Jack’s baggy plan

By CASEY NEILL
MOUNT Evelyn’s Jack Blain has a baggy green in his sights and is this week taking another step towards it.
The 16-year-old is playing for the Victoria Metro Under-17 team in two Twenty20s and two one-day matches against Vic Country at Cobram-Barooga from 24 to 27 September.
A standout performance in the series would see him picked for Victoria’s National Youth Championship team, to play in Hobart in December.
Blain was “pretty happy” with his selection, which followed an extensive try-out phase that whittled 35 players down to 12.
“I’ll be much happier if I get through to the next cut. I’ll sort of give myself a pat on the back then,” he said.
“Going by the try-outs I’m reasonably confident but there’s a few good players there so I’ll hopefully try and stand out somehow.”
Blain’s had a passion for cricket for as long as he can remember.
“I started off just watching dad I think, when I was up to his knee,” he said.
“I used to watch him play. He used to play down at Mount Evelyn. Then I just sort of fell in love with it and played since I was six or seven.”
He stayed with Mount Evelyn through to under-14s.
“Then I went down to Ringwood and played my last three years of juniors with them,” he said.
“This is my third or fourth senior year with them now. If you want to go anywhere with cricket you have to make the move into the premier cricket competition, which Ringwood’s in.”
The batsman represented Vic Metro in the under-15s and has been overseas on a few tours with the Yarra Valley Cricket Association – all while juggling his studies at Lilydale Heights College.
“Mum and dad have to yell at me every now and then to do homework instead of watching cricket or playing cricket,” he laughed.
“I try and relate school to cricket in every way I can, to try and get me through to cricket training that night.”
Until recently Blain was training with Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell, from Belgrave South. They shared a batting coach.
“A couple of years ago I was in the nets with him and now he’s in Pakistan or Dubai playing for Australia,” he said.
“That’s the ultimate goal. A baggy green would be pretty sweet.
“It’s a pretty high honour to get picked in the 12 best players in the country, but I’m working pretty hard and hopefully everything falls into place and one day…it’s every kid’s dream isn’t it, to play for their country?”
Following in former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting’s footsteps is his ultimate dream.
“He’s always been my favourite player,” he said.
“Ever since I started I’ve admired the way he went about it … watched all his videos over and over on YouTube.
“I tried to bat like him when I was little. I’d be pretty happy if I had half as much talent as him, I think.”