Ben Mitchell reflects on his cricket career and move into the world of horse racing

A cricket career which has taken him from Shellharbour to Sydney, via Southampton, now sees Mitchell beginning his second stint at Corowa in Cricket Albury-Wodonga's provincial competition.

On a very different kind of track, the NSW Country star recently took on the role of racing manager at Hazel Park Racing, so it's fair to assume Mitchell's day-to-day is providing as much variation as his bowling.

"It feels like I've had a mid-life crisis to be honest!" he said.

"You have that lightbulb moment where you go 'is this what you want to do for the rest of your life?' and that's probably what happened.

"I want to work in this industry for the rest of my life, probably not training, but being involved in that side of it.

"I've just taken out my jockey manager's licence so I've just signed my first jockey, which is another string to my bow of this sort of industry."

Mitchell and Donna Scott have owned horses together for several years and his role at Hazel Park has expanded from 'a bit of social media' to a full-time gig which combines business operations and getting his hands dirty at the stables.

"I bought a couple of horses during COVID and we syndicated them between mates," Mitchell said.

"I've always had a passion for the breeding and analytics side of racing and Donna's given me an amazing opportunity to learn from the bottom up.

"Her support is huge; why would you give a job to a 30-year-old bloke who's never held a horse before?

"Donna's a bit old-school, so we clash a little bit because I'm always talking about numbers and stuff like that but she's awesome to work for.

"It's a family-run business and the team's really good, so it's just a good environment to be in."

They say a change is as good as a holiday and Mitchell's form on the cricket field is proving the point.

Back in the blue of Corowa, he's started the season with scores of 43 and 45, striking at 122 opening the batting, while his nine overs of off-spin cost just 16 runs last weekend.

It's a different Ben Mitchell to the marquee signing who arrived in 2020.

"To be honest, I got found out the first year I was here," he said.

"I didn't expect it to be as good a standard as it was.

"I came in under-done and I couldn't score a run.

"The standard of cricket is good and I really enjoy it.

"Even the guys who might not be the stars in A-grade cricket, they're all athletes because they all play footy so it's a different dynamic to most other country comps.

"You're playing against 12 athletic guys; I'd be the slowest bloke in our team!

"It's as competitive as anywhere I've ever played, the facilities are as good as anywhere in the country and it's nice to play in such a strong comp, with 12 teams and so much depth."

Mitchell was four when he started playing cricket in Shellharbour, with one dream.

"I always wanted to be Shane Warne," he said.

"Mum tells me that I was quite depressed when everyone realised I was left-handed, so I couldn't be him!

"I hurt my back really badly when I was 15.

"I was a quick bowler, captaining the rep side, when it happened.

"The doctors told me it was going to keep happening so I started bowling spin and worked out I was quite good at it. I went from a borderline quick who was just good enough to 'hang on, you're quite a good spinner here' at 17 or 18.

"But I probably didn't give myself the best opportunity to make it.

"I ran off the rails a bit to be honest; I was just young, dumb and stupid.

"I wasn't focused on sport, that's probably the best way to put it.

"Cricket was an after-thought; I was too excited about turning 18."

But MitchelI had another of those lightbulb moments at 22 when he decided to pursue a high level of cricket in England.

Starting out at Churt CC in Surrey, he made headlines by smacking six sixes in an over before doors began to open higher up the chain.

"One of my good mates, Sam Bracey, was the academy coach at Hampshire and they had so many injuries through their system that they were struggling to field a 2nd XI side," Mitchell explained.

"He rang me one day and said 'can you play for me on Thursday?' so I said 'yeah, why not?' and that one game snowballed into two years' worth of cricket.

"Being an Aussie, you can't get signed, because of the rules they have over there, but the 2nd XI and tour games were just awesome to be a part of."

Mitchell played alongside Luke Evans, now at St Patrick's, in the Hants 2^nd XI - small world and all that - and relished the test of operating in foreign conditions.

"English wickets are completely different to what we have in Australia," he said.

"They're slower but they stay together for a longer period of time so you have to adapt.

"It was a very similar transition to moving here from Sydney; they're not worse pitches but they're not as quick so you've got to be a little bit smarter with your play.

"You can't drive on the up in England and with the overhead conditions, the Dukes ball swings around corners for longer than the Kookaburra does here.

"It was probably a battle I needed, to put my head down and really concentrate.

"I was quite driven, when I was there, to make sure I went well. I dropped 10 kilos in my first year in England and got pretty serious.

"I just did the hard work; I was training four or five times a week, and that's what I wanted."

Mitchell noticed the difference when he returned to Australia.

"That's when I signed with Sydney," he said.

"They approached me, me and Dan Smith had a coffee because he was captain of Sydney at the time and I was just ready to jump into that system and make a difference.

"We won a couple of premierships and when we won the National Premier T20 Championship in Adelaide in 2020, I can remember sitting in the dressing-room and saying 'I'm done, that's the last game of grade cricket I'll play, it's time to move onto life.'

"This season is my first in a couple of years - I played a handful of games for Shellharbour but I wasn't a full playing member - and I'm just stoked to be back at Corowa helping 'Hatts' out."

It was the link with Jarryd Hatton, now captain of Corowa, which brought Mitchell to the region initially.

"We played NSW Country together in 2017," he recalled.

"We'd played against each other - I was playing for Southern Zone and he was playing for Riverina - and we had a huge battle on the field where we would have both walked away going 'I hate that bloke.'

"I had been in that Country side for a couple of years so I was one of the alpha figures, if you like, whereas he'd come in and didn't know anyone.

"On the field, when you clash with someone like that, you actually love it because he's so similar to me. He's the sort of guy you hate to play against but you love to play with and as soon as we were in the same team, I went into that camp thinking 'how good, me and this guy can feed off each other all week.'

"Coming into a new environment, it was probably a bit different for him because he wasn't as comfortable as me but I reckon we were half a beer deep when we realised we were going to be good mates for a really long time.

"He ended up in Canberra and I was in Canberra as well, so we spent a lot of time as mates in Canberra and now I'm down here."

Corowa are one of only two sides in the league to have started 2-0, with former Big Bash stars Dan Christian and Dan Smith still to come into the team.

"When you look at the side we've put on the park so far, without Dan Smith or Dan Christian, without an overseas, the best 12 we had available from the local squad, to do what we have puts us in good stead for the year," Mitchell said.

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"I know they were really disappointed to miss the semis last year but they finished the season really well.

"Speaking to 'JT' (coach Jack Thomas) and Hatts, if we miss the semis it would be disappointing.

"On the one hand, if we make the semis, we've ticked the box for the year but if we get to the semis and we've had a really good year, those expectations will change."

Christian will make his Corowa debut against St Patrick's at Ball Park on Saturday.

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