CASTERTON’S new Island Park turf wicket has the tick of approval from cricketing royalty, with former Australian vice-captain and opening batsman, Ian ‘Redders’ Redpath paying a visit to the oval on Monday.

Redpath was joined by former Casterton local, David Kelly who has been an advocate for the town and all it has to offer for many years.

“David has told me all about Casterton and surrounds for so long I thought it was about time I came and had a look for myself,” Redpath said.

“It hasn’t disappointed either with some wonderful country and magnificent sights to behold, especially some of the antiques around town.”

Many will know that Redpath was an antique dealer for many years in Geelong, where the 81-year-old still lives.

Redpath made his debut for Australia in 1964 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when he opened the batting against South Africa and fell three runs short of posting a century on debut, but he and Bill Lawry added 216 for the first wicket with the home side going on to win by eight wickets.

His Test career spanned 1964 through to 1976 with a total of 66 Test matches and five One Day Internationals, including playing in the very first ODI played, and he also played 92 first class games for Victoria.

That first ODI was only arranged as a means for the Australian Cricket Board (as Cricket Australia was known at the time) to recoup the lost earning from the washed out test against the touring Englishmen, and over 40,000 people attended.

Todays players will know of Redpath through his induction into the Cricket Australia Hall of Fame this year at the annual Allan Border Medal.

“It came as a huge shock when I received the phone call from CA, but it is one of the highlights of my life,” Redpath said.

“I was able to share the honour with my family which was wonderful, and although my darling wife isn’t here to share this, she would have been thrilled too even though she had a love/hate relationship with the game.”

Today’s generation of player and supporter has so many different formats of the game to play and watch, but Redpath had Test cricket and at the very end of his career, he played a little One Day cricket.

The short format that he and his teammates played is far from what is played today, as that first ODI was a 40 over per team match, where the overs were eight balls long and there were no fielding restrictions or powerplays.

“Today’s player has so many more opportunities than we had and to be honest the equipment we used is vastly different to that of today,” Redpath noted.

“If we tried to hit over the top of the field and mistimed the shot, we were caught at cover or mid-on/mid-off, whereas today the ball seems to carry to and over the fence.”

As vice-captain to Ian and Greg Chappell, Redpath noted that there weren’t the demands on him that today’s leaders had to endure.

“We didn’t have all the people around the team like there is now, with no coaches etc, but rather the captain handled everything like the media side of things and also ran training,” Redpath said.

“We didn’t play anywhere near as much for Australia as they do now, with only Test cricket on offer outside of Shield cricket, but near the end of my career One Day Internationals came in.”

Redpath visited Island Park to inspect the new turf wicket that the Glenelg Shire and Casterton District Cricket Club worked together to install, a little over 12 months ago.

“I inspected the new turf wicket at Island Park today and it gives me great pleasure to see these initiatives undertaken by the locals, as country cricket is the backbone of the national system,” Redpath said.

“So many wonderful players have come from the country, not just here in Victoria but across the nation, but we need to ensure that the players here have the best facilities here in the country just as the city players enjoy too.”

As a 12-year-old boy attending his first Test match in 1975 at the Gabba, I sat high in the grandstand and watched Dennis Lillee run in from the Vulture St end and Redpath was standing in the cordon along with the Chappell brothers, Ian and Greg, Doug Walters, Rick McCosker and Ashley Mallett as Australia routed West Indies in 38 overs for 214.

Redpath opened the batting along with Allan Turner and by stumps they had added 99 for the first wicket, but Redpath fell just before stumps.

“I remember it well, I ran myself out,” Redpath laughed.

While members of the Casterton District Cricket Club were excited about and a little in awe of the 1966-1967 Baggy Green Redpath brought with him on his visit (“I’m a bit scared to touch it!” - Rick Killey), the former Test cricketer was delighted to received his own ‘Baggy Maroon’ from the local club.