By Nick Creely
Ron Milnes is a true Yabbie legend in every sense of the word.
And now it’s official.
On Ron’s 75th birthday on Saturday 23 January – surrounded by his family at the club and plenty of past and present players – he was inducted as just the second player in Pakenham Upper Toomuc history to legend status, joining the great Clive Fielder to be awarded the tremendous honour.
That’s not bad going for a self-described “specialist fielder” who is estimated to have potentially close to 1000 games of cricket next to his name.
“It’s a real privilege – the only reason I got it was because I’ve been playing so long,” he said with a chuckle.
“But it’s a real big honour.
“I was looking forward to having a bit of a party up there for my birthday – I didn’t realise what they were up to, but I knew something was kind of afoot.
“It never even crossed my mind, actually.”
He said it was made extra special by having family around him to celebrate his birthday and see him inducted as a legend.
“It was pretty good – the only thing was that my daughter wasn’t there; she lives in Queensland so there was one missing,” he said.
It takes tremendous energy and dedication to play cricket for so long, and to always do it with a smile and laid back attitude.
But Ron hasn’t resorted to the ice baths too often as he juggles a mountain of cricket each week.
“I have had one or two (ice baths), but I just pace myself,” he said.
“You don’t have to kill yourself doing it; you put in and do your bit.
“You just look after yourself, and take your time.”
It’s some sort of resume to behold over many decades, not just at Yabbieland, but all around the traps.
“I was 13 or 14 when I started playing,” he explained.
“The old man used to captain a few of the teams – and when some of the guys used to have to go home to milk, I would run onto the field and chase a few balls for them.”
From humble beginnings, his passion for the game took off.
Ron joined the Toomuc Cricket Club in the Berwick/Pakenham association in the mid-1960s, before heading up Albury and spending several seasons at the City Colts. He eventually returned home where he played for Maryknoll, and eventually Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll in the 1970s.
It was then – in the mid to late 1980s – that he joined the Pakenham Upper Toomuc Cricket Club.
“Ben, my son, wanted to play cricket, and he had a couple of mates wanting to play at Pakky Upper, so we thought ‘oh well, instead of me driving to Nar Nar Goon, it’d be easier to just drive up to Pakky Upper’,” he said.
“I ended up coaching them all, and there were some great young cricketers out there at that stage.”
And he’s been there ever since, filling crucial on-field roles, but also becoming a valuable mentor off the field.
Ron was a member of the club’s committee of management for over 10 years, including roles as junior coordinator, junior team coach, Milo Cricket coach and coordinator, and has been heavily involved in junior cricket and development at the Yabbies for decades.
The ‘Ron Milnes Shield’ is also played between the Yabbies and the Marygoons in the highest grade both clubs play each other, another tremendous recognition of the contribution and impact he has made for both clubs.
He said that one of the things that has kept him going – rocking up each and every week to play and coach – was the youngsters that have come through the club.
It’s something he’s incredibly passionate about.
“I know many young blokes that came through the juniors and come through and played seniors, I’ve coached them along, and talked them into making big scores, or bowling a little bit better,” he said.
“You just spend a bit of time with them, it’s great – you see them improving, and they might spend 12 months with you, and then they’re gone up the grades.
“When I was captain I always made sure I brought some kids onto bowl or bat high to give themselves a bit of confidence.
“It’s good to see them do that.”
So what kind of cricketer does Ron describe himself as?
“I was a good fieldsman, actually, anywhere it didn’t matter,” he said.
“With the bat, I was average, nothing special, and with the ball I bowl….slow spin.
“For me, it was mainly just about bowling a line and length – I always tell the boys, just bowl at off-stump, don’t bowl fast, it’s a waste of time.
“Once you’ve done that, you can then get quicker.”
But as modest as he is, Ron achieved a great deal on-field for the Yabbies, and prior to joining the club he also did some marvellous things.
He has two hundreds next to his name – one in a 229-run record partnership with Michael Short in C Grade in 1987/88 against Cranbourne Meadows where he belted 109, and the other 105 in an E Grade clash in 1991/92.
Ron described them as two memorable days of cricket, and ones to treasure in a game where a lot can go wrong, and quickly.
“The hundred when I batted with Michael Short for the record of 229, we played that down at the Cranbourne Secondary College,” he said.
“Shorty made a good hundred, and I got 109 – it was one of the better days of cricket that I played that’s for sure.
“It can be a bugger of a game.”
But he was always a consistent force with the bat, averaging 37.66 in 1987/88, 44.2 in 1989/90, 39 in 1993/94 and 38.6 in 2000/01.
With the ball, Ron snared a hat-trick in 1990/91, and averaged the impressive 13.03 with the ball in a C grade season in 1993/94.
“I do remember the hat-trick, they’re big things,” he said.
“It was fairly big at the time, and of course I got rubbished by the boys at the cricket club for it, as you do.”
And to top that all off, Ron was the Yabbies’ club champion in 1991/92.
But premierships are what you truly play cricket for, and for the Yabbies, Ron was lucky enough to snare three, while also getting the chance to play in a flag with his Dad in his teenage years.
“The first one I played was with Dad, he was captain of Nar Nar Goon, and I was around 16, and ten years later I was vice-captain of the one at Nar Nar Goon,” he said.
“They hadn’t won a premiership at Nar Nar Goon for as long as the older blokes could remember, so it was big.
“And when I came to Pakky Upper, I captained C Grade and a D Grade one I think.
“In the C Grade one, we played Cardinia, and there was one run in it in the end. It was amazing.”
Ron has seen it all on-field and off-field, and said that the game has changed so much over the decades.
“The rubbish that goes on a bit now probably doesn’t go back to those earlier days – back then it was probably a more gentleman’s game,” he said.
“You did have blokes have their arguments, and carry on, people cheating and that sort of thing, but otherwise it was really good to play.”
Ron’s also actively involved these days in Veterans Cricket alongside his Saturday’s with the Yabbies, playing for the Casey over 60s from 2008 to 2010, the Iona over 60s from 2010 and now the Kooweerup over 60s.
“They started a team down at Berwick area around 12 years ago, Rob Wilson and that started a team, so it was out of the blue,” he said.
“So I thought I’d have a go at it, and finished up playing with Col Jones, who played at Lang Lang, he was a good cricketer in his day.
“Col and I are around the same age, and we played in junior footy and cricket against one another, more junior footy then cricket, and I’ve known him for yonks. I ran into him down there playing, and there was other fellas I’d seen or heard about and we started there.”
Now an official legend of the Pakenham Upper Toomuc Cricket Club, Ron may be retiring in the coming weeks to focus on his health, and if so, it’s been one tremendous journey filled with wonderful memories, and all built off passion and a genuine love for the game.
“Each year it does get a bit harder,” he said.
“I’ve got chemo coming up next month, so I don’t know how that will impact me, so I probably won’t be playing Saturday cricket.
“It’ll just depend on how things work out, if I can keep my fitness up a bit, I’ll be able to manage it a bit. But I’ll miss it badly.
“I might have one or two left in me.”
