Campbell Kellaway, nephew of Duncan and Andrew, forges his own path in cricket

“Are you Duncan Kellaway?’’ the snapper, clearly confused, asked.

“Duncan’s my uncle,’’ the rookie replied.

It was a variation of a question put to him “all the time’’: Are you related to Duncan and Andrew, both former leading Richmond AFL players?

In football-mad Melbourne, AFL appearances become a badge of identification.

Duncan and Andrew’s brother Lachlan is Campbell’s father.

He was a good footballer too, playing in VFA premierships for Sandringham under the coaching of St Kilda great Trevor Barker.

No doubt the, ‘Are you related to…?’ questions will continue for a while, but Campbell, 20, is quickly making his own name in sport.

When the Vics pick their team for the approaching four-day match against Tasmania at the MCG, the left-hander is likely to be given a Sheffield Shield debut.

His call-up for the Marsh Cup XI followed sparkling early-form for his club, Melbourne, and the Victorian Second XI, for whom he hit 110 and 71 against Queensland and 17 and 65 against Western Australia.

The day after the match against WA, he was relaxing at home when Victorian cricket manager David Hussey phoned to tell him he would be playing in the one-dayer against Queensland at Allan Border Field.

The following day, he went out and blitzed a century against Dandenong in Victorian Premier Cricket, 133 not out off 129 balls, with 3 sixes and 12 fours.

Dandenong coach and former Victorian batsman Warren Ayres had heard a lot about – but hadn’t seen much of – Kellaway.

He came away mightily impressed.

“He’s got good shot selection, he’s got a good temperament, he’s nice on the eye to watch in terms of his technique, and he’s got some power to go ahead with it too,’’ Ayres says.

“He’s got a bright future. It was a breath of fresh air to see a young batsman play so nicely.’’

Kellaway cracked 51 against Richmond the next day too.

Two days later against the Queenslanders at Allan Border Field he quickly found that Premier runs were easier made than in first-class cricket.

The Vics were swept aside for 171 and took a thrashing. But the new boy did his bit, top scoring with 34 off 61 balls.

“It was awesome, just to get out there in the contest against a seriously good bowling attack,’’ he says.

“Michael Neser, Steketee, Swepson, Kane Richardson, Sandhu, that was some of the best bowling I’ve faced, five top-class bowlers.

“It was a good challenge but I enjoyed it. Hard work but good fun. Got started with a cheeky single … there were some tight singles early on and I nearly ran Sam Harper out … and took it from there. Sam kept me nice and calm. Just tried to keep it simple and remember it was another game of cricket, the same 156 gram ball coming down at you regardless of who’s bowling it.’’

Kellaway will be seeing more top-class bowling this summer, having earned a Big Bash League contract with the Melbourne Stars.

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Campbell Kellaway is a product of the strong East Sandringham Cricket Club, where legendary leggie Shane Warne also came through.

He says he owes East Sandy a lot.

He was involved in successful teams – “We won three or four flags; we were always in the granny’’ – and he received sound coaching and constant encouragement.

“I loved it there. Every now and then on a Friday night I might go and hit a few balls down at the club and say g’day to everyone and touch base,’’ Kellaway says.

It was his left-arm bowling that first brought him to notice, with selection in the Victorian schoolboys’ Under 12 team.

He also made the Victorian Under 15s and the Australian Under 16s, where he was coached by Chris Rogers, now steering Victoria.

At that stage he was considered an all-rounder.

“In some teams I’d play more as a batter and then in other teams I’d be more of a bowler,’’ he says.

But his pace bowling brought on a back injury and he eventually had to give it away.

“Every time I tried to bowl seam-up it would flare up again. That made the decision for me. I was able to focus on my batting because I wasn’t doing any bowling,’’ he says.

Melbourne Cricket Club’s legendary recruiter Doug Patrick could find a talented young cricketer in a thick fog, and he lured Kellaway to the Demons ahead of the 2017-18 season.

“He used to call me and speak to me on the phone for hours!’’ Kellaway says, chuckling.

“On Sundays they (Melbourne) would have a junior development squad. Everyone would go down for a hit. Batting on the Albert wicket was always pretty nice. It’s probably one of the reasons I ended up at the Dees.’’

In the last game of 2018-19 Kellaway cracked 93 not out in a Second XI fixture but he missed most of the following season because of his back problems.

A First XI debut came in 2020-21.

A maiden century came 12 months later, a last-man-out 139 against a strong St Kilda attack, and in the next round he hit 102 against Footscray.

Melbourne coach Ben Vague remembers the century against the Saints for two reasons: The quality of the innings and that Kellaway was inconsolable after the game because the Demons lost to their great rival.

“That tells you a lot about him,’’ Vague says.

Ahead of this season Victoria gave Kellaway a rookie contract. He is combining his cricket with part-time business and arts studies at Monash University.

“It gives you a bit of balance,’’ he says. “Obviously cricket is the main focus at the moment but it’s good to have something to do outside of it, so I’m not getting to wrapped up in it all.’’

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Just as he played cricket at East Sandringham, Kellaway played junior football with the Zebbies, as well as at school level with Caulfield Grammar.

In Year 11 he was part of a shared APS premiership.

“To be honest I played wherever the coach wanted me to play,’’ he says.

“A bit in the backline, then a bit on the forward line for Caulfield. Happy to play a role anywhere.’’

But cricket was always his preference.

When local and school football resumed in 2021 he took himself off to Darwin to play for the City Cyclones in Cricket 365.

A few months later he was selected in the Australian team for the Youth World Cup in the West Indies.

Kellaway had a good time of it, opening the batting with boom WA player Teague Wyllie and scoring 239 runs at 47.80.

“Great experience to play against some of the best young cricketers from around the world,’’ he says.

“I was pumped to make the team, really excited. When we were over there, there was a bit of Covid around. A few boys got it. But once we got on the field it was awesome. We played on different wickets, more subcontinental wickets. It took a while to get used to them. I couldn’t hit the ball in the first couple of net sessions on those turning practice wickets.

“Good chance to face some high-quality spinners too. They’d get the ball turning. That was the main challenge I found over there, being able to score on wickets that were turning a long way.’’

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Greg Shipperd, described by Mark Ridgway this week as the “little master’’ of Australian coaching, has been a mentor to Kellaway, at Melbourne and through Victorian under-age squads.

Kellaway says ‘Shippy’ has been “awesome’’ for his cricket.

“He’s helped me out a lot. He knows everything there is about batting. He’s someone I try to speak to as much as I can,’’ he says, adding that former Shield opener Jason Arnberger and his father have also been big influences.

Shipperd was at the Albert Ground last Saturday, watching on as Kellaway took Dandenong for a century.

He calls the left-hander “one of Victoria’s really exciting prospects’’.

“His decision-making is strong, his technique and his movement patterns are elite,’’ Shipperd says.

“He’s going to be a very good player.’’

And perhaps good enough to stop those questions about Duncan and Andrew.