Cameron Reeves opened up a new life when he moved to Melbourne some four years ago, but discovered he needed the support pillars from his old life when darkness descended.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
And after admitting to not enjoying his cricket in recent years, the 25-year-old has found a rejuvenating new home at North Tamworth.
On Saturday at Riverside 2, the left-arm quick produced his best performance of the season: 6-67 off 26.1 overs, as the Redbacks recorded a first-innings win over South Tamworth in an absorbing contest. Souths were dismissed for 224 chasing 242.
Read also:
Reeves was 21 when he moved to Melbourne. With no friends or family in the city, he found the experience "daunting" at first.
"But I got in contact with a few people and got myself a job [a carpentry apprenticeship] and went from there," he said.
"I grew up a lot being down there by myself and trying to figure out where to go, what to cook for food ... I had to grow up because I was thrown in the deep end," he added.
Eighteen months after moving to Melbourne, Reeves moved back to Tamworth when his mother, Glenys, passed away. He needed to be near family.
He finished his apprenticeship at Single Builders, where he still works, and resumed his cricket career by joining West Tamworth.
"It's an easy place to live," he said of Tamworth, adding that he left Wests at the end of last season because a number of his then-teammates planned to sit out this season.
"Nothing against Wests ... but I just didn't really enjoy playing cricket the last two years," he said. "But this year I've been looking forward to it."
Third-placed Norths have won five-straight matches (not counting their loss to City United in the Twenty20 final).
Along with Reeves' wicket haul, the highlight of the win over Souths was Redback No 4 Michael Rixon clubbing a 164-ball 171 that included 25 fours.
BJ Cameron (46) and Oliver McGill (41) were Souths' best batsmen.
"Norths are a good team to play with," Reeves said. "They're a great bunch of blokes: the Rixon brothers, Adam Greentree - they're good blokes to play under."
At No 1 Oval, Old Boys had an outright win over West Tamworth. While at Riverside 1, City United got the outright against Bective East.
Old Boys were dismissed for 228 after Wests made 134, then removed Wests for 123 and finished on 2-32 in reply.
Old Boys allrounder Aaron Hazlewood had match figures of 8-77, while Old Boys' teenage leggie Zac Craig took 4-51 off six overs in the second innings. Old Boys No 3 Adam McGuirk's 59 in the first innings was the match's high score.
City United made 5-131 to get the outright, after Bective East declared on 9-147 in their second dig. In reply to the Bulls' first innings total of 86, City made 103.
Abel Carney's second-innings 52 was the match's high score, while City opener Richard O'Halloran made a second-innings 42. City quick Jack McVey finished with 7-48 for the match.
