Ryan Campbell: still here

WEBVTT
00:00:03.110 --> 00:00:06.910
Welcome to the Bear Essential podcast, where I will chat to the people who have contributed
00:00:06.910 --> 00:00:11.230
to the rich history of the Bayswater Morley Cricket Club, formerly known as the Bassendean
00:00:11.230 --> 00:00:13.990
Bayswater Cricket Club, established in 1946.
00:00:14.920 --> 00:00:19.600
My name is David Baird and my association with the club began in 1983, and over the
00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:24.200
years I've been a player, lower grade captain, president, secretary and club coach.
00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:28.430
Today I will be chatting with Ryan Campbell.
00:00:29.090 --> 00:00:34.310
Ryan played two one-day internationals for Australia in 2002, three international T20s
00:00:34.310 --> 00:00:39.480
for Hong Kong and represented Australia A. He played 98 first-class games for Western Australia.
00:00:40.080 --> 00:00:44.500
He played 75 first-grade games for Bayswater Morley, then had two seasons at Scarborough,
00:00:44.620 --> 00:00:48.970
followed by five at Joondalup. He is fifth in the all-time run scorers at Bayswater Morley.
00:00:49.490 --> 00:00:53.390
He has won two first-grade premierships and two one-day premierships with Bayswater Morley
00:00:53.390 --> 00:00:58.830
and one first-grade premiership with Scarborough. He has also won the Lawrence Medal for the fairest
00:00:58.830 --> 00:01:03.720
and best player in Bayswater Morley's first-grade team. He is winner of two first-grade batting
00:01:03.720 --> 00:01:08.960
aggregate and average awards, and has played for the Indian Cricket League, a precursor
00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:13.680
to the Indian Premier League. He's been captain coach of the Kowloon Cricket Club in Hong
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:19.900
Kong, and been the Hong Kong national batting coach. He's also coached the Dutch national
00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:23.450
team, and is a county championship winning coach with Durham.
00:01:24.610 --> 00:01:28.150
Welcome, Ryan. Thanks for your time.
00:01:28.770 --> 00:01:34.020
Thanks for having me, David. Yeah, it's been a while, so nice to check in with all the
00:01:34.020 --> 00:01:35.180
Baysy lads.
00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:38.040
Yes, well, I'm talking to you, we might seem a little bit distant,
00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:40.560
but I'm actually talking to you from Perth, Western Australia,
00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:42.400
all the way to Durham in the UK.
00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:46.400
Yeah, the difference is quite a bit at the moment.
00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:51.840
It's getting dark at about 4 o'clock and it's bloody cold up here.
00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:54.000
I don't end it.
00:01:54.670 --> 00:01:57.880
Yeah, no, it's one of the things that I think I'll ever get used to.
00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:02.060
I miss Perth quite a bit and it comes to the weather, that's for sure.
00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:02.700
For sure.
00:02:03.340 --> 00:02:03.820
All right.
00:02:04.160 --> 00:02:08.120
It's sometimes under the impression Bayswater Morley recruited you
00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:10.520
and Tim Brookes, that is, out of Kalgoorlie.
00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:13.520
Whilst it's not completely incorrect, there's more to the story.
00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:16.440
Can you give us some background as to how he arrived at Hillcrest?
00:02:17.150 --> 00:02:19.750
Yeah, so I'm a Perth boy.
00:02:19.910 --> 00:02:20.990
Don't get me wrong.
00:02:20.990 --> 00:02:25.410
You know, mum and dad and I grew up in Balcata
00:02:25.410 --> 00:02:28.350
and, you know, went to school in Perth.
00:02:28.430 --> 00:02:31.730
But at the end of school, I kind of was a bit lost
00:02:31.730 --> 00:02:33.790
and didn't know quite what I should do.
00:02:33.910 --> 00:02:37.320
And, you know, my sister and brother-in-law were living in Kalgoorlie
00:02:37.320 --> 00:02:42.230
where, you know, Coy was very good at football and cricket.
00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:46.720
So Kalgoorlie is one of those towns that if you're good at sport,
00:02:47.090 --> 00:02:48.500
you know, you can fit right in.
00:02:48.540 --> 00:02:51.970
And obviously it's a massive gold mining community
00:02:51.970 --> 00:02:57.580
and, you know, the jobs and the employment on offer there can be quite cool.
00:02:58.090 --> 00:03:01.860
So me being, you know, played cricket but I also played footy,
00:03:02.320 --> 00:03:04.440
you know, I got invited to Kalgoorlie and I thought,
00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.840
you know what, this sounds like a great adventure
00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:09.310
and it's time to see how he goes.
00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:13.200
So, yeah, I moved up there and played cricket and football,
00:03:13.540 --> 00:03:15.580
really enjoyed my time in Kalgoorlie.
00:03:15.760 --> 00:03:18.520
I think it's just one of those amazing places that
00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.310
until you experience something like that,
00:03:21.390 --> 00:03:27.270
you don't quite have a real, you know, gist of what goes on up there.
00:03:27.370 --> 00:03:32.190
But like I say, luckily for me, I played both sports,
00:03:32.270 --> 00:03:37.880
So winter and summer, had a great job at the gold refinery up there in Kalgoorlie.
00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:44.300
And, you know, in the end of the day, I played all my junior cricket for North Perth, actually.
00:03:44.300 --> 00:03:51.920
So, you know, if I was to come back down, I would have thought that, you know, North Perth was going to be my location.
00:03:52.220 --> 00:03:56.010
But that all changed on a fateful day at the WACA.
