Ian Tinetti watches the wind in his willows as Newstead’s opening batters prepare to take on Hepburn in the hamlet of Shepherds Flat. His self-made cricket ground is about the only thing that is flat in Victoria’s Central Highlands and, on a chilly November afternoon, the adjacent grove of English Willow makes it feel even more like the Yorkshire Dales.
Visiting this Field of Dreams-like shrine to the game is like uncovering the interconnected layers of a Russian doll – bat making, the Hepburn area’s Swiss-Italian heritage, the history of Victorian cricket and Australian rules football, and also, appropriately, doll collecting.
