Under the Auld Pump: Pirate eyes finals spot

The club appeared to be going really well as it was on the top of the senior ladder but it lost to Allansford two weeks ago and appears in a bit of trouble this round.

How do you think they will go in the lead up to the finals?

Tim, we're still on top of the ladder. Allansford did beat us.

Wesley made 166 runs on Saturday and we're three wickets for 22 runs.

We've still got plenty of depth with our batting, so I'm confident we can get the runs to win another game.

If you lose this week is there a chance that Port Fairy may drop out of the finals?

We've still got the last two-day game against Merrivale.

Merrivale is in the finals race, so it's going to be a tight tussle as there are a few different scenarios to be played out to see who gets into the finals, but we must keep on winning.

There is a possibility that we may drop out of the finals race if we lose both games.

The club has had a pretty good year to this stage as we won the Sungold Cup, which carried a prizemoney bonus of $15,000.

The money will be well spend as the club is looking at building a new indoor training facility at Southcombe Park.

The new indoor facility will be great not only for cricket in Port Fairy, but for cricket across the region as it will offer first-class training facilities.

Port Fairy's Cricket Club is fortuante to have a great committee which puts in untold hours to ensure we have one of the best cricketing facilities in Western Victoria.

How are Port Fairy's other cricket sides going this season?

Our seconds side is on the bottom of the line, while the thirds side is a chance of playing in the finals.

The under 17s look like playing in the finals.

The under 15s have lost one game and the under 11s and 13s are in great shape under our junior co-ordinator Brian Medew.

What's your highest score this season?

I made 171 runs against West and 98 against West in a Twenty20 game.

I've had a couple of starts in some games this year but have not gone on, which is a bit frustrating.

Has the standard of local cricket improved this season?

The game has changed a lot over the last couple of years.

There's a different style of cricket – sides are making a lot more runs now.

Sides used to make 150 to 160 runs and win, but now you consistently need 200 runs to win games.

I think overall it's a very good standard, which has shown with our recent efforts in country week cricket.

Have you represented Warrnambool in country week cricket many times?

I've represented Warrnambool on two occasions.

The first time was in 2013, when we lost to Bairnsdale by a few runs in division two.

This year, we just missed out on the finals after losing our first game.

Personally, I got a couple of starts in the country week games this year, but never went on with them.

Where did your cricket career begin?

I started playing with West Warrnambool's juniors. I was 12 years old when I played in the under 13s.

I worked my way through to the seniors, but was fortunate to have played in division two and three grand final-winning sides with West.

I made a decision to join Yambuk Cricket Club in 2011 because a good mate of mine, Jack Sproal, was playing there.

I joined Port Fairy Cricket Club in 2012 when Andrew McCarthy was the playing coach.

I had a six-month stint playing cricket in England in 2013.

Why did you venture to England to play in 2013?

It was all part of having the overseas experience of playing cricket.

I played for a side called Bentleigh.

I found it great playing over there, but it took a while to get used to the conditions.

The wickets were a lot slower than ones here and the grounds were smaller.

I picked up a bit of work in a bar over there.

A bloke called Phil Coleman played in the same side as me. He was the best batsman in the competition.

He came over and played for Port Fairy for one year. He never had a real good year here, but fitted in really well with all the locals.

Who are some of the good players that you've seen play cricket in the local association?

There's been a lot of good players, but a few that spring to mind are Steve Gibson, Mick Rantall, Ben Boyd, Leigh Johnson and Mick Edmonds.

Will you continue playing cricket with Port Fairy next season?

Yes. I reckon I will be there.

The future of the club is really good.

We've got some good young players coming through the ranks, which should hold us in good stead for a long time.

Aaron, apart from cricket, have you played any other sports?

I've played a lot of footy with Old Collegians.

I started playing juniors with CBC.

I was 16 years old when I made my senior debut with Old Collegians.

We lost the grand final to Russells Creek in my first senior season with Collegians.

I played in the under 18 premiership side when Peter Sobey was the coach with Warrnambool in 2007.

We had some very good players in the under 18 side who have gone on to be top senior players with Warrnambool, including Tim Hunt, Trent Harman, Adam McCorkell and Tim O'Keefe.

I went back to Collegians after my time at Warrnambool.

I'm still there. We've recruited some good players in the off-season and looking forward to a good season this year.