00:03:56.420 --> 00:03:58.110
So, and that day being?
00:03:58.670 --> 00:04:00.670
The Country League Grand Final.
00:04:01.570 --> 00:04:03.330
You know, we were playing against Bunbury.
00:04:03.790 --> 00:04:07.130
We'd had a pretty good, you know, tournament so far.
00:04:07.230 --> 00:04:09.520
And I think we were a bit of the outsiders
00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:14.030
because Bunbury was always known as a really good hub
00:04:14.030 --> 00:04:16.130
of cricket in the country.
00:04:16.250 --> 00:04:18.490
And I had guys like Murray Goodwin and Glenn Deering
00:04:18.490 --> 00:04:19.530
and these sort of players.
00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:22.660
But, you know, we had myself and Tim Brookes,
00:04:23.290 --> 00:04:25.350
another guy called Paul Taylor,
00:04:25.490 --> 00:04:27.870
who was overseas from England,
00:04:28.110 --> 00:04:30.640
who had a pretty distinguished counting career.
00:04:31.150 --> 00:04:35.590
And I was lucky enough to open a batting and actually I've batted number four, I think.
00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:42.280
You know, made 50-odd and then we kept and we managed to pull off a great win.
00:04:42.900 --> 00:04:48.160
Little did I know there was a couple of old Basie lads lurking in the grass and having a look.
00:04:49.440 --> 00:04:51.680
Yes, and those gentlemen would have been?
00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:55.000
Well, it was John Moore and, of course, Ray Robbie.
00:04:55.100 --> 00:04:55.460
Yes.
00:04:55.460 --> 00:05:00.900
And then, you know, they were pretty quick to come and say hello after the game.
00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:06.650
I'll be honest, I thought, you know, Tim Brookes was obviously their number one priority.
00:05:07.290 --> 00:05:13.780
You know, the big redhead fast bowler who I think had done so well in the country area,
00:05:13.900 --> 00:05:17.470
but that's the honest, everyone's in search of fast bowlers.
00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:21.590
You need a good heavy of them, you know, to win competitions.
00:05:21.590 --> 00:05:28.140
And, you know, he obviously was, to me, was, you know, the standout and the number one priority.
00:05:28.340 --> 00:05:31.680
but then I think Ray saw something in me
00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:35.340
that maybe I could become, you know, the backup wicketkeeper.
00:05:35.820 --> 00:05:40.910
I think, I think Keely was about to leave Faisal Damoli
00:05:40.910 --> 00:05:42.490
and go somewhere else.
00:05:42.570 --> 00:05:45.560
So I think there was a young gardener
00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:47.680
who was going to take over as number one.
00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:51.730
And I think, you know, Ray saw me as maybe someone
00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:54.210
who could play second grade or maybe higher.
00:05:54.590 --> 00:05:55.980
Yeah, indeed, indeed.
00:05:56.220 --> 00:05:59.240
Now, you mentioned Tim Brookes, and when I chatted to Tim,
00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:00.880
a little while ago.
00:06:01.300 --> 00:06:04.160
He said, if you speak to Cambo, ask him this question.
00:06:04.260 --> 00:06:07.820
Did you sleep with your bat before the Country Week Grand Final of 1991?
00:06:08.700 --> 00:06:10.860
And Brooksy actually named the bat.
00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:12.440
So is he on point?
00:06:13.050 --> 00:06:14.210
Yeah, he's bang on it.
00:06:14.690 --> 00:06:22.630
Look, I was a youngster and I felt that my batting was a pretty big cog
00:06:22.630 --> 00:06:26.710
in the Camuli machine, so to speak.
00:06:26.710 --> 00:06:30.610
And I had failed the day before and I was a bit nervous
00:06:30.610 --> 00:06:33.790
and I was always about giving some love to my bats.
00:06:34.180 --> 00:06:37.310
I just think if you give a bit of love to your bats,
00:06:37.430 --> 00:06:38.650
maybe they'll come good for you.
00:06:39.130 --> 00:06:43.470
I slept the night with my grey nickels elite beside me
00:06:43.470 --> 00:06:45.690
and thankfully it came good for me the next day.
00:06:45.790 --> 00:06:47.090
Yeah, well, Brooksy got that right.
00:06:47.150 --> 00:06:49.790
He did say the grey nickels elite, so no, good stuff.
00:06:50.050 --> 00:06:54.410
Look, in 1993-94, you were selected in the Australian Institute of Sports side
00:06:54.410 --> 00:06:58.890
and by 1995-96, you played your first game for WA as a specialist bat.
00:06:59.530 --> 00:07:01.790
There was a certain gentleman keeping you out of that
00:07:01.790 --> 00:07:03.690
wicket-keeping position for WA.
00:07:04.210 --> 00:07:07.250
Maybe he'd give us an insight into the battles you had
00:07:07.250 --> 00:07:08.530
to get into that Shield side.
00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:13.680
Yeah, well, the facts were I got sent to the Cricket Academy
00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:19.230
as, at the time, the second keeper behind Tim Zura.
00:07:19.910 --> 00:07:23.560
And, you know, I guess I just thought that I was going there
00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:27.040
to work hard and hopefully prepare myself to maybe take over
00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:28.060
from Tim one day.
00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:33.940
But at that, I received a knock on the door while I was there
00:07:33.940 --> 00:07:37.810
and there was a geek with big ears looking at me thinking,
00:07:38.170 --> 00:07:39.090
hey, who are you, mate?
