Australian run machines who relish ‘grind’ of county cricket

Michael Di Venuto leads Surrey into the new County Championship season
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Will Macpherson5 April 2019

Michael Di Venuto and Stuart Law are separated by five years in age and, as batsmen, their left and right-handedness, but they are Australians who have enjoyed remarkably similar careers.

Both were run-churners of distinction in English and Australian domestic cricket who, in an era of extraordinary Aussie batting depth, did not get the crack at international cricket they might have. Law’s 27,080 first-class runs, with 79 centuries, brought him one Test (in which he scored 54 not out) and 54 ODIs in the 1990s. Nine ODIs, five of them alongside Law, were the reward for Di Venuto’s 25,200 runs and 60 centuries.

They both played a dozen seasons of county cricket – Law for Essex then Lancashire, Di Venuto for Derbyshire then Durham – and were in the team when their state side won their maiden Sheffield Shield title (Law with Queensland in 1995, Di Venuto with Tasmania in 2007). Both fit the mould of the Australian cricketer: rugged and uncompromising. Both went into coaching when they retired and now they are crossing paths once more.

Di Venuto is starting his fourth season at Surrey, having been Australia’s batting coach, and last year brought the Championship back to the Oval for the first time since 2002, while Law – who has coached Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies as well as in Australia – is charged with bringing the good times back to Middlesex after two tough summers. Starting at Northamptonshire today, promotion is the minimum requirement, but an upturn in white-ball fortunes are required too.

Both have plenty of memories of the other. “Don’t bowl short and get him out earlier otherwise he will tear you apart,” is Law’s reaction when asked about his counterpart. “A terrific player, tough competitor and great leader for Queensland during their glory years,” says Di Venuto. “Most cricketers were on the end of one of his hundreds.”

Neither is bitter about their shortage of international cricket and you sense it might in fact have made them better coaches. Indeed they had safety in numbers, with Jamie Siddons, Martin Love, Brad Hodge and Jamie Cox among many others in the same boat.

“That era of Australian cricket where you could field two or three teams and they’d be competitive in international cricket,” says Law. “Guys like us were hurt by the quality of people above us. To our credit we did break in and play a few games. It was disappointing but we did OK!”

Di Venuto does not think he “was ever close to playing Test cricket” – even if many inferior players have.

“If you didn’t average 60 or 70 in domestic cricket you weren’t even mentioned for selection,” he says. “There were the superstars in the national team but some very good players running around in domestic cricket. I had good seasons for Tasmania, but never those monstrous ones. I don’t sit back and think ‘I wish this or that happened’. I had a bloody good career, but wasn’t good enough to play a lot for my country at that time.”

Instead, both hibernated to county cricket each off-season – and made hay. The IPL, protective international boards and visa difficulties mean such regular county stints are increasingly rare, and the game is worse for it.

Stuart Law takes charge of his first county championship game on Friday
Getty Images

Di Venuto won back-to-back titles with Durham in 2006 and 2007 and scored 1,000 first-class runs 10 times in 11 seasons. Law was similarly prolific. “I’ve always liked county cricket, that it’s quality and a challenge,” he says. “It’s a massive grind, that’s the beauty.

That “grind” is what Law is most looking forward. He has been in position three months and senses the buzz of a new season. “I’m sick of reading that cricket’s dying and there’s no following. It’s in a healthy state, particularly over here,” he says defiantly.

If the Queenslander can bring the success to Lord’s that Tasmanian Di Venuto has to the Oval, Middlesex fans will be very happy indeed.

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