Cricket: Hewitt family plays together for first time in Mornington colours

But they had never played together in the same side. At least, not until Saturday, when the three of them donned the whites for Mornington and took to Wolseley Oval.

"It's nice to be able to play a sport where you can play with your kids. It was pretty good," Andrew said.

The Hewitts usually play for Old Boys on weekends - Xanthe and Andrew in fourth grade and Alasdair in second.

The two men in the family originally played for Mornington as recently as the 2020/21 season, as the family is based close to Gunnedah.

And this year, Andrew had been in touch with their old club, who he said were "running short".

With no cricket in Tamworth last weekend due to the Country Music Festival, the Hewitts took the opportunity to return to their old stomping grounds.

"One of the guys on Mornington said 'If you've ever got a bye, give us a ring'," Andrew said.

"So that's what I did. We had a weekend off and I phoned them, and he said 'We're happy to take the three of you', so Xanthe played as well."

The three of them took part in Mornington's clash against Kookaburras, and while the two youngsters performed well (Alasdair took 2-25 with his right-arm pace), Andrew joked that "Dad let the team down".

"[Xanthe] took a catch of her brother's bowling, so that was great. It was bowled Hewitt, caught Hewitt," he said.

"I dropped two catches in slips, and one was off my son's bowling."

Despite those lapses, Mornington restricted Kookaburras to 97 thanks to a balanced effort from the bowlers. In return, they chased the total in less than 22 overs for the loss of five wickets.

Captain Justin Carter (36) and Marcus Hayne (44) opened the batting and did the bulk of the work for Mornington with a 61-run stand. A spate of late wickets caused some concern, but could not prevent them from comfortably reaching the target.

It was a fitting return to Gunnedah first grade for Alasdair, and a good debut for Xanthe who has impressed at age group level with her legspin in recent weeks.

The youngster looks up to Australian legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington, and recently showed she has promise with a haul of 5-13 for Northern Inland Cricket at the Under 15 Youth Championships in Singleton.

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