Cassell's back in town

A fast bowler who has suffered with injury several times, Rob Cassell found the jump from the Melbourne club competition to the state level a tough one. Failing to break into Victoria's side after an initial run, he lost his Bushrangers contract in 2007 and went to Europe in the winter of 2008 to get a few things out of his system. He travelled for five months with two old schoolmates, hiring a car in France and driving into Spain. Cassell was done with cricket, or so it seemed. On a cathartic trip, his significant moment came in an Aussie bar in Barcelona, he tells the Age.

A little more than a year on and the journey is far from done. But Cassell, 26, might well be on track for the best comeback cricket has seen in years. Seven years after he last pulled on a Bushrangers shirt, he is playing Premier Cricket for Melbourne with conspicuous success, meaning he is only a step away from state colours. Bowling with an action remodelled over four months at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane during the winter, he took four top-order wickets for the Demons in the first round, and backed up with a career-first hat-trick against Camberwell in round two, employing reverse swing with an old ball.