00:07:39.210 --> 00:07:42.120
And he introduced himself as Adam Gilchrist
00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:43.800
and, you know, you can call me Gilly,
00:07:44.520 --> 00:07:46.240
but I'm coming to Perth.
00:07:46.460 --> 00:07:48.320
You know, I've been recruited
00:07:48.320 --> 00:07:52.580
and basically I'm going to keep and be the number one wicking in WA.
00:07:53.020 --> 00:07:56.070
And, you know, that obviously, one,
00:07:56.410 --> 00:07:58.870
took a lot of thumbs up, Adam Gilchrist,
00:07:58.970 --> 00:08:00.610
because he's just a great person
00:08:00.610 --> 00:08:03.290
and wanted to have that conversation with me face-to-face.
00:08:03.490 --> 00:08:07.110
But secondly, it obviously put a spanner in the works
00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:09.540
of what I was thinking I was going to do
00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:14.620
because I just felt that I had to be a wiki to play for WA.
00:08:15.080 --> 00:08:18.340
And we all know that if there's one wiki and you're not here,
00:08:18.440 --> 00:08:20.520
it can be a lonely road, so to speak.
00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:25.410
But Rod Marsh, my coach, had always said to me
00:08:25.410 --> 00:08:27.230
that my batting was going to be good enough.
00:08:27.290 --> 00:08:30.840
And I had never opened the batting before for anyone.
00:08:31.390 --> 00:08:32.740
So I was a middle-order batter.
00:08:33.160 --> 00:08:34.460
Yes, I was a bit of a dasher.
00:08:35.040 --> 00:08:39.990
But Rod opened the batting with me in a game against England
00:08:39.990 --> 00:08:46.140
when we played two games against England, two one-day games.
00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:50.660
And the second one, I opened the batting and I made 60 off not many balls
00:08:50.660 --> 00:08:52.260
and got people talking.
00:08:52.260 --> 00:08:54.730
And, you know, Rod pulled me aside and said,
00:08:54.790 --> 00:08:55.920
look, I've got it.
00:08:56.040 --> 00:08:57.360
You're going to be an opening batter.
00:08:57.980 --> 00:09:02.220
I've just always not been sure where I was going to put you.
00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:05.070
But now I can tell you, you're an opening batter
00:09:05.070 --> 00:09:08.580
and you're going to go for it and maybe change the game.
00:09:08.800 --> 00:09:11.380
I thought, mate, what are you on about?
00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.760
But he saw something.
00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:19.160
The funny thing was, the hardest thing I had to convince everyone
00:09:19.160 --> 00:09:20.860
was the guys at Basel to Morley.
00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:23.700
Bruce Reid thought I was a middle-order batter
00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:25.500
and I had to bat four for us,
00:09:26.140 --> 00:09:28.320
whereas Bret Mulder, when he filled in as captain,
00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:30.220
thought, no, you can open the batting for me.
00:09:30.260 --> 00:09:31.000
I don't mind that.
00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:34.250
So there was a bit of argy-bargy back at the club.
00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:36.830
until finally Reedy said,
00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:40.050
look, you're going to just be battling me the whole time
00:09:40.050 --> 00:09:41.430
so you might as well just be an opener
00:09:41.430 --> 00:09:43.300
and be where it goes to.
00:09:43.580 --> 00:09:47.170
And, you know, thankfully, I was lucky enough to play,
00:09:47.430 --> 00:09:50.670
you know, in my first probably five years for WA,
00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:52.370
opening the batting with Mike Huffey
00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:55.350
and, you know, forced my way into the batter
00:09:55.350 --> 00:09:57.570
and, you know, the keeping, I guess,
00:09:57.710 --> 00:09:59.970
came later when Gilly got picked for Australia.
00:10:00.650 --> 00:10:02.990
So that takes us to 95-96.
00:10:03.250 --> 00:10:06.110
you made 900 runs at 53 for Bayswater Morley.
00:10:06.290 --> 00:10:07.250
You won the Lawrence Medal,
00:10:07.350 --> 00:10:08.830
which we know is the fairest and best player
00:10:08.830 --> 00:10:10.170
at Bayswater in the first grade.
00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:12.540
The club won the first grade premiership
00:10:12.540 --> 00:10:15.920
and you contributed with a very handy 97 in the semi-final
00:10:15.920 --> 00:10:18.480
and 89 and 18 in the final.
00:10:19.170 --> 00:10:21.110
You also managed to take one for none
00:10:21.110 --> 00:10:23.250
off one over in the grand final.
00:10:23.730 --> 00:10:25.990
Often guys talk up their other skills.
00:10:26.230 --> 00:10:28.110
You want to tell us who that one for none was
00:10:28.110 --> 00:10:30.190
and how it came that you snuck an over in?
00:10:31.060 --> 00:10:33.020
I'll be honest, I can't.
00:10:33.460 --> 00:10:36.160
It could have been Slattery or someone like that,
00:10:36.260 --> 00:10:38.480
but I'm not 100% sure who I got out.
00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:44.190
But the thing was, I had always hammered on to Snads to give me a bowl.
00:10:44.490 --> 00:10:45.910
For some reason, I don't know why.
00:10:46.370 --> 00:10:53.150
And that year, Jo Angel had been talking about his super slow ball
00:10:53.150 --> 00:10:55.090
and he called it the secret squirrel,
00:10:55.470 --> 00:10:59.010
where he basically put his fingers very wide and ran in
00:10:59.010 --> 00:11:01.070
and it came out slower and all that sort of stuff.
