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IT is a long way from the concrete pitch at District Park, Broadmeadow, to the hallowed turf of Lord’s.
But that is the unique journey Newcastle fast bowler Michael Hogan has taken during a career he could never have imagined when he was playing for Cricketers Arms in City and Suburban B2 grade.
At the age of 20, when most players of above-average ability have long since started to make a name for themselves, Hogan was content playing with his mates in a pub comp.
“It was probably $5 a week to play, a couple of beers in the esky and that sort of stuff,” he told the Newcastle Herald.
Fast-forward a decade and the 32-year-old right-armer is a full-time county professional with Glamorgan and the leading wicket-taker across all three formats of the English game.
In four-day fixtures, he has taken 48 wickets in 10 games at an average of 20.9.
In eight 40-over one-dayers, he has 18 scalps at 15.6 and during Glamorgan’s 10-game T20 campaign he took eight wickets at 24.6.
In total he has taken 72 wickets at an average of 20.6 in his first season in the Old Dart, the most by any player this year.
Hogan admitted that as a youngster he harboured no aspirations to play high-level cricket, hence his decision to give the game away for several years in his teens.
But after enjoying his season of B2s, he was lured to district cricket by Merewether stalwart Duncan McIlveen, then played for Northern Districts in Sydney and eventually secured a contract with the Western Australia Warriors, for whom he played four seasons and took 130 first-class wickets.
At the end of the last Sheffield Shield season, he accompanied Warriors skipper Marcus North to Glamorgan, playing on a UK passport courtesy of his English-born mother.
“I never really set any goals to play at this level, back 10 years ago,” Hogan said. “But I suppose you use it as a vehicle, and once it started to roll, I haven’t really had a chance to sit back and reflect.
“It seems like it’s gone so quickly, step after step.
“I’m sure when it comes time to retire I’ll be able to look back and have a lot of really good memories there.”
Hogan admitted playing a one-dayer against Middlesex at Lord’s, where he took 3-57 in Glamorgan’s victory, had been a highlight of his season.
“It was brilliant to play there. I found it very similar to when I first played at the SCG, with all the tradition and that sort of stuff.
“There’s all the memorabilia and the Long Room, and all the old members. You walk out in the middle and look at the big pavilion, and I had some photos taken with my little boy on the balcony . . . it was excellent.”
He said county cricket was no longer the grind it once might have been and Glamorgan were conscious of “not bowling us into the ground”. As for the standard, he felt it was comparable to Sheffield Shield.
“We’re obviously in the second-tier competition, but I suppose what your national side is achieving is determined by your domestic set-up.
“Obviously England is going really well at the moment, and I think that is a reflection on the strength of county cricket. I was surprised because I didn’t realise how strong it was going to be. It definitely competes with state cricket back home.”
