Karramomus product Josh McDonald chalks up 4000 first XI Victorian Premier Cricket runs for Geelong

However, though Josh McDonald raised the willow against Fitzroy Doncaster a fortnight ago, he knew one thing and not the other.

Sure, he’d plundered a ton.

But it wasn’t the only milestone on the day.

Once the former Bloods product finally holed out as his cameo of 104 ended with a top-edged pull shot caught deep in the field, McDonald learned he’d reached 4000 first XI runs in Geelong garb.

He also proved he hadn’t lost “it”.

“I had no idea to be honest, zero idea of how many runs I’d made and things like that, but you just concentrate on it game by game,” he said.

“It was really good to get that hundred; you start to have, not doubts, and 31 is not old, but when the rest of the group is 21 you wonder whether you’ve still got it or not.

“It was good to get there and put us in a winning position and contribute.”

McDonald has quietly been stitching runs for his side since he made his pilgrimage from Shepparton to the Victorian Premier Cricket fold more than a decade ago.

Twenty years ago, the wicketkeeper-batter began in the D-grade doldrums, suiting up against the likes of Dhurrungile as a pre-teen before earning his stripes at the Bloods.

State representation at under-17 and under-19 level followed before he was picked up by Richmond, in Victoria’s top tier.

But when Geelong came a-knocking, McDonald was sold.

“The city probably wasn’t as appealing as living in Geelong, and with my dad (living) here as well it made that move pretty easy,” he said.

“The coach at the time drove all the way to Shepparton and recruited me that way, and I haven’t looked back since — Geelong’s a great place to live.”

Now, 12 seasons on and having busted a rare run barrier at the club, the savvy right-hander finds himself in an intriguing position.

‘Old McDonald’ would be a harsh moniker to place on the Bloods product given he’s barely into his 30s, but remarkably, it does make him the eldest statesman in Geelong’s first XI.

The Cats’ order is littered with a stack of young guns — not dissimilar to McDonald when he first rolled up to Geelong’s front door — and as he passes the torch onto the next generation, McDonald has a raft of memories to look back on.

“It’s such a good club, taking me in at 18-19 or however old I was. Everything up until now in my life I can thank cricket for and the Geelong Cricket Club,” he said.

“One of my good mates, Jake Reed, took a hat-trick against St Kilda one day, and it is still probably one of the top three moments I’ve had at the club — getting to take a catch in that was a part of it.”

Reed’s hat-trick wasn’t the only sliver of Geelong brilliance that season.

McDonald cracked a career-high 182 (26 fours, three sixes) in a second XI game, making more than half his side’s 363 total against Hawthorn-Monash Uni.

In a stupendous turn of events, though, opposition bat Quyen Pham also made 182 in the second innings to aid the combine to a two-wicket win.

Fast-forward six years and a few months and McDonald found himself in a first-grade grand final.

Yet, despite setting a formidable 410 target, Carlton chased down the runs with three wickets to spare and ended McDonald’s hopes of a Victorian Premier Cricket premiership.

“It was bitter-sweet that we lost, but it was great also to be a part of that,” McDonald said.

By hook or crook, he was determined to capture that flag.

However, no century, four thousand run checkpoint or otherwise can transcend the true worth of McDonald’s cricketing career: mateship.

“Just the mates I’ve made; everything in my life up to this point I can thank cricket for,” he said.

“I’ve got some lifelong friends from the club that surpass any milestone, I guess.”