00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:04.920
And, you know, we were going the last over of the day
00:11:04.920 --> 00:11:06.790
and for some weird reason
00:11:06.790 --> 00:11:07.630
Nance said
00:11:07.630 --> 00:11:08.390
you know what
00:11:08.390 --> 00:11:09.270
you can bowl it
00:11:09.270 --> 00:11:10.090
take your pads off
00:11:10.090 --> 00:11:10.390
go
00:11:10.390 --> 00:11:11.520
and I
00:11:11.520 --> 00:11:12.730
yeah ran in
00:11:12.730 --> 00:11:13.870
and tried to bowl fast
00:11:13.870 --> 00:11:14.430
which I was like
00:11:14.430 --> 00:11:15.450
I was better off spinning
00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:16.650
I was a medium pacer
00:11:16.650 --> 00:11:17.870
but I did that
00:11:17.870 --> 00:11:18.770
and then I thought to myself
00:11:18.770 --> 00:11:19.270
you know what
00:11:19.270 --> 00:11:20.010
I'm going to bowl this
00:11:20.010 --> 00:11:21.700
and I did
00:11:21.700 --> 00:11:22.860
and it floated out
00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:24.430
and I think he edged it
00:11:24.430 --> 00:11:25.850
to gully or something
00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:26.630
you know
00:11:26.630 --> 00:11:27.270
to take the wicket
00:11:27.270 --> 00:11:27.710
obviously
00:11:27.710 --> 00:11:28.900
I went nuts
00:11:28.900 --> 00:11:30.770
I wanted to keep bowling
00:11:30.770 --> 00:11:31.550
the next day
00:11:31.550 --> 00:11:33.650
but I had to finish my over
00:11:33.650 --> 00:11:35.620
but Snads was pretty quick
00:11:35.620 --> 00:11:36.960
to put me back behind the stump.
00:11:37.220 --> 00:11:42.970
But, yeah, it was a good win because I think it showed again
00:11:42.970 --> 00:11:47.930
that Bayswater, our team, always came first and everyone contributed
00:11:47.930 --> 00:11:52.350
and the fact that we could win premierships consistently
00:11:52.350 --> 00:11:55.240
was a pretty cool part to be a part of.
00:11:55.680 --> 00:11:55.860
Yeah.
00:11:56.520 --> 00:12:00.160
Talking in that premiership mode, in 1997-98,
00:12:00.260 --> 00:12:01.940
you won another first-grade batting award,
00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:07.000
led into the 1998-99 season, which was a wonderful season for the club.
00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:10.240
which saw it win another first-grade premiership
00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:11.240
and a one-day premiership,
00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:13.000
which people sometimes forget a little bit about.
00:12:13.680 --> 00:12:15.560
You made 65 in the four-day final
00:12:15.560 --> 00:12:17.900
and 52 not out in the one-day final.
00:12:18.530 --> 00:12:20.270
Can you remember, firstly, the one-day final?
00:12:20.310 --> 00:12:22.950
Because that was quite a spectacular game
00:12:22.950 --> 00:12:24.790
in the sense it didn't last very long
00:12:24.790 --> 00:12:27.690
and you played against your opening partner, Mike Hussey.
00:12:27.990 --> 00:12:30.310
You wiped off the runs very quickly.
00:12:31.770 --> 00:12:32.410
I can.
00:12:32.410 --> 00:12:33.970
I remember very clearly
00:12:33.970 --> 00:12:36.570
that I should never have won the man of the match award
00:12:36.570 --> 00:12:40.760
because I think Bret Mulder had bowled unbelievably well
00:12:40.760 --> 00:12:45.000
to put us in such a position that we didn't need a lot
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.620
and, you know, that was our strength.
00:12:47.860 --> 00:12:49.720
Our bowling attack was unbelievable
00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:52.070
and, you know, I was lucky enough,
00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:54.240
when you're chasing a small score,
00:12:54.670 --> 00:12:56.160
I was never going to do anything
00:12:56.160 --> 00:12:59.650
but try and put the game out of reach of Wanneroo
00:12:59.650 --> 00:13:01.050
within the first 10 overs
00:13:01.050 --> 00:13:04.910
and, you know, some days, you know, you get them
00:13:04.910 --> 00:13:07.410
and I definitely got them fast that day
00:13:07.410 --> 00:13:11.750
But like I say, when I look back on my career,
00:13:12.580 --> 00:13:16.970
I always look back at did I contribute in finals?
00:13:17.470 --> 00:13:18.690
Did I help get us there?
00:13:19.190 --> 00:13:21.870
And then did I stand up on the big occasion?
00:13:21.990 --> 00:13:24.070
Because I think that's the test of players
00:13:24.610 --> 00:13:27.510
and to make contributions in all the finals
00:13:27.510 --> 00:13:29.390
because that year also,
00:13:29.890 --> 00:13:32.610
WA won the Sheffield Shield as well.
00:13:33.010 --> 00:13:37.570
So I was very drunk for quite a few occasions that year.
00:13:37.570 --> 00:13:38.730
It was a celebration.
00:13:39.010 --> 00:13:40.190
I got very good at it.
00:13:40.570 --> 00:13:42.270
Well, not a bad thing to be good at.
00:13:42.670 --> 00:13:44.770
Look, you moved to Scarborough the following season
00:13:44.770 --> 00:13:45.730
and won a flag with them.
00:13:46.010 --> 00:13:48.730
What precipitated the move to the coast?
