He may only be 13 years old, but Angus Hayes has big potential.
Growing up in a family where nearly everyone plays cricket, Hayes has been batting and bowling for nearly as long as he can remember.
Recently, his passion and dedication have paid off, as he was selected for the Victorian Country 15-and-Under squad for the Century Cricket State of Origin competition to be held in Maroochydore, Queensland, in July.
It’ll be the first time that Hayes travels inter-state for a tournament, and he was justifiably excited.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“I’m versing against teams from Melbourne and I’m pretty sure teams from Queensland as well.
“I’ve been playing since I was a kid. My mum’s family are all cricketers.
“My uncle James plays cricket as a sport in the summer, and my pop plays over-60s as well.
“And my dad’s dad was a really good cricketer as well. His team won three or four premierships in a row for cricket.
“They taught me how to play a lot of cricket shots and how to bowl.”
Hayes’s grandfather is Trevor Saker, who curates the pitch at the Benalla Gardens Oval.
With cricket in his blood, the sky is the limit for Hayes.
“My goal is to play professionally,” he said.
“Mitchell Marsh is one of my favourite players, as well as Mitchell Starc.
“I like to have time but be able to play those shots as well, like an ODI game.”
The young Benalla player would not be able to set his goals and achieve them without the support of the Young Sportsperson Trust.
Hayes received $1000 from the trust to help cover the costs of the tournament in Maroochydore.
The founder of the trust, Bill Sykes, says that since it was established in 1992, it has aimed to help kids achieve their ambitions on the sporting field.
“My advice to you (Angus) and any other young sportsperson is you aim high, you give it your best shot, and you don’t die wondering,” Sykes said.
“You don’t want to get to be a grumpy old man and say, ‘Oh if only I’d trained harder, I would have enjoyed my cricket’.
“That’s where we come from in with the Young Sportsperson Trust.
“Our challenge at the moment is we’ve got very few young people like Angus that seem to be aiming for that next level, whether it’s cricket, scooter riding, basketball, netball or golf.
“It’s easy to blame COVID as an interruption to the sport.
“I remember when I was young, I actually had a year when I couldn’t play football because I had a crook heart, and not being able to play just fuelled my ambition so that when I was able to play again, nothing was going to stop me achieving my ambition of playing league footy.
“Dig deep, give it your best shot, and you’ll get a lot of satisfaction out of it, and you’ll make a difference.
“You’ll probably find that if you aim high in sports, you will get more out of life, and you’ll make a greater contribution to the community.
“Everyone’s a winner, so we need more people to apply. We have the money. We just want to support kids going to the next level.”
Before Hayes heads off to Queensland to compete, he is captaining his Bushrangers cricket team at the pointy end of the season.
“We’re in finals, and we just got in by the skin of our teeth. We got in by less than half a point in percentage,” he said.
“This weekend, we’ve got the first final, and after that, hopefully, the grand final.”