bowling coach and senior coach at Scarborough and North Perth, West Australia. What are your own career highlights?
A. I moved to North Perth when I was 24 and played rest of my career there. That included two Shield games, a 1-day game and playing State cricket at 29. But the greatest highlights of my career were seeing my son, Aaron, achieve so much success in cricket and working with great players such as Marcus Stoinis, Daryl Mitchell and, of course, Cam Green.
Q. What made Cam stand out for you?
A. I coached Cam privately. He was at Subi Floreat when he was coming up through the grades. He had special qualities that others didn’t and his work ethic within his game was incredible. As he developed, his skill level became unbelievable.
For Cam, I think it was important to have someone behind him that he could trust to help him stay in the right direction.
Q. What is the greatest piece of advice you ever gave to Cam?
A. Respect the game and the coaches giving you advice as you never know who is watching you.
Q. How important is support when it comes to making Australian cricket thrive?
A. Community and grassroots cricket is so important to the game. I believe that any sportsperson should always support their original club. I know that it gives the next generation of players such a high level of excitement when they return and speak about their admiration for their club.
Andrew Millican was nominated by Australian international cricketer, Ashleigh Gardiner. He was her coach and schoolteacher for 14 years.
Q. Your passion for cricket includes playing first grade for Randwick in Sydney for 17 years, representing NSW in the 16s and 19s, being First Grade captain for 7 years, winning Sydney Morning Herald First Grade Captain of the Year and now head coach and batting coach for Eastern Suburbs.
What is it about cricket that you love?
A. Essentially the friendships and the competition, but I am also so proud to have worked as a coach with players such as Mike Whitney, Richard Chee Quee, Anthony Stuart, Simon Katich, Usman Khawaja, Jon Lewis, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams, who were all chosen for the next level.
Q. Do you remember when you first saw Ashleigh play?
A. Yes. She came to her older brother’s knockout game at Picnic Point High School when she what was in Year 6. I knew then that she was destined for greatness.
Q. Does your mentorship of her have a favourite moment?
A. I offered her the choice of the Macca’s menu at Lithgow on the way back from Bathurst if she scored 100 in the State Knockout final. She had 100 at drinks so then I offered to upsize and add dessert if she made it to 150. She got it and yelled out a reminder to me from the crease when we clapped the 150.
I told her, ‘Stick with cricket as you will always have a career, either playing or in coaching and development.
Q. What do you feel is the most important thing you gave Ashleigh?
A. Support and advice. That advice included work hard and always enjoy where you are and what you are doing.
Pat Culpan was nominated as Usman Khawaja’s scorer. Pat saw him as a future star exactly ten years ago.
Q. You’ve spent 23 years at Valley District Cricket Club in Queensland and 45 years scoring high level cricket. What are your career’s greatest highlights?
A. Scoring New Zealand's international tour in 1990, Sri Lanka's tour to England in 1990, 20 nation ICC trophy in Nairobi in 1992 and scoring 1st Grade in Brisbane since 1994. But the greatest would be scoring New Zealand vs England at Lords, the spiritual home of cricket. I have also digitised 125 years of players’ stats and history for anyone who has played for VDCC since our origins in 1897. I get called Patty Figures by many around the club for all the stats and data I have.
Q. What are you most proud of?
A. 45 years as a volunteer doing what I love to do. Best seat in the house.
I just hope my bit in a team of volunteers has helped in some way help people in the community enjoy the recreational game of cricket. Our club motto reads, ‘keeping youth busy in sport’.
Q. Do you remember the first time you saw Usman play?
A. I was scoring at Valley District Club. It was 29 Sept 2012. Since then, I’ve stood behind him as 1st Grade Scorer, previous Club Chairman and now Club Secretary. We have approximately 1400 players each season for Valley, all but one of them electronically self-register themselves. For 10 years, I have manually registered Usman. As Uzzie once said, "I wouldn't be playing club cricket if it wasn't for you, Patty.”
Q. You’ve helped many players get to the highest level. What’s the greatest advice you can give a player?
A. Play to the best of your ability, but always remember you are a part of a team. There will be setbacks, but you will be measured on how you react and how you learn from them. Success is not immediate; like respect, you need to earn it.