00:13:49.570 --> 00:13:49.950
Yeah.
00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:52.630
Okay, so I'm going to be very honest here
00:13:52.630 --> 00:13:57.020
because this is something that I look back on with regret
00:13:57.020 --> 00:13:58.640
pretty much my whole career.
00:13:58.640 --> 00:14:03.500
The facts were, Betty, that after winning everything
00:14:03.500 --> 00:14:06.300
for Bayswater and for WA,
00:14:07.130 --> 00:14:09.340
I was looking for a new challenge.
00:14:09.470 --> 00:14:14.930
I really wanted to be captain, and I think Bayswater at the time
00:14:14.930 --> 00:14:19.920
didn't think I was quite ready for that, mainly because I was away so much
00:14:19.920 --> 00:14:25.280
and coming back and forth, they wanted a more consistent sort of captain.
00:14:25.950 --> 00:14:31.470
I'll also be really honest that I didn't really get on that well with the coach,
00:14:31.890 --> 00:14:33.750
Noel Knight, and that's no disrespect to Noel,
00:14:33.890 --> 00:14:38.530
but the way that he went about training and stuff,
00:14:38.530 --> 00:14:42.510
Mate, I was a full-time, obviously, WA professional cricketer
00:14:42.510 --> 00:14:45.360
who worked so hard during the week.
00:14:46.110 --> 00:14:48.790
You know, I remember days of coming on a Thursday
00:14:48.790 --> 00:14:53.660
after having a massive week and running until like 7.30, 8 o'clock
00:14:53.660 --> 00:14:57.370
and just thinking to myself, and I spoke to these guys,
00:14:57.630 --> 00:14:59.470
you know, the leadership group saying,
00:14:59.590 --> 00:15:02.940
mate, I can't just keep coming to training
00:15:02.940 --> 00:15:07.160
and just be running all hours after the workload that I'm going through.
00:15:07.300 --> 00:15:10.560
And I think we started to have a few differences of opinions
00:15:10.560 --> 00:15:16.890
And, you know, in that semi-final, for instance, I batted first.
00:15:17.090 --> 00:15:21.950
And then I think we had the opposition six foot 50 chasing the loss.
00:15:22.640 --> 00:15:23.420
And we were home.
00:15:23.790 --> 00:15:28.270
But also on that second day, the WA team were being welcomed.
00:15:28.510 --> 00:15:31.340
I think it was the West Coast Eagles game.
00:15:31.420 --> 00:15:34.160
And, you know, we were going to go around with the shield and this, that and the other.
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:40.680
And basically the hierarchy refused for me to go because they felt that me fielding at six foot 60
00:15:40.680 --> 00:15:43.920
was more important than me going for a celebration.
00:15:44.260 --> 00:15:46.550
And at the time, I just got angry
00:15:46.550 --> 00:15:51.000
and I didn't really, I guess, think about it too much.
00:15:51.060 --> 00:15:53.600
I was probably a little bit hot-headed at the time.
00:15:53.680 --> 00:15:56.430
And like I say, I always wanted to go to club cricket.
00:15:56.610 --> 00:15:59.500
You've got to remember now, we never missed a game.
00:15:59.500 --> 00:16:04.360
Like, Daddy, I don't reckon I can ever remember
00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:06.920
missing a game after coming back from WA,
00:16:07.540 --> 00:16:09.760
saying I'm too tired or anything like that.
00:16:10.190 --> 00:16:12.390
So I wanted to always contribute.
00:16:12.590 --> 00:16:17.890
And if I wasn't 100% happy, then I just felt I was just going to be a liability
00:16:17.890 --> 00:16:21.230
and maybe the time was right for a change.
00:16:21.430 --> 00:16:23.580
And, mate, it broke my heart, I'll be honest.
00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:27.750
And the funny thing is, and this is, again, in hindsight
00:16:27.750 --> 00:16:30.270
and now I'm a coach and all this sort of stuff,
00:16:30.920 --> 00:16:35.440
I have always tried to replicate what Bayswater had
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.720
and what I had at Bayswater with everything,
00:16:38.350 --> 00:16:40.560
with every environment I've been in ever since.
00:16:40.560 --> 00:16:45.870
So, you know, I guess I'm leaving if I had my time again.
00:16:46.030 --> 00:16:48.210
I wish I could have worked it out and stayed there.
00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:53.200
I can say at the time, when I was a bit emotional at times,
00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:56.400
you know, I couldn't see the other end of that.
00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:57.740
And, you know, I walked away.
00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:00.880
And at the end of the day, I also, yes, I won at Scarborough
00:17:00.880 --> 00:17:03.940
and then I went back to Joondalup, which theoretically was North Perth
00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:07.340
and kept them there and, you know, led them to their first one-day title
00:17:07.340 --> 00:17:09.380
and stuff like that, which was pretty cool for me.
00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:15.720
But, yeah, I still sit back and live with a bit of regret about that decision.
00:17:16.130 --> 00:17:17.090
Fair enough, fair enough.
00:17:17.590 --> 00:17:21.060
So your time at Hillcrest, there was lots of great players there.
00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:23.540
You've mentioned a couple of them in Bruce Reid and so on
00:17:23.540 --> 00:17:25.000
and a lot of characters.
00:17:25.580 --> 00:17:28.830
Any favourites amongst the whole crew that you came across
00:17:28.830 --> 00:17:29.990
at your time at Hillcrest?
