Playing for the Yass District Cricket Association (YDCA) Senior Representative, he aggregated 705 runs at an average of 78.3, and snared 28 wickets and 11 catches, all the while captaining the team to a dramatically tied Grand Final. 

And his exploits have led to his nomination for a Yass Valley Council Sports Award (Open/Local Category). 

Although the nomination is a prestigious honour, Daniel remains focused on playing well rather than seeking to earn accolades. 

“I’ve never been one to talk myself up, I just let the bat do the talking.”

He doesn’t know exactly what changed to propel him into such spectacular form, he simply said that it “might’ve been my year.” 

“I was seeing the ball like a beach ball, hitting my spots with the ball while I was bowling. 

“Guess it was one of those years where everything fell into place.” 

Despite his stellar batting average and absurd bowling results for the season, these kinds of returns are not unprecedented for Daniel. 

Across a local cricket career which has spanned 90 matches, he has scored nearly 3200 runs at an average of 53 – along with a bowling average of 10.4. 

And yet, Daniel maintains he “couldn’t have done it without my teammates.” 

In his spare time, Daniel drives trucks, play a bit of golf, and curates the pitch for the club as well. 

When asked whether or not his role as curator gave him an advantage due to his knowledge of the conditions, Daniel paused for a moment before chuckling. 

“Aw, look, to be honest with you, it works in my favour.

“Being a top order batsman, when there’s no rain about I can roll out a pretty flat wicket, and it suits my game.” 

“And I know it’s gonna dry out towards the end of the day, so winning the toss is always handy.” 

Winning the sports award would be another feather in Daniel’s cap, as he has already won the YDCA’s Cricketer of the Year Award, following his team’s successful season in which they made the Grand Final, which ended in a dramatic tie. 

“We didn’t get enough runs on the board to start with,” Daniel says of the tied game. 

“They got away with the bat pretty early in their innings, but somehow we just started taking wickets.”

“It came down to the last over, and we got the last wicket and the scores were tied.” 

He commented on his “mixed emotions” after the game, which were seemingly a combination of pride in his team’s ability to bounce back after a poor start with the ball, and disappointment that they couldn’t quite finish the job in time. 

Winners of the awards will be announced on July 29^th.