The story of Yarck test cricketer Ian Callen

FORMER test-cricketer Ian Callen’s story is a loop, which begins at the Yarck Primary School, and loops back around to Yarck now in the form of the book he has written about playing cricket in the country.

Ian originally attended Yarck Primary School for the first several years of his education, before his parents moved with him to Melbourne in 1963. He was in grade two at the time.

“If my parents hadn’t made the move to Melbourne, I never would have had the opportunity to play for Australia, I don’t believe,” Ian said.

He played in Heathmont while finishing his schooling, before becoming part of the Carlton Cricket Club.

This path took him to playing in one singular test match, before injuries affected his career path.

“I went to Carlton. I did my back during the test match in Adelaide. Fractured vertebrates,” Ian said.

“I toured the West Indies with the fractures and tried to play and made it worse. So I spent two years out of the game. Fought my way back, got to tour Pakistan, and then I did my knee. That was the end of test cricket.”

Ian’s passion for cricket was not quenched despite the setback.

“I came back and played first class cricket again in South Africa, and then I coached. I coached Carlton for a number of years. In my book it says, ‘at one stage we had one metropolitan player on our team at Carlton, and we had 10 cricketers from the country region’,” he said.

“Trying to get them to training was impossible, and that’s where I realised….

Image: Former test cricketer Ian Callen, who spent his early years living in Yarck.