The Dragon Cricket Podcast - A Park Cricket Odyssey

600 games, more than 1000 Saturday afternoons! It’s an unprecendented milestone moment for a club and western suburbs cricket legend.  The Real Rev. sits down for an extended interview with Jeffrey Law in the lead up to his 600th game, discussing his extraordinary life in cricket and the invitational XI he has compiled to celebrate this amzing accomplishment.

It’s almost a whole year since bushfires and COVID changed our world.  So on the eve of an AFL Grand Final at the GABBA (of all places!) we take you back before it all went awry and release some of the highlights of last years Odyssey to the Brisbane Australia vs. Pakistan Test match (Gabba-toir mauling!) We meet Aman in the taxi, then transfer to our old childhood cricketing mate from Melbourne , and now Brisbane based coffee entrepreneur and host, Marty.  We hear a long BLACKSTAR CAFE debrief of Day One exploring the connections between friendship, coffee and cricket.   We then jump to extended interviews at the ground with the Day 3 GABATROOPERS and trumpeters, highlighting the differences between Queenslanders and us Melbourne ‘Mexicans’,even before the pandemic began. Interspersed throughout with a selection crisis at home for the Barkly Street CC caused by our absence!  

Back in November 2019, The Dragon 'Occasional' 3rd XI was taken over by a reunion of Duggan's in a testimonial tribute to the local cricket career of Kev,  who came out of retirement to Captain the family. Follow the highlights from the selection night media photo to an interview with West Coast Eagles footballer Liam Duggan, all the way to the thrilling final over finish and family photo. music :https://www.purple-planet.com

Something a bit different! Covid has clean bowled our traditional Barkly Street Dragon Junior Presentation Gathering, so we deliver posters and trophies to doorsteps and interview kids, parents and coaches at 'social distance'. Coach Sean and Rev. review our Under 13 Team with thankyou's aplenty. Listen during lockdown and celebrate our up and coming Dragon cricketers!

Something a little different... Covid has clean bowled the Barkly Street Dragons traditional Junior Presentation Gathering, so we deliver posters and trophies to doorsteps and interview kids and coaches at 'social distance'. Coach Nigel and Rev. review our Grand Finalist Under 11A Team and some of our Under 11's Cubs recall the memorable methods of Coach Shane with thankyou's aplenty. Listen during lockdown and celebrate our up and coming Junior Dragons.

As the Melbourne October cricket weather apocalypse continues the  'Occasional's' Park cricket Odyssey miraculously gets XI bodies on a blood soaked cricket field as Western Suburbs local cricket icon Jeff Law returns at 60 to unleash his wrath filled offies on a synthetic wicket for the first time since half the team were born for an unlikely win of cricket and onfield disputes!

Listen in and bear witness to the resurrection of the Barkly St. 3rd XI. Dubbed 'The Occasional's' for people who want to play irregularly and make an 'occasion' of it when they do. Rev gets his preach on in the pre-game for the occasion that is the Global Extinction Rebellion. Then we go post game with 'The Punisher', our new Dragons First XI captain, Puneesh Sharma on all things Aussie-Indian park-cricket including Diwali in Bali!

The Rev and Grizzly spent the Ashes on the couch like most of Australia... listen in as they talk Bancroft, Archer, the DRS, the end to the Dragons Winter Season and look ahead to the upcoming summer cricket

In Melbourne traditionally there's two seasons footy and cricket.  Listen as Grizz and Rev take you to the liminal moment that is watching the AFL grand final whilst cleaning our park cricket club rooms with a very Western suburbs key handover from the Ethiopian 'Salaam' soccer team who all barrack for the Western Bulldogs!

Grizzly and the Rev preview the upcoming Ashes Series and the new World Test Championship. Grizz proposes a new World Cup format as decision time dawns at the Dragons AGM on their preferred summer park cricket make up just as Winter cricket comes to a close for another season. Listen in as Dragon Sammy Roberg tries to get off his triple king pair; the Dragons Indian players debate the place King Kohli has in the game; and the Rev’s lads fall back in love with cricket...

Grizzly arises from his sick bed to the aftermath of the World Cup Final,  ‘greatest tie of all time’, and asks WTF just happened?!? Rev. attempts to get philosophical about what it all means whilst Grizzly gets… we’ll… grizzly!  Trying to let it go, they move on to picking the Australia vs. Australia A, Ashes warm up team in the schoolyard.

A sick Grizzly and a sore and sorry post-op Real Rev. sit down to watch the start of the World Cup final.  Listen carefully to their faint, prophetic hint of an idea about what is about to eventuate as they reflect on a Dragons winter season forfeit, the semi- finals, and Australia’s overall World Cup performance. Justin Langer’s team ‘earthing’ exercise at Edgbaston takes the Rev. to a surreal and deeply spiritual, post-surgery cricket la la land, to which Grizzly concludes “Stay off the drugs kids!”

