In partnership with Toyota.
A winter of relentless cricket training paid the ultimate dividend for West Warrnambool young gun Beau Gannon earlier this summer, when he notched a maiden grade century.
Sitting on 99 and with one run needed for victory, Gannon’s match-winning single off the penultimate ball against the Warrnambool Cricket Club ensured he finished unbeaten on 100 and stamped him as one of the region’s most promising junior wicketkeeper/batsmen.
It was an extra special moment for the 15-year-old. Batting at the other end was his father, and club coach, Luke.
“I took it for granted I thought in the moment a bit, but I was thinking about it that night, and I was thinking about how lucky I am to have that opportunity – especially to bat with my Dad,” Beau said.
“To bring up my hundred that was even better.
“We needed about 70-odd I think when he came out. I didn’t really think about my hundred, I just thought about batting in a partnership. We just kept ticking away at it and got there in the end.”
Gannon debuted in first grade in the opening match of the summer after dedicating almost 20 hours per week to his craft over the winter.
Sundays were spent traveling to Hamilton, an hour and 15 minutes up the road, where he trained with the representative Western Waves squad.
School on Mondays was on limited sleep, before he was back in the car for a three-and-a-half hour, one-way trip to train with Greenvale Cricket Club, near the Melbourne airport.
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays were also reserved for a batting session after school. It meant a lot of training for Beau, and plenty of driving for father Luke.
“It’s good because I can always talk about the cricket – I think he gets sick of it,” Gannon said.
“I love talking to him about it, it’s good he can help out whenever.
“I’d be knackered from Waves training on Sundays, I’d get back in the ams [early hours] of the morning, and then go to school. I had to leave school early to travel up to Melbourne on Mondays.
“There were points where it was a bit of a struggle but I enjoyed it and I’m super happy I got to do all that stuff.”
And while Luke was delighted to see his son notch a maiden grade ton earlier this season, he wasn’t surprised.
“They [Beau and older brother Brock] have always been playing above their age, if that makes sense, they’ve grown up in a cricket family,” he said.
“They definitely started early, so that’s probably a little bit of a key. They both worked really hard on their games, Beau’s probably had the most hits out of anyone at the club this year because he’s trained pretty much through the winter when everyone else is playing footy.
“He’s grown a bit too which also helps. Now he’s six foot tall and he’s got a bit stronger. He’s always had a good technique, but now he gets a bit of value for his shots. It’s all clicking a little bit for him now and hopefully he can start scoring some bigger runs in the top division.”
As for watching his son score a first century from the best seat in the house?
“He took command of the partnership and I just hung around until we got there, he was in control of it the whole time,” Luke said.
“One of his mates in the team ran out and told him what was going on. I was more interested in getting my breath back and winning the game.
“I’ve batted with him probably for short periods of time but not for that long, I think we put on 70-odd as a partnership which was quite a bit of time in the middle, which was good. He’s starting to come along as a pretty good cricketer.”