00:17:30.450 --> 00:17:35.490
Well, I love the off-field people, you know, Angry and these sort of guys
00:17:35.490 --> 00:17:37.850
that just made the club what it was.
00:17:37.850 --> 00:17:41.390
There's Richard Scrow who we, you know, obviously our hearts break
00:17:41.390 --> 00:17:45.690
when he lost his battle with cancer and things like that.
00:17:45.830 --> 00:17:49.680
But, you know, I loved, obviously Booksy was my closest mate,
00:17:49.820 --> 00:17:54.730
but, you know, people like Nick Martel who just added to our club
00:17:54.730 --> 00:17:56.670
and the way they went about it.
00:17:56.670 --> 00:18:02.160
I loved playing with everyone, really, because everyone brought their own story
00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:04.400
and were different characters.
00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:09.340
And it was a wonderful place to be.
00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:13.960
Like I say, you know, the Flood East and all those volunteers,
00:18:14.320 --> 00:18:16.100
like I say, yourself and John Moore,
00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:18.600
they just gave up everything for that club.
00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:20.580
It was brilliant to see.
00:18:20.740 --> 00:18:23.580
And like I say, I was very privileged to be a part of it.
00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:24.860
Yeah, thank you.
00:18:24.860 --> 00:18:28.360
You played international cricket for both Australia and Hong Kong.
00:18:29.020 --> 00:18:32.120
How enjoyable, obviously enjoyable, but frustrating was it
00:18:32.120 --> 00:18:35.140
in terms of timing, one being behind Adam Gilchrist
00:18:35.140 --> 00:18:39.380
and the other probably just missing out on the T20 revolution that's hit us
00:18:39.380 --> 00:18:43.360
because, again, I think you were one of the first guys
00:18:43.360 --> 00:18:46.260
with the ramp shot, as it's called now.
00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.940
And, yeah, I just wonder what your thoughts are.
00:18:50.060 --> 00:18:54.300
Look, when I look back, of course, I would have loved to have played more for Australia.
00:18:54.890 --> 00:18:59.150
But Gilly was probably one of the, well, if not the greatest wicketkeeper
00:18:59.150 --> 00:19:00.370
batsman of all time.
00:19:00.490 --> 00:19:04.030
And, you know, he played 96 test matches in a row.
00:19:04.170 --> 00:19:05.250
He just never got injured.
00:19:05.250 --> 00:19:09.020
He was always hardy and, you know, I guess I missed my ride.
00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:12.920
So, yeah, it would have been nice to have a little run at it
00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:14.540
just to see if you were good enough.
00:19:14.800 --> 00:19:17.680
You know, the games that I played, I felt I did really well in.
00:19:18.120 --> 00:19:22.000
But you just, you always knew that you were not going to be there for a while.
00:19:22.220 --> 00:19:23.790
So, that was frustrating.
00:19:23.910 --> 00:19:28.120
But I'll be honest, the biggest, I guess, sadness of my career
00:19:28.120 --> 00:19:29.960
is watching T20 nowadays.
00:19:30.580 --> 00:19:35.410
The franchise world, I think, was absolutely perfect for me.
00:19:35.410 --> 00:19:38.870
You know, opening the batting, being a wicketkeeper, scoring fast.
00:19:39.350 --> 00:19:42.390
I would have loved Big 20, playing more and more.
00:19:42.590 --> 00:19:46.670
And, you know, I played a couple of games, the WA, you know, towards the end.
00:19:46.710 --> 00:19:50.910
And then I think I went to India once just to play once I'd retired.
00:19:51.090 --> 00:19:53.860
But, yeah, I sit there and watch.
00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:56.480
You know, I've got to shake my head with the amount of money
00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:58.240
that these guys are making now.
00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:03.260
My wife actually mentions to me quite often that her life could be a lot different
00:20:03.260 --> 00:20:06.500
if I hadn't been a bit younger and fitter.
00:20:06.780 --> 00:20:07.960
But, yeah, it is.
00:20:08.040 --> 00:20:10.200
But, again, you can't leave it to regret.
00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:14.400
I literally love being a part of the game of cricket.
00:20:14.620 --> 00:20:19.610
It's given me, I think I'm over 30 years now in the professional game
00:20:19.610 --> 00:20:22.270
and, you know, I've seen some sights.
00:20:22.450 --> 00:20:23.390
I've been to World Cups.
00:20:23.670 --> 00:20:26.980
I've, you know, lived in England and the Netherlands and Hong Kong
00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:28.220
and all sorts of places.
00:20:28.830 --> 00:20:31.680
So, yeah, I really can't learn too much about anything.
00:20:31.940 --> 00:20:33.140
Yeah, no, no, that's fair.
00:20:33.520 --> 00:20:35.000
It leads on to my next question.
00:20:35.500 --> 00:20:38.080
To be honest, when you were 20 or there or thereabouts,
00:20:38.560 --> 00:20:39.900
if someone had said to me,
00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:42.340
oh, Ryan Campbell will make a career coach,
00:20:42.770 --> 00:20:45.480
I'd have been surprised, sceptical.
00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:47.580
You just seemed like a lad who liked to whack the ball,
00:20:47.700 --> 00:20:48.860
not worry about too much else.
00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:50.300
How do you get into coaching?
00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:53.000
And what pathway sort of resulted in you?
00:20:53.060 --> 00:20:54.380
I mean, you've been at Kowloon,
00:20:54.580 --> 00:20:56.120
you've coached the Dutch national team,
00:20:56.520 --> 00:20:58.020
Durham to a county championship.
