His viral videos documenting the trials and tribulations of junior cricket have garnered the attention of some of the great figures in Australian cricket. Now Ollie Kerridge has revealed the secret to his success.
The 11-year-old and his dad, Mark, have been documenting his cricketing journey for close to a year now, racking up an audience of more than 20,000 followers on the Instagram account @howzatollie, run by his father.
It’s a larger following than Test hopeful Jake Weatherald (17k), and closing in on the likes of Beau Webster (28k).
His content, which depicts the day-to-day habits of a typical cricket-mad youngster out of Cairns, has even drawn the eyes of some iconic names including former Test legend Mike Hussey and current Australian limited-overs captain Mitch Marsh.
When asked what he believed was the secret to his online success, Kerridge said it came down to showing the highs and the lows of being a young cricketer.
“I think it’s the positivity of the videos, while also showing the negatives that come with playing cricket,” he said.
“There’s me getting 70 in one video, but there’s also me getting out for a diamond duck.
“Some people might only want to show the good, and not the bad, but I want to show it all.”
Mark said the experience of having his platform go viral has been “mind-blowing.”
“It’s been such a positive experience, the amount of positive comments, and feedback has blown our mind,” he said.
“All these people seem to be on his journey with him.
“We’re just a little family from Cairns, and we’ve been down to Brisbane or Melbourne, and he gets legitimately swamped by people who follow the account.
“Up here, he’s just Ollie. The cricket community of Cairns knows him, but he’s just Ollie. Down there it was just so different.”
The road to the top
The daily vlog documents his journey to playing for the Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League – Australia’s top level franchise T20 tournament, and has been running for close to 300 days.
Apart from showcasing the highlights (and lowlights) of his weekend matches in Cricket Far North’s James Hopes Under-13s Cup (and more recently the under-18s Jimmy Maher Cup), it documents the training drills and net sessions he does every day to become a better cricketer.
And Kerridge said it was his training regimen which served as the inspiration for the account in the first place.
“It wasn’t to get the followers or the views, it was just to kind of help other people out with drills, and then get feedback from people in the comments and help people if they want to do them,” Ollie said.
“After school I usually have a shower, get changed and then we’re straight down to the nets to go through a session. Dad and I edited the videos together.
“It’s definitely not me doing everything, the whole family’s helping out.”
Ollie said he was initially nervous about putting himself out there, but said the overwhelming support has encouraged him to keep going.
“On my first video I was pretty nervous, I had to have a broad brim hat, and sunglasses on,” he said.
“But we’ve seen how positive people have been and it’s just great.
“It’s been good to see the effort we’ve put in has been showing. From day one I never would’ve thought that this would be going for so long. I expected a few views and comments and for it to just be like that.”
The opportunity of a lifetime
Kerridge said his ‘meet your heroes’ moment with Marsh and Hussey went about as well as he could’ve hoped for.
Kerridge met the pair as part of Airbnb’s promotion which saw four guests invited to stay on the WACA ground and meet ‘Mr Cricket’ in the lead-up to the 2025/26 Ashes.
“The person who got to stay in the tent with Mike Hussey, they’re just so lucky, it was so great,” he said.
“They had so much cricket memorabilia and backyard cricket set up, it was just excellent.
“I never thought I’d meet Mike Hussey or Mitch Marsh, I was speechless.
“You’d think they’d be pretty serious people, but they weren’t, they were super fun and even playful.”