Not even a bunged thumb could prevent Michael Ford from national domination.
After copping a knock in the final of the National Cricket Inclusion Championships, which ran from January 20 to 25 in Brisbane, Ford was driven to the hospital, where he was scanned for a potentially broken bone in his left hand.
Just down the road, his side was teetering on the edge of victory.
And so, with the scan revealing stretched ligaments and no break, the Mooroopna man embarked on a mad dash to Marchant Park from the Prince Charles Hospital to cheer his teammates over the line.
“When we were at the hospital, we were getting updates on my phone and my dad’s phone from the coach and the team manager with how things were going,” Ford said.
“We got back to the ground when there were two overs left and we needed five runs.
“Brisbane is a pretty ordinary city for traffic lights because there’s so many of them, we just kept getting red lights.
“I said to Dad, ‘Can you just hurry up and break the law?’ and he said, ‘No, I’m not going to be stupid; we’ll get back in one piece’. I was just on edge to get back.”
Though he didn’t tip the scale in Victoria’s favour during its nine-wicket win over Tasmania in the grand final, Ford’s brilliance was something to behold in getting his side there.
The wily leg-spinner took six wickets in Victoria’s opening run of three wins, also nailing three scalps in his side’s only loss of the tournament to South Australia.
Ford then spun Victoria to the final with 4-11 in the semi-final against South Australia, seeking revenge for the earlier defeat and setting up a chance for his home state to make it four straight NCIC titles.
And that’s precisely what happened.
Ford’s final was cut short as he attempted to catch a ball fired off the bat of Tasmania’s Joel Corbett and, despite the hospital trip, red lights and stretched ligaments, it was a week to remember for the proud Mooroopnaite.
“It’s the fourth title in a row and I’ve been involved for the last two, so it’s pretty special for me, my family, my friends, my girlfriend and the cricket club,” he said.
“I love every minute of it when I get together with the coaches. Up in Brisbane, it was just another week playing cricket for my state and representing the Big V.
“I didn’t think I was going to get that many wickets, but it happened because we’ve got good coaches and I believed in myself to do the job for the team.”
Ford finished the tournament as the joint-highest wicket-taker with 13 poles, leaving with an astonishing wicket average of 3.08.
He’ll be back on deck for Mooroopna’s lower grades as soon as his hand is healed and knowing the importance of nursing it back to full strength, Ford did the sensible thing after claiming his second title in two years — ice it with a few cold ones.
“It was just a great week being up there with all the boys and we celebrated pretty hard — we were down at the pub until about 3am.”