JAMIE Cruickshank spent two years away from cricket but he did not miss a beat in his first game back.
Cruickshank, who plays for Glossodia, took a hat-trick in the Hawkesbury District Cricket Association match against Bligh Park Blue.
Bligh Park had two innings in the two-day match and Cruickshank claimed 11 wickets across both, but it was his second innings effort which was the most spectacular.
‘‘The first one was a bowled,’’ Cruickshank explained. ‘‘It was just a full ball that held its line a little and it just went straight on.
‘‘It didn’t really swing away and the batter just played and missed and it hit off stump.’’
Cruickshank said he was a pace bowler, and usually got the ball to swing out a touch.
‘‘The second ball was a yorker at leg stump, pitched right on his toes,’’ he said.
‘‘He went and jumped out of the way and stuck the bat there, and it hit the bat and it went down the leg side and the keeper dived to take it.
‘‘Steve Tolios was the keeper and he took a blinder.’’
The third wicket, according to Cruickshank, was without a doubt the luckiest.
‘‘The field was in and I remembered standing at the top of my mark and I didn’t know whether to bowl a shorter ball or target the stumps,’’ he said.
‘‘I have been on a hat-trick plenty of times and always bowled a full ball and it never worked so I gave a short ball a go.
‘‘It was about rib height. He tried to defend it and it steeped away a bit, and it hit his glove.
‘‘It rolled down onto his shoe and then trickled to the stump and had just enough force to knock the bail off. It was a pretty lucky one.’’
For the former Hawkesbury Cricket Club player, it was a dream return to cricket. Cruickshank said he used to play in the first three grades for Hawkesbury, before his knee forced him to step away from the game.
‘‘I had a loose bone in the base of my knee and it caused me a lot of pain, I decided enough was enough and I had to get it fixed and I had two operations on it,’’ he said.
‘‘My plans were I’d play this season locally to see how my knee goes and then if all goes well I’d head back to the Hawks next year.
‘‘I was in shock that the hat-trick happened first game back. I didn’t really expect to bowl that well.’’