Rushworth’s Mal McLeod died last Thursday, his 90th birthday.
Mal was a wicket-taking fast bowler who regularly claimed 70 to 100 wickets a season when he was in his prime in the late 1950s and the early 1960s in the former Kyabram and District Cricket Association.
He was renowned for his smooth easy action, accuracy and genuine pace.
In fact when he had the wind at his back he was scary.
My first encounter with Mal was against Rushworth at the Moora ground in the late 1950s with teenage teammates Ian Purdey and Dick Clay.
We were all on debut and at the time we were batting on the malthoid wicket.
Mal had a howling south wind behind him.
I was batting with Purd at the time and promptly suggested he should take the brunt of the McLeod barrage because I conveniently thought he had a better chance than me of handling it.
I won’t go any further than that, but I know Rushworth won and why.
A born and bred Rushworthite, Mal not only proved a champion at country cricket level but held his own playing in representative country sides.
He played against the touring New Zealanders in Kyabram in 1968 after he and Avenel’s big quick John Gadd had the Victorian batters on the back foot in the late 1950s in a representative game between a northern Victorian team and the state Sheffield Shield side at Echuca. Umpire in that game Bill Smythe declared that both should have been in the Victorian team.
Mal was also one of four Rushworth players to play in all of an extraordinary six successive flags in the Kyabram District association from 1960 to and including 1965.
In the 1961-62 season he took 74 wickets at an average of 7.4.
One of his most lethal career spells was when he bagged 9-34 against the Yea Cricket Association when representing the KDCA at Bendigo Country Week in a match at Goornong in 1973, when just short of his 38th birthday.
His brilliant bowling tended to overshadow his fine batting and he was a century-maker on multiple occasions.
Mal also did far more than his share off the cricket grounds as on them.
He was curator at Rushworth for a remarkable 61 years after helping the club put down turf wickets for the first time in 1960. Unsurprisingly he was a life member of the club.
He was also a fine footballer who played more than 200 senior matches with the Tigers in their GVL and Heathcote league days. He won club best-and-fairest awards at both senior and reserves level.
He was also in Rushworth teams that won the Heathcote league flag in 1965 and 1969.
He won the reserves medal in the Heathcote league when he was 36 years old in 1971.
As a much younger man moving around for his employment in the bank, he had stints with GVL clubs City United (now Shepparton United) and Tongala and represented the GVL in 1961.
The complete all-round sportsman, Mal also could hold his own at golf where he also held administrative positions with the local club. He also found time to help out the local swimming club in various roles.
Not too many could boast what Mal McLeod achieved in his sporting life and his innings can be described in one word “superb’’.
A single man, one of Mal’s great-nephews will join with other members of the extended family this week to plan the most appropriate farewell for one of Rushworth’s finest.
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