Troy Sands didn't see it coming.
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In the late '90s, the veteran Old Boys quick returned to Gunnedah from agricultural college for the wedding of his mate, Paul Lodge, and was bowled over by a fetching young woman.
In Rebecca Towns, he had met his future wife and the mother of his three children.
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Twenty-three years later and they are still together, and Rebecca still shares her man with the sport he has played non-stop since early childhood.
It is this insatiable appetite for cricket that has kept him among the best bowlers in Tamworth.
And at Riverside 2 on Saturday he will look to add to his 12 wickets this season when Old Boys meet Bective East.
Sands - who handles maintenance and operations at Lake Keepit, Chaffey and Split Rock dams - described his life as "pretty good".
"Although the wife probably thinks I play too much sport," he laughed, then added: "That won't change."
He continued: "She's been very supportive of me playing cricket. That's allowed me to play rep cricket for so long."
Sands said "everything's going really well: work, home, sport. I just hope we don't get too many washouts".
Paul and Leanne Lodge are still together, still live in Gunnedah and remain friends with Sands and his wife. In fact, Sands and Lodge were longtime Kookaburra teammates.
Sands sits sixth on the Tamworth bowling standings, his 12 wickets coming at an average of 12 and with a best of 3-14.
The ball had been "coming out pretty well this year", he said. "I definitely do enjoy taking wickets."
He intends to segue from grade cricket into veteran's cricket one day.
"I definitely intend on playing as long as the body allows me to, that's for sure."
