HAWKESBURY Cricket Club’s Steve Simons reached an enormous milestone for the club in the opening round of the grade cricket season, by playing his 400th game for Hawkesbury.
Simons has played with the club since he was 17, although has played four seasons elsewhere.
He is second only to Dean Laing in matches played for Hawkesbury.
Simons currently plays in the third grade squad, where Laing is his captain.
“It was a pretty good feeling to reach 400. Dean Laing presented me with the award, and he has played the most games for the club,” he said.
Simons said he was very happy to have played for the club for such a long time.
He said he had made some tremendous friends while playing for Hawkesbury.
“There are plenty of guys who used to be at the club who aren't here anymore, and even though they live all over Sydney they are still close mates,” he said.
“It is such a joy playing cricket, it is a great day out on a Saturday. I enjoy the people involved with the game.”
Simons said he had plenty of fond memories from his time with the club, but the ones that stood out were playing against test cricketers who had returned to their grade cricket teams.
“When I played a lot of first grade, I played against a lot of good test players over the years like Steve Waugh and Glenn McGrath and other guys,” he said.
“You used to play against a lot of those guys back in the day, but with all the cricket on now they don't usually come back and play grade cricket.
“It was quite a thrill to play against them even though you got sledged by them every now and then.”
Simons added that playing with some of Hawkesbury’s best products like Steve O’Keefe before they made it to the big time was another fond memory.
Simons said at the end of last season he knew he had finished on 399 games, but over the off-season forgot his pending milestone was upcoming.
“I kept it low key. I sort of forgot about it after the end of the season and it wasn't until one of the guys came up to me and told me it was the 400th that it jogged my memory,” he said.
A long way removed from the 17-year-old starting out with Hawkesbury grade cricket, Simons said he was still in good shape and loving his cricket.
He said he enjoyed helping the younger players in the club learn the game now more than anything.
