Most young cricketers can only dream about meeting their heroes, but one young Buninyong all-rounder has made a bigger impact than he could have hoped.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nine-year-old Sam Williams has always been a huge David Warner fan, and left compelled to help his idol out when the ball tampering scandal hit earlier this year.
Warner, along with Steve Smith, is serving a 12-month-ban from international cricket for his role in the incident.
Rather than feeling disappointed by Warner’s actions, Sam was disappointed with his schoolmates and the community for turning their back on him.
“Everyone at school turned their back on him after it happened,” he said.
Rather than sitting idle, Sam took the initiative to let Warner know that Australia had not given up on him.
“I sent Randwick Petersham Cricket Club (Warner’s NSW club side) a letter saying that David Warner was still my favourite player and that he needed to know who his mates were.”
Sam’s mother Marita couldn’t have been more proud of her son.
“I get quite emotional because I'm just so proud of Sam, all along no matter what happened, David Warner has been his number one hero, he just idolises him,” she said.
The family never expected a response, let alone what eventually happened.
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club president Mike Whitney was moved reading Sam’s letter and felt compelled to pass it on to Warner and his family.
“Speaking to David's wife, she said that reading the letter meant the world to him. There was so much negativity surrounding him, so knowing he still had support really helped,” Mrs Williams said.
The Williams’ were invited by the club on a trip up to Sydney where Sam would be the guest of honour in the club’s game against Sutherland, led by Steve Smith.
“Even when we went up to Sydney we didn’t know what to expect, maybe a handshake and a photo with David and that would be it.”
When they arrived however, Sam got to spend all day with the team, performing pre-game warm-ups, the coin toss and water running duties as well as meet his hero.
“I’m still in shock,” Sam said.
“I just can’t believe I got to meet him and got to do everything I got to do, I’m still lost for words.”
The result unfortunately didn’t go the way Sam wanted, with Sutherland sneaking out victory with two balls to spare, and David Warner only managing 13 runs off 16 balls in the one-day match.
The experience has only further motivated Sam to reach his cricketing potential.
He one day hopes to follow in the footsteps of his hero and wear the baggy green.
Warner provided Sam with some choice words of advice going forward.
“He told me the real key to success is to not get nervous, to block out all the noise and distractions that are coming from outside and just focus on the next ball coming down the pitch.”
Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.