OLIVER LUKINS – 150 MATCHES

Congratulations to the great man, Oliver Lukins, who played his 150th senior match for the Echidnas in last weekend’s C Grade Grand Final, grabbing his third career Premiership in the process.

 

Graduating to senior cricket starting with the 2007/08 season, Oli has had one of the more unique careers in club history. Initially establishing himself as a left-arm seamer who could swing the ball back into right-handed batters but lacking control, Oli began to break out starting in the 2009/10 season when he took 17 wickets between Bs & Cs @ 11.35 while conceding just 3.3 RPO, winning the B Grade Bowling Average in the process.

 

A couple of leaner seasons were followed by the 2012/13 B Grade campaign, arguably the best of Oli’s career as he took a whopping 26 wickets @ 11.27 while conceding just 3.0 RPO & emerging as a useful batter with 210 runs @ 19.09, including his first two (2) career 50s. Oli would lift for the GF, collecting the first 3 wickets of the innings (all bowled or lbw) to finish with 3/13 from 7 overs before coming in at No. 9 to hit the winning 4 to give the Echidnas their first B Grade Flag in 15 years.

 

Oli was promoted to A Grade for the next two (2) seasons, where he worked hard but things didn’t quite go his way, taking just 10 wickets across those seasons.  He returned to C Grade for the 2015/16 season, emerging as a genuine No. 3 with a career best 266 runs @ 33.25 (and his next two (2) career 50s) whilst also collecting 14 wickets @ 14.86.  Again, he saved his best for the GF with another 3FA, taking 3/20 from 7 overs (again the first 3 wickets of the innings), as well as claiming two (2) catches, before making 50 from 60 balls at No. 3 in the chase to seal his second Flag in four (4) seasons and win the medal for Player of the Match.

 

Thereafter, Oli became more of a part-time player, generally playing between 4-8 matches only per season as he developed the yips with the ball, taking just five (5) wickets since the start of the 2016/17 season but continuing to be a solid option with the bat, making further 50s in 2017/18 and 2020/21 before returning as an almost full-time player this season, playing a dozen matches and scoring 184 runs @ 30.67 including a career high score of 72 from just 60 balls against Echunga a couple of weeks before finals.

 

An underrated fielder throughout his career, Oli has taken double-figure catches in a season three (3) times despite never being a keeper or slip fielder, winning the B Grade Most Catches in 2021/22.  He has taken 78 career catches which is good for 17th most in club history (10th most amongst non-wicketkeepers).

 

Oli is also famous for an incident in approximately 2015 when he told then captain Michael “Pickle” Paech that he was unavailable due to work on a particular Saturday only to then have Pickle drive past him at lunchtime as Oli was stopped at the Freeway entrance, waiting to turn right with a kayak strapped to the top of his car!

 

Well done Oli!