Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Cricket cult hero Mark Greatbatch chuckles down the phone from New Zealand when asked to compare the speed and stamina of his Caulfield Cup runner Asterix with his own onfield heroics.
He gets the joke. He understands Australians have long associated his career with moments of going fast and going slow. Especially going slow.
“I used to get abused a bit over there from memory,” he said with a laugh. “No, it was all good banter. I have fond memories of Australia. You know, my sister lives in Australia.”
Many remember Greatbatch as the burly left-hander who put the Australian public to sleep with a defiant 146 not out during the 1989 Perth Test, a game-saving innings that soaked up 485 balls and 11 hours across two days.
But he is remembered for opening our eyes, too. He revolutionised one-day cricket three years later by sending scoring rates into overdrive during the 1992 World Cup as an aggressive “pinch-hitting” opener.
Not that the retired Greatbatch, who turns 63 in December, is too fussed about revisiting the past.
Twice he deflects references to the dour nature of his Perth innings because he’s less interested in talking about himself and more interested in talking about his horse – a 50-1 Caulfield Cup chance, trained by Chris Waller.
“It’s going to be a tough field, it’s a pretty good opposition, but you never know with horse racing, I find,” he says.
Greatbatch is speaking from his car on the way to a charity golf day in Queenstown with his partner Deanie. It is Thursday morning, and “pissing down”.
He will fly into Melbourne on Friday morning and meet his sister, Fleur Dawkins, at Caulfield Racecourse. She’ll be coming from her Glenmaggie winery in Gippsland.
“I’m a nervous watcher,” the one-time nerveless batsman admits. “It’s like watching your kids play sport, isn’t it? You want them to have fun and enjoy and do well, so it’s not dissimilar.”
Greatbatch co-owns the eight-year-old gelding with a couple of mates – Sam Kelt and Andrew “Pud” Scott. They knew each from Hawke’s Bay on the North Island and Kelt was responsible for picking out the horse.
They outlaid $NZ400,000 for the then two-year-old at the 2021 ready-to-run sales and won the 2022 New Zealand Derby at his fourth start. He was trained by Lance O’Sullivan and (a different) Andrew Scott.
“Then, a-year-and-a-half ago, we decided to send him across the Tasman, and Chris Waller very kindly offered to take the horse. We’re very lucky we’ve got a very good trainer, and he’s a Kiwi,” Greatbatch says.
“One of my partners thought he [Waller] was the under bidder back at the sales. So maybe that was where the connection was. He quite liked the horse and the breeding [by Tavistock out of Mourasana].”
The Kiwis – trainer and cricketer – soon discovered they had common interests.
“Chris Waller is from Foxton, which is actually part of the central districts where I played my cricket, so I think he just generally followed cricket. I think he quite enjoys the game,” Greatbatch says.
“He’s a very keen sports follower, I know that. A couple of times I’ve been over there [to Waller’s stables]– he’s very kindly hosted us, put on morning tea, and we tend to talk about other sports as much as we do about racehorses. Obviously, I want to talk about the horse racing industry, and he wants to talk about other sports.”
As the proud owner of a Caulfield Cup runner and the president of New Zealand Cricket, Greatbatch has a busy three months ahead.
“I’m also trying to get my horse into the Melbourne Cup, so I said [to NZ Cricket], ‘If I’m near that, that’s where I’ll be near’,” he says.
“We’ve got India coming next week, a tour that’s pretty big for us. And then we come to you guys, which will be exciting – a four-Test series against Australia.
“At the moment, I’m not coming over [to Australia] for the cricket. There’s other stuff to do with cricket here as well. It’s not just about the top end – the grassroots and community are pretty important.
“But I can watch it from afar, particularly if we’re knocking a few of your batters over with our bowlers. They are not a bad bowling unit. They’re up and coming, and we’ve got a bit of experience now.
“You guys are hard to beat in Australia, but I think you’d be the first one to admit, you’re probably not as strong a side as you’ve been.”
While Greatbatch would also love to see New Zealand and Australia play off in the world Test championship final at Lord’s next year, he is torn when asked about the sporting trophy he covets the most.
“Well, you’ve got to have dreams, don’t you?” he said. “Personally, I’d like to win a Caulfield or Melbourne Cup, and then you would like your country to beat another country, you know what I mean?”
But one senses that he is all-in on the Melbourne Cup. He says his son Charlie will fly in from Yorkshire, and his daughter Alice will come over from Queenstown if they make the cut.
So, what are the chances of Asterix channelling Greatbatch’s swashbuckling side on Saturday afternoon?
“He needs to settle,” the cricket great says. “If he gets settled early, you’ll see him come home pretty good. He’s got the breeding – he’s won over 2400 metres four times.
“But it’s all about the jockey [Beau Mertens] settling him and making sure he has something left at the end. It’s going to be exciting. I think if he’s top six, coming home pretty good, he might be better in two weeks’ time.”
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