Man in form: Wade King holds the Player of the Tournament trophy with his mother Michelle by his side.
As the weather gets colder, the last sport on anyone's mind has got to be cricket, but that’s not the case for Benalla sportsman Wade King.
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You might have noticed King’s absence from the Benalla football team in the past few weeks, but you may not have realised it was because he was partaking in the Australian Indigenous cricket teams’ tour of Vanuatu.
The Australian men and women’s teams toured the archipelago nation between May 3 and 10 competing against Vanuatu’s national sides in a number of T20 matches.
This was the first tour the Indigenous sides had undertaken in five years as the COVID-19 pandemic caused previous tours to be cancelled.
King was selected after impressive performances in February at the National Indigenous Cricket Championships in Alice Springs where he represented Victoria.
Following selection, King began training at St Kilda with fellow Victorians who had been called up to the sides.
Green and gold: The Indigenous Australian men's team for the tour of Vanuatu.
“There was a lot of one-on-one stuff to develop your game,” King said.
“A few of the Victorian women selected joined in, which was also really good.
“We started training together a week and a half before the tour in Brisbane.”
While training in Brisbane the players had Q and A sessions with current Indigenous legends of the game Scott Boland and Darcy Short.
After this period of training and bonding as a team the squads flew out to Vanuatu to begin the four-game series.
“I didn’t realise how much they (cricket teams) were growing in Vanuatu, it was one of the highest standards I’ve played,” King said.
Australia was able to get its head around the different conditions and hybrid pitches quickly, to win the series 3-1.
For King it was a series to remember as the Benalla resident took 13 wickets at an average of four runs across the series earning him the title of Player of the Tournament.
King said it was one of his favourite trophies and when you see the carved wooden stingray trophy he received, it was something special to behold.
He will be looking to back up his performance next year as a tour of the UK is all but confirmed.
In the meantime you can find him on the football field helping the Saints fight their way up the table.
But it won’t be until it starts to warm up that you’ll see him with a cricket ball in hand.
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