cricket with balls

A brief history of Bryce on CWB.

And by brief, we mean lengthy.

The first ever mention of Bryce was on the victorian blog (now statecricket.com), and was written at the G during a state game.

“This Bryce McGain guy, (listed age of 48 years old) has had to wait to become Victoria’s leg spinner for a long time. Peter McIntyre, Shane Warne and Cameron White have all been Victorian leg spinners who have played for Australia in that time. McGain actually bowls similar to how I imagine I bowl. Except he has the added bonus of skill, talent, perseverance and experience.”

This was at another state game, and the first mention of bryce’s mum, a lovely woman.

“Oh and also Bryce McGain’s mum, who seems like a nice lady.”

This was my International man of mystery piece, when I wrote this it got more hits over time than almost every other piece I wrote on state cricket, such was the frenzy for Bryce.

“He has experience on his side, not so much first class experience, but life experience that only elderly gentleman can have.

He knows his craft inside and out, and he isn’t some part timer who happens to get wickets.”

About this time Bryce was too big a personality to stay on the bushrangers blog so he moved over to CWB.

“What is great about spinners can all be seen with Cricket with balls own Bryce McCain. The dude is a single father. He works at a bank.

He wears glasses. He’s older than Johnny Cash.

Some of you may think he’s a bit of a nerd. If you think that, you’re wrong, and a little mean. Stereotyping is so last century.

The man is a leg spinner, that’s like crickets version of method acting, everyone wants to do it, but very few can.”

For some reason I got the idea of comparing Bryce to Ash from Army of Darkness, i even did a photoshop on it.

“Or maybe because look the poster says,

Bryce is trapped by time (he’ll be 48 next year).

Bryce is surrounded by evil (the selectors and NSWales).

Bryce is low on gas (not enough beans).

Bryce was initially mistaken for an old dude, but he was soon revealed as the prophesised saviour who can quest for a leggie, a delivery which can dispel the evil.“

When Lord Stuey retired, I got the first comments from Bryce.

“No comment.”

Bryce became my first interview subject.

“Surprisingly enough no one came up for an autograph during our time together.

Although the Chinese lady sitting next to us did say Leggie at one stage.

Or she was ordering a Veggie burger.”

Bryce got picked for the Australia A tour of India, took 3 wickets, and then got injured.

“Of all the rainy days and false starts that cricket has given us there has never been a depression like this just sweep the cricket world in one foul swoop of darkness and the sudden chest pressing of heart ache and loss that no one person should ever have to live through like outliving your children or learning that santa claus is a pedophile which are not even apt metaphors as this is far worse than even having to eat your own testicles covered in your own feces does which still doesn’t compare to this this this horrible moment in human history the holocaust of cricket moments infact some may say worse than the holocaust it makes the tsunami look like a ripple and people will be saying i remember where i was when bryce got hurt and they will cry and wail and we can only hope that one day the world will make sense again and that the aliens do infact have a plan for us where hurting someone as pure and good as bryce makes sense.”

Then he got picked for Australia, but got sent home as the injury could not be fixed.

“And the fucking shoulder, that cunt of a shoulder, fucked up the whole story, the feel good story of all time, the story that shows us that dreams can come true, the story that shows us that belief in ourselves can move mountains, the story that shows us that hard work can overcome anything, and that shoulder, that motherfucking prick of a cunt of a shoulder with no sense of history or happy endings just comes in, and it fucks it all up, it shits on Bryce’s dream, it shits on the cricket battlers story of the new millennium, it just reaches into my chest and takes away my heart, and fucks up everything, every fucking little fucken thing, it just came in and it ruined it all, when we were so close, so fucken close to seeing one of us, a working stiff, a family man, a cricket fan, a weekend player make it to where each and everyone of us dreams we could, test cricket, he was our portal, he wasn’t some professional athlete who has had his balls licked since he was 12, he was an IT guy who rocked up for his team on a weekend, he wasn’t some millionaire whinging about the stress and tireless nature of international cricket, he fucken loved every bit of training, traveling the whole bit of it he was just one of us, he calls himself Joe Average, and now the dream is all fucked up, it might never come back.”

Bryce finally recovered from his shoulder injury.

“What Australia needs is a superhero, and since Bryce is finished on Chapel St, who better than a nerdy super spinner with wrists of gold and spectacles of hope.