Grizzly and Real Rev. are cock a hoot on a Saturday night watching Australia's World Cup opener after a big Dragons winter cricket win.  Warner and Smith are back after a year, but for Grizzly it's been a decade!  The conversation meanders between the World Cup and Western suburbs cricket as we discuss how one gets sunburnt whilst wearing a beanie. Will the purple beanies on order make us look like dicks or should we go the skull logo, black hoodies in honour of Puneesh "The Punisher"? We ask why Cornwall isn't in the World Cup and compare Peran Curnow's leggies with the Cornish patron Saint Peran, who was dismissed on 200 when he fell down a well drunk, which leads seamlessly to an interview with Barlky street veteran Kev Duggan discussing his own famous double century. We consider Jesse Bates, ‘How does it feel to drop the World Cup', Lance Gibbs moment and conclude reviewing the recent federal election, comparing various Prime Minister's cricket credentials alongside Afghanistan’s Mohammed ‘Boof’ Shazad. We ask "Is Barkly street debutant Jimmy Harrison at better bowler than John Howard?"  It's hard to tell because we've only ever seen two balls from both!

The Rev. gets his preach on with a pre-game rant for the Dragon's Winter Season opener for Star Wars Round. We package up some live highlights Game 2, including a triple 'King pair', the shortest possible spell ever from AK and the appealing prowess of Strathmore Heights trundler Litho.  Grizzly and Rev. then settle in on the couch for a post-game 3 wrap up whilst simultaneously watching 'Dreamtime at the G' footy and the Aussies vs. England World Cup Warmup.

We interview this year's Jack Law Medalists 'Peggy Su'-(resh) the Sri Lankan Pirate and Sam 'Strawberry' Field who's Great x4 Grandfather played with Jack!  We review a cricketing summer of Gillette ad's; Real Rev gets stuck in a pub on Hamilton Island, and talks the secret to his Lenten weight loss and reason for his upcoming break from (playing) cricket!

We return to the airwaves after a catastrophic Day 3 Boxing Day Test audio data loss which matched the Aussie's batting performance. We interview Dasher and Dazzler William's as they are appointed life members at Barkly Street, recap on the post-Christmas games with an emphasis on the Rev's batting and fielding failures and warm up for the coming winter season.

In this episode take a trip down memory lane to a more optimistic time for Australian cricket (slightly more!?) when the Australia-India Test series was 1-1 and we were looking forward to a ripping game at the MCG Boxing Day Test. We pick up the game on Day 3 after India batted for two days for a slow and grinding 7 declared for 443 in searing heat on a lifeless pitch. Australia resume on none for not many overnight having survived a nasty 8 over period the night before including Marcus Harris being hit on the head.  Captain Grizzly and Real Rev. are joined live at the G by Barkly Street Cricket Club official Indian Ambassador Ashish Narula.  Listen in and enjoy the sounds of the “Swami Army” as we capture the key highlights as the session unfolds.Ponder the big issues such as Paine's sledging, the Boxing Day Smith/Bancroft interviews, the price of streaking and mid-strength beer. Listen as the reality slowly dawns over the course of two hours and Grizzly goes from positively pondering the possibilities of the Marsh brothers taking Australia to 600, to face the harsh truth that Australia could lose the Test and the Border Gavaskar trophy within the day! 

Highlights from Day 1 of India vs. Australia,  Kohli verse Paine from the MCG. Recording from the couch at Captain Grizzly's place in Sunshine.

Its the Christmas Special!  We recap the return journey from our Adelaide Test Odyssey, the Perth Test and look forward to Boxing Day.  Who's fixturing park cricket matches 3 days before Xmas?  Is Steve Smith's "Gutsy is Calling" commercial redemptive or not?! We hear from Cody 'The Golden Bear' Jones on hitting his first maximum, Danny Lally on captaining the Mcgoo's to the lowest ever total in Barkly Street history and whether Hanscomb can learn to dab properly!  Seasons Greetings cricket tragics and peace on earth... or at least in family backyard and beach matches fixtured after Xmas lunch!

Adelaide Test Day 3 Recap. We struggle from the hotel to the Adelaide Oval on the Day 3 to see if the Aussie tail can wag with the hometown Head... during the first session we are inundated by rain, Victorians and Reverends who help us consider if Dave 'Reverend' Warner would benefit from the old park cricket 'Pastors Rule'.   The Odyssey takes an unlikely turn and the Dragon's go to the DRS on Mid Strength Beer vs. Barossa wine... and like Travis... Head off earlier than expected back to the Barossa to complete the day amidst the vines!