00:20:58.800 --> 00:21:00.020
How did that all come about?
00:21:00.800 --> 00:21:01.620
I'll be honest.
00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:03.820
I wasn't going to be a coach.
00:21:04.060 --> 00:21:05.520
That was the honest truth.
00:21:05.860 --> 00:21:08.510
You know, towards the back end of my career,
00:21:09.020 --> 00:21:11.530
I was very heavily involved in the media.
00:21:12.070 --> 00:21:13.530
I thought that was my direction.
00:21:13.850 --> 00:21:17.730
It was going to, you know, basically I did what?
00:21:17.850 --> 00:21:19.130
I was postcard WA.
00:21:19.850 --> 00:21:21.540
I ended up hearing, you know,
00:21:21.600 --> 00:21:25.320
Nova's 23.7 in the morning with Nathan and Nath.
00:21:25.560 --> 00:21:27.470
I was, you know, I had a business.
00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:31.270
I had always, I had done my coaching degrees,
00:21:31.770 --> 00:21:34.450
just honestly, just as a backup.
00:21:34.870 --> 00:21:37.670
And I thought, you know, I like the game and I'll just keep doing it.
00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:42.130
But when I retired from cricket, I actually retired quite early
00:21:42.130 --> 00:21:43.810
and I was still in the best form of my life.
00:21:43.970 --> 00:21:46.390
I think I made 100 two games before,
00:21:46.630 --> 00:21:50.500
but I had just got to the point where I'd almost had enough.
00:21:51.170 --> 00:21:56.190
And for me, getting away from the game and how I wasn't going to miss it
00:21:56.190 --> 00:21:57.970
was literally staying away from it.
00:21:57.970 --> 00:22:00.890
And that's why I was so busy with everything else.
00:22:01.050 --> 00:22:09.080
As it turned out, people kept asking me, could I have a hit with me or could I do something with their team?
00:22:09.610 --> 00:22:12.580
And, you know, it just sort of started coming.
00:22:12.990 --> 00:22:15.370
And I kept saying yes to a few little things.
00:22:15.570 --> 00:22:22.090
And I got asked to come up to Hong Kong for just a week by a guy called Charlie Burt, who was a national coach.
00:22:22.840 --> 00:22:28.470
And he loved what I had added to the squad and helped the way I helped.
00:22:28.470 --> 00:22:33.540
And, you know, he rang me about two months later and said, mate, there's a job up here.
00:22:33.700 --> 00:22:36.270
that is just so perfect for you.
00:22:36.660 --> 00:22:38.360
You'll be the head coach of Kowloon.
00:22:38.500 --> 00:22:40.760
You'll be their assistant coach of the national team.
00:22:41.250 --> 00:22:43.800
It would be unbelievable to have you.
00:22:43.800 --> 00:22:48.620
And, you know, at the time, I reckon I was ready for an adventure.
00:22:48.900 --> 00:22:51.060
I was about to be 40.
00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:52.120
I was single.
00:22:52.590 --> 00:22:55.440
I just thought, you know what, I'd been in Perth my whole life
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.280
and, yes, I've still got all these things going on,
00:22:57.340 --> 00:23:01.750
but the facts were and the truth of the matter was I'd missed the game
00:23:01.750 --> 00:23:05.360
and it was probably sort of pulling at my heartstrings.
00:23:05.560 --> 00:23:09.850
And like I say, I thought to myself, you know what, why not?
00:23:10.010 --> 00:23:13.580
I'm going to go on a six-month adventure and if I like it, I like it.
00:23:13.600 --> 00:23:14.900
If I don't, I don't.
00:23:15.430 --> 00:23:19.370
And that six months has led to me never returning to Perth, basically.
00:23:19.570 --> 00:23:24.990
It just sort of, you know, I was lucky enough to help Hong Kong reach two World Cups while I was there.
00:23:24.990 --> 00:23:30.200
And then the Dutch came a-calling and I've taken them to World Cups and then Darwin came a-calling.
00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:34.710
So it's just been one of those things that I don't know if I'm any good at it, to be honest,
00:23:34.750 --> 00:23:38.110
But people seem to ask me, and I enjoy helping.
00:23:38.530 --> 00:23:40.150
So, yeah, so far, so good.
00:23:40.390 --> 00:23:41.510
Yeah, excellent, excellent.
00:23:41.890 --> 00:23:44.530
Now, look, 2022, you had a major health scare,
00:23:45.110 --> 00:23:47.130
and maybe you can give us some detail.
00:23:47.630 --> 00:23:50.430
And what does that do in relation to how you approach your cricket,
00:23:50.590 --> 00:23:52.150
your coaching, and life, really?
00:23:52.770 --> 00:23:58.170
Yeah, so in 2022, I'd just been to New Zealand,
00:23:58.170 --> 00:24:03.590
and I literally had gone home back to Perth or to see Mum and Dad
00:24:03.590 --> 00:24:05.050
because I hadn't seen them for ages.
00:24:05.750 --> 00:24:07.970
And then came home to the Netherlands,
00:24:09.370 --> 00:24:12.450
got on a plane pretty much two or three days later
00:24:12.450 --> 00:24:17.240
and went to a theme park called Bewilderwood,
00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:19.630
which now what I'm going to say
00:24:19.630 --> 00:24:22.420
is I have no memory of what I'm talking about.
00:24:22.540 --> 00:24:23.820
So everything from now on,
00:24:23.860 --> 00:24:25.760
as soon as I got on that plane to go to the Netherlands,
00:24:26.040 --> 00:24:28.380
from the Netherlands, I can't remember anything else.
