Tony Dodemaide should have played Lancashire League before he became paid man at Lowerhouse.

In 1985, he was on an Esso Scholarship with the Sussex county second eleven when he got the call to sub-pro up north. He and a mate had stopped at a service station on the way up.

"I was stone cold sober, in the middle of the afternoon, and just was looking the wrong way at the wrong time," he said.

"I went to hop through what I thought was a doorway and it wasn't - it was through a glass window."

Thirty or forty stitches later, the young Victorian was in no condition to play for anyone. But he continued on his journey to Rishton where he caught up with compatriot Terry Osborne.

Lowerhouse were visting Blackburn Road that afternoon, and the colourful Aussie started negotiating a deal for the 21 year-old all-rounder for the following season.

Dodemaide had been playing club cricket on artificial wickets down south and was keen to experience the vagaries of the tracks in Lancashire. He was to learn plenty about length after an early boundary in the opening match against Church.

He said: "The chap that was fielding at mid-on at the time conveyed the ball back, and I wiped the mud off it firstly. And, he said, Nowt for bowling short, lad.'"

The culture shock continued when it came to his turn at the crease.

"You certainly couldn't use the pace of the ball," he added. "If you were a nicker and nudger, perhaps like I was, it wasn't that successful. So, it's actually better hitting through the line of the ball and going over the top, even from very early on."

But, that's what Tony Dodemaide's cricket has been all about - self-analysis. And he's a quick learner whose dedication and professionalism has never been questioned.

Lowerhouse finished mid-table, but the paceman was runner-up in the League bowling, with 94 wickets at 12.9, and he made 570 runs.

It had been a vital development phase.

Within two years, Dodemaide became the first man to take five wickets on debut in limited overs internationals (against Sri Lanka). And, in his first Test match the same season, he made 50 and took 6/58 against New Zealand.

But his form tapered off. "I didn't know a lot about my game in hindsight," he said. "Bowling outswingers at that particular time worked for a while, and then I lost my swing and lost a bit of nip and didn't know where to find it."

So, it was back to England and a three-year stint with Sussex in county cricket. As usual, he gave 120 per cent, and suffered stress fractures and a hamstring problem.

He was in and out of the Victorian side back home, but fought his way back to play in the victorious Sheffield Shield team in 1990-91.

After his time with Sussex, it was back to the League and Alexandra Meadows in 1992. Dodemaide was aiming at the Ashes tour the following year and wanted the best advice available.

He said: "The thing about East Lancs was that Jim (Kenyon) was there. He was a great cricket person, very knowledgeable, one of the best coaches I ever worked with, very astute, and very good technically."

Jim Kenyon would hold special mid-week practice sessions at the Meadows. It was ideal for the pro whose season would be shortened by a call-up for Australia's tour of Sri Lanka.

Before he left, Dodemaide made an unbeaten 50 and took 5-59 against Bacup to guide East Lancs into the Worsley Cup final. And, again he was runner-up in the league bowling averages with 48 wickets.

In September of that year, he played the last of his 10 Test matches, in which he took 34 wickets. He claimed 36 wickets in 24 one-day internationals, and 534 in 184 first-class matches in which he scored almost 6,000 runs.

In retirement, cricket remains Dodemaide's life. After five years in marketing with Melbourne Cricket Club, he secured the plum job as Head of Cricket at the Marylebone Cricket Club. There were "a few anxious looks" after one of his suggestions.

He said: "I put forward a proposal to actually dig up the ground and reconstruct the ground because there was a lot of problems at Lord's with the sodden outfields, and heavy London clay saturated the outfields, and loss of play through that."

The MCC spent £1million on the project and it remains a high point of Dodemaide's five years at the home of cricket.

He returned to Australia in 2004 to become CEO of the West Australian Cricket Association. It was in Perth that he met partner, Dale, and the couple now have two daughters, Cassie (aged two and a half) and Gemma (seven months) Dodemaide is now back home in Melbourne as the new CEO of Cricket Victoria. But, his friends in Lancashire are very much in his thoughts. Last year, it was former East Lancashire chairman, Don Pomfret, in the worst of circumstances.

"Don was sadly struggling with cancer at that stage," he added. "But, we kept in touch and I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to him on the phone once or twice.

"He was terrific while I was there. Nothing was too much trouble.

"He threw his home open to me and was a terrific host."