IT’S the friendships made and the camaraderie built that keeps drawing the newest inductee into the Swan Hill & District Cricket Association’s hall of fame back to the game he loves year after year.
John Mensforth, or affectionately known by all as Jed, has been a name synonymous with cricket in our region for the best part of four decades. From his time as a junior out at Ultima, to his years as one of the most imposing batsmen for St. Mary’s-Tyntynder and then to his commitment to turning a struggling Tooleybuc team into a premiership winning outfit.
An honour considered long overdue by many, Mensforth’s induction into the SHDCA’s hall of fame last Wednesday evening was the perfect celebration of a man loved by his teammates and respected by opponents.
Amazingly, his induction into the hall of fame isn’t even the highest cricketing honour that the veteran received this year, with the 60-year old selected to represent Australia in an over 55s tri-series against New Zealand and an over-50s Indigenous team.
It will be the first time Mensforth has pulled on the green and gold for his country, having also represented Australia A last year, with the history making occasion to take place in Mackay next month.
But while both achievements are something he “never dreamt would happen,” it’s still the friendships his made across a lifetime of playing that Mensforth holds dearest.
“It’s the friendships you make that keeps drawing me back each summer, the friendships, the memories, I just enjoy it,” Mensforth told The Guardian this week.
“I probably would have given up years ago if it wasn’t for my mates and the fact that Nelson (his son) kept playing.
“I was playing with him and when I moved up here I met a guy and he talked about how he travels over to Adelaide to play veterans’ cricket and he asked if I wanted a game and the rest I suppose is history.
“It’s (veterans) just a different type of cricket, people are all there for the same reason, they love the game and just want to keep playing, they all enjoy the sport and the camaraderie and the mates that I’ve made just in vets’ cricket, it’s just unbelievable.
“It’s the same reason why I played for St. Mary’s-Tyntynder for all those years, the friendships that you build.”
Mensforth’s playing record is almost unmatched, with five A grade premierships (four with St. Mary’s-Tyntynder, one with Tooleybuc), as well as over 11,000 runs scored, including 24 centuries and 283 wickets taken in career spanning 30 years in the SHDCA.
A fierce competitor with a flawless technique, Mensforth was always the key wicket in any contest against the Bulldogs and later Tooleybuc.
“I always wanted to compete against the best and succeed, whether it was the best bowlers or the best teams,” Mensforth said.
“When we used to play against Nyah for example, I always tried to step up, they had the Boulton brothers and we always fought hard against each other, but there was always a mutual respect there too.
“Early in my career, Trevor Gurnett was always the bowler that I just wanted to make runs against, he was the best and I wanted to beat the best and that’s the way I played cricket.
“I always wanted to be better than the bowler, but I always had respect for the bowler.
“I just think my determination to hit the ball hard consistently was one of my biggest attributes and I always had the confidence that I could do that.
“I’d try and get bat on ball and I’d run, if I couldn’t hit it to the fence, I was running, I just wanted to score.
“If the ball was there to hit, I’d hit it, there was no qualms about whether it was the first or last ball, if it was there to hit, I’d have a go at it.”
Having started at Ultima as a junior before moving into town, Mensforth’s work saw him get his cricketing fix each week playing indoor cricket, with his journey out to then Shamrock Park only coming about after a change of heart.
“I ended up getting an apprenticeship as a baker, so I moved into Swan Hill and didn’t worry about cricket for about two years,” Mensforth said.
“I met some guys like Simon Bradley, Max O’Neill and Gary Turvey playing indoor cricket and Simon said one day he was going to play outdoor cricket for St. Mary’s-Tyntynder and I just laughed at him because I remembered the clubrooms were just an old weatherboard building that had holes in the walls, no plaster in the roof and pigeon poo right through it.
“A couple of weeks later he pestered me again and I thought I’d go and have a look so I went down to training and there was people everywhere.
“The club rooms had all been done up and the atmosphere was fantastic and I thought bugger it, I’ll play.
“I remember I made 84 and took five wickets in my first game in the B grade and that was the start of it, looking back we had some bloody great times down there at Shamrock Park in those early years.
“I met Gary Travaglia out there, he was the coach and a massive influence on me and my cricket in those early years, he really saw something in me that I never thought I had.”
Fast forward 15 years and Mensforth, having carved out a name as one of the SHDCA’s best batters, was ready for a new challenge, with the opportunity to help take a club from the bottom to the top becoming his next challenge.
“I wasn’t happy at St. Mary’s-Tyntynder for a little while, I just felt flat and felt like we weren’t going anywhere,” Mensforth said.
“Tooleybuc contacted me and I had a chat to them and the opportunity to play with guys like Lee McNabb, Leigh Kentish and David Knee gave me a bit of spark back.
“They were on the bottom of the ladder and had been for a couple of years and I just thought why not have a crack and see what we can do.
“The four years I was there we played finals every year and they went from being on the bottom of the ladder to the top and that’s just from implementing a structure and a game plan and and having the belief that they could do it.
“The last year we had Dan McNees coming back, so I let him have the captaincy and we went and won the flag.
“I believe what I’d done in those first three years had us ready to win it and then Dan was just the icing on the cake.
“I told them (Tooleybuc) I’d stay there until they won a flag and when they won I felt I’d fulfilled my commitment to the club.
“They were talking about amalgamating and with Manangatang as well and I thought that’s a new era for someone else, so I went back to town.”
That he did, where Mensforth returned to St. Mary’s-Tyntynder to play out the remainder of his time in the SHDCA, with the veteran having a hand in the development of many of the Bulldogs current crop of stars, including Corey Daniels and Austin McKerrow.