00:24:28.380 --> 00:24:32.880
So basically I went to Bewilderwood with my family.
00:24:33.470 --> 00:24:34.830
I was holding my daughter's hand
00:24:34.830 --> 00:24:36.530
that she wanted to go on a slide
00:24:36.530 --> 00:24:40.090
and I pretty much laid down
00:24:40.090 --> 00:24:42.470
and well, without being morbid,
00:24:42.590 --> 00:24:43.570
I laid down and died.
00:24:44.250 --> 00:24:45.290
And I had a cardiac arrest,
00:24:46.030 --> 00:24:49.510
which I was very lucky to put my head
00:24:49.510 --> 00:24:53.330
on a four-year-old little girl's foot
00:24:53.330 --> 00:24:56.910
and her mum, who was standing next in line,
00:24:57.350 --> 00:25:00.010
had literally just finished a CPR call.
00:25:00.390 --> 00:25:02.710
And she went to work and brought me back.
00:25:03.390 --> 00:25:06.370
And then over the space of seven days,
00:25:06.370 --> 00:25:11.120
From all reports, I probably died a number of times.
00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:13.910
I kept coming back for some reason.
00:25:14.630 --> 00:25:17.530
I tell my wife that because I had too many things to do.
00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:20.800
But she went through hell and back, you know,
00:25:20.840 --> 00:25:24.200
looking after two kids and trying to go into the hospital every day.
00:25:24.770 --> 00:25:29.430
She was told that it was probably an end-of-life event.
00:25:30.260 --> 00:25:33.560
But she didn't give up hope and she was incredibly brave
00:25:33.560 --> 00:25:37.260
and I'll always, you know, cherish what she did for me.
00:25:38.530 --> 00:25:45.140
And for some weird reason, on the seventh day, I was awake
00:25:45.140 --> 00:25:49.820
and I had no recollection of what happened.
00:25:50.310 --> 00:25:57.240
In my memory, I had dreamt that I had been kidnapped and taken to Bali
00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:01.230
and been filled full of heroin and they had stolen everything
00:26:01.230 --> 00:26:04.270
and I was explaining this to my wife that I needed an age test
00:26:04.270 --> 00:26:07.070
and look at all the puncture marks in my arm.
00:26:07.390 --> 00:26:09.280
I don't know what they've done to me.
00:26:09.280 --> 00:26:12.770
And she had to literally sit there and explain to me,
00:26:13.070 --> 00:26:14.050
well, well, take a breath.
00:26:14.310 --> 00:26:15.310
Okay, it's okay.
00:26:15.780 --> 00:26:17.300
This is what's happened.
00:26:17.600 --> 00:26:21.440
But, you know, she, over the course of the next few weeks,
00:26:21.520 --> 00:26:22.880
she sort of filled me in.
00:26:23.550 --> 00:26:29.310
But I guess the original question, what has that done to me?
00:26:30.330 --> 00:26:37.110
I know for a fact that my family will always come first.
00:26:37.570 --> 00:26:41.280
They're unbelievable, what my wife did, but also my two kids.
00:26:41.280 --> 00:26:46.180
But it also showed me that I love this game as well
00:26:46.180 --> 00:26:47.620
and I wanted to be a part of it.
00:26:48.210 --> 00:26:53.490
And I wanted to make sure that whenever I do something in the game of cricket,
00:26:53.530 --> 00:26:56.050
I'm going to do it my way and I'm going to just do it.
00:26:56.150 --> 00:26:58.800
And if I fail, it's my way.
00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:03.500
But if I do it well and be a part of it,
00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:06.000
hopefully everyone gets enjoyment out of that
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:11.990
and I can improve young players and get them to reach their goals.
00:27:11.990 --> 00:27:24.770
So it's, you know, it's probably unrealistic to say, oh, I almost went to heaven, which I'd probably go the other way, let's be honest.
00:27:25.690 --> 00:27:31.600
But I think if you say I'm going to live every day as if it's my life, I think that's unrealistic.
00:27:32.340 --> 00:27:38.500
But my wife and I make sure that, you know what, we don't deal with dickheads anymore.
00:27:39.330 --> 00:27:40.930
We're very short on that.
00:27:41.290 --> 00:27:43.750
The things that we want to miss, we miss.
00:27:43.810 --> 00:27:46.230
We try and say yes a lot more.
00:27:46.830 --> 00:27:49.710
You know, we're all guilty of it as parents that, you know,
00:27:49.730 --> 00:27:53.700
it's like saying no, but we kind of try and say yes as much as we can.
00:27:54.210 --> 00:27:58.370
And, you know, like I say, we're going to – I don't know why, Betty,
00:27:58.610 --> 00:28:01.990
but I'm still here and I'm going to try and make sure
00:28:01.990 --> 00:28:04.410
that I really enjoy whatever I have.
00:28:05.360 --> 00:28:06.400
That's a great message.
00:28:06.540 --> 00:28:07.320
That's a great message.
00:28:07.760 --> 00:28:11.400
Ryan, it's been a pleasure to catch up and thank you for your time
00:28:11.400 --> 00:28:15.900
and all the best with what winter you get and in the next county season.
00:28:15.900 --> 00:28:18.460
And maybe someday we'll see you back in Perth.
00:28:18.530 --> 00:28:19.610
- Thanks, Betty.
00:28:19.610 --> 00:28:22.430
It's been great to catch up on a few old stories, bud.