Goodbye Mick

Mick Lewis is leaving us.

It’s a sad day as he was pretty much the first of the plucked from no where quicks to play for Victoria, and arguably the best so far.

I'm not going to talk about all the great spells he bowled on flat decks over the years.

I’m not gonna tell you how important he was to Victoria over years, none more so than when he destroyed the New Texans with 6/59 in the second dig of the final in 2003/04.

I’m not even going to mention his one success for Australia in denying the Kiwis 6 to win off the last over.

I’m surprisingly not even going to go on about the fact this guy didn’t get brought up by cricket academy coaches wiping his @ss for him.

Hell I won’t even mention Greensborough.

And I definitely won't mention that game against the evil empire.

But I am gonna tell you a story about when a team mate of mine faced him in a practice match against Northcote a few years back.

Being the average cricketer I am, I only played in my clubs seconds against Northcote, which was probably lucky when we found out Lewis was playing.

At that stage he wasn’t that well known, but myself and few other guys had heard of him. Some of the players who were originally angry to have missed out on selection in the first team were ok about it after seeing his first over.

Lewis had played for the Vics a few times the year before, but this was the season he first made his mark. And he certainly made his mark that day.

The guy opening up against him was just a battler and was probably a little out of his depth. He was jockey sized and had no real attacking shots to fight back with.

After missing a few balls outside off stump, Mick changed his radar and smacked the guy on the chest.

While the guy was weezing for breath Lewis ran down and said, I’m not gonna try get you out, I’m just gonna keep hitting you.

Later that night in the bar, looking at the 14 bruises on this guys chest, back, arms and thighs, Lewis kept his word.

Mick Lewis, as much joy as you brought me when you ripped the heart out of the New Texans, I will always remember counting the bruises on my team mates body.

Thanks for the career.