It makes sense.

Bryce to Sydney.”

We were there when Bryce played in his comeback game, and put up the first photographic evidence of it.

“Given the current state of spin bowling in the Aus side at the moment, I am sure he has done more than enough to book his seat on the flight to South Africa. Time will tell, but Mr Hilditch, do the right thing, pick CWB’s own Bryce McGain!!!”

Bryce gets picked for South Africa.

“Australia have not only picked the best spinner they have, they have restored, at least for today, my faith in man kind, not woman kind, I always had faith in that.

Rub me in Olive oil and leave me out to cook, news doesn’t come much better than this.”

Bryce misses his plane to South Africa.

“Bryce McGain, you dickhead.

He missed his plane to South Africa.

At least if Roy did it we would know he was drunk.”

And then today.

“When Bryce walks out onto that ground he is one of us, an everyday person with a dream that came true.”

It has been a long ride, the first mention was 31st of October 07.

Bryce McGain is playing for the country today.

So are 10 other Australians, and 11 other South Africans.

McGain is also playing for every person who has had a dream, and has held onto it when no one else believed in it.

Every player out there is living out their dream, but most of them got there a lot easier than Bryce.

Guys like Ponting & Tendulkar were born to play test cricket.

A guy like McGain was never supposed to.

People would have laughed at McGain when he was 34 and still trying to make the Victorian team.

Training like a professional in a team full of amateurs.

Taking each game seriously, when 21 year olds are hitting the piss the night before.

Watching international cricket sober, while all his friends cracked tinny after tinny.

Trying harder than academy players half his age while they snigger at the IT worker running around.

They aren’t laughing now.

During McGain’s 20s he spent almost as much time playing seconds in district cricket as he did firsts.

He didn’t come through academies, representative squads, or under age teams.

The man made it with hard work, discipline, and the courage to never give up.

Bryce is one of us.

He is a cricket fan, a working stiff and a family man.

He didn’t get special coaching, fast tracking or government scholarships.

He learnt through watching the TV, and going out on the weekend and bowling.

He is no professional athlete, he is a single father and IT worker in a bank.

Cricket was his weekend game, something he believed he could do, but other than he and his mother, no one else did.

Everything he has accomplished has been the hard way.

While the country was looking for kids who were inspired by warne, no one looked for adults who were.

McGain has worked in spite of the system.

He proves that hard work and self belief do pay off.

How many people give up along the way, it’s too hard, no one believes in them, life gets in the way.

Bryce didn’t.

He lived his life, had a child, got a real job, but kept his dream alive, and then when no one thought it could come true, it did.

Maybe he was always talented and no one noticed.

Maybe he was in seconds cricket because he wasn’t good enough.

And just maybe he just got better and better as he racked up the years and out lived the other leggies.

It doesn’t matter.

All that matters is that Bryce McGain is playing test cricket today.

He is representing his family, he is representing his country, he is representing his state, he is representing his club.

But most of all he is representing every single one of us who has a dream, and refuses to give up.

Those of us who are supposed to give up.

Those who are too old.

Those who are not good enough.

Those enough who should have more important things to do with our time.

Those of us who aren’t the chosen ones.

He shows us that anything is possible.

He shows those us that if you want something bad enough, if you work hard enough, and keep learning all the time, that impossible is a term for other people.

I may not have noticed Bryce if he wasn’t Victorian.

Had he not performed in games I was at, I may have overlooked him.

If he wasn’t a leg spinner I wouldn’t have taken to him so fast.

But the reason Bryce was the only player with the moniker of Cricket With Balls’ Own for 18 months has nothing to do with those factors.

Hope is the reason.

He gives all of us who still have a dream, hope.

If Bryce can play for Australia, tell me what you can’t do?

I saw a 35 year old throwing himself around in the field, bowling like a machine, batting for his life every time he played.

He played as if the normal limits didn’t apply to him.

He has been able to do something that no one but he ever thought he would do.

At 34 he is an IT worker who plays grade cricket, at 36 he is a test player, tell me that does not inspire you.

When Bryce walks out onto that ground he is one of us, an everyday person with a dream that came true.

If this were Hollywood they would be cueing the music.

Bryce, we are behind you, and we aren’t the only ones.