A HOMECOMING for a two-time P.F. Christie Medallist has boosted Macarthur’s Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade premiership hopes.

Kyall Timms has returned to the Demons and wasted little time having an impact, scoring a century in Saturday’s clash against Casterton District.

The 36-year-old said it was a return back to Victoria which allowed him to play some games again at the back end of the current season.

“It has been four years since I’ve played, I have been in WA for four years and it obviously wasn’t on the cards initially,” he said.

“I moved home back at Christmas time and obviously my brother still plays there.

“I played two games back in 2019 over west while I was over there, but I wasn’t really that into it.”

Saturday’s game was just his second match back at the club and due to living in Warrnambool and working away, had not even attended a training session.

Timms said he had no expectations going into the day, but the longer his innings went, the better he felt.

“I hadn’t picked up a bat before two weeks ago, I hadn’t had any net sessions and I played my first game against Pigeon Ponds before Christmas,” he said.

“It sort of all clicked after a while, I was wanting to bat the entire day and I think that helped.

“It was good to post that sort of score, 260 is a good score on any day.

“If you speak to people in the past, I have been quite aggressive, but as I get older, I guess I am trying to anchor the innings more so now.

“Just to try and bat around other people, we have got a few younger guys in the team at the moment.”

The right-hand batsman scored evenly around the ground and said he had a good balance to his game, despite the lack of cricket in recent years.

“I like when the ball is coming on to the bat, I don’t mind facing the spin though,” he said.

“It got mentioned to me (on Saturday) that the wagon wheel would have been pretty even, I played a lot of cover drives, and a few hooks and cuts as well.”

Timms’ brother, Matt, still plays at the Demons and that was a big part of his motivation to come back and play again, along with the possibility of playing with one of his good friends.

“We have played a lot of cricket with each other over the years,” he said.

“They approached me and I wasn’t that motivated, but I was feeling like the years of fully committing to cricket had passed me by, but my mate Brad Sheen got in touch and said if I played at Macarthur, then he said he’d join me as well.

“We are only getting older, so it is pretty special still to play with my brother as well.”

Timms, who played his junior cricket at St Andrew’s and Macarthur, won’t commit to playing every game in the second half of the season, due to work and family commitments, but will play as many as possible.

“I won’t play every game, I live in Warrnambool and work down at Port Campbell, but once I commit to something, I will try and stick at it,” he said.

“They say when you’re in your mid-30s, you feel a bit more calm and whether that is true or not, I definitely feel like that at the moment.”

Timms was also impressed with the talent around the club, particularly within the group of younger players.

He said it was exciting to be involved with the team and said success was possible in the near future.

“I was very impressed with the young talent at the club,” he said.

“The Wortley boys, Kyle Smitten, Zebb Nield and others stood out, and adding a couple of older blokes levels the team out a bit.”

The 36-year-old spent time at Allansford as captain and coach before moving west, but will play out the season back at Macarthur.

While he will not commit to playing any further seasons, Timms and the Macarthur team are enjoying the 2021-22 season as it rolls on with the Dundas Cup the goal for the group.