Darren Berry
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Darren Shane Berry (born 10 December 1969) is an Australian cricket coach and former
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
er who was known for his sharp skills as a wicketkeeper, first with
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and then
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
in the
Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...
and
ING Cup The Ing Cup () is an international Go tournament with a cash prize of over US$400,000. It was created by, and is named after, Ing Chang-ki. The tournament is held once every four years and hence often nicknamed the Go Olympics. In the 7th In ...
domestic competitions. He led the Redbacks to the first premiership win in 2010 of the BBL. Berry was the head coach of the South Australia cricket team for 5 years (including the Adelaide Strikers in the BBL Tournament). Between 2017 and 2019, Berry served as assistant coach to the late Dean Jones for
Islamabad United Islamabad United () is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and was formed in 2015 to compete in the first ...
in the Pakistan Super League.


Cricket career

Making his first-class debut for
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
in the 1989–90 season, Berry moved back to his native
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
to play with the Bushrangers in the 1990–91 season, and enjoyed a large degree of success. One of the high points of his career came in the 1997 Ashes tour, when he was selected to replace the injured
Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist (; born 14 November 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer and List of Australia national cricket captains, captain of the Australia national cricket team. He was an attacking left-h ...
as the team's second-string wicketkeeper. Unfortunately, Berry did not represent
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
in a Test match on that tour. In 2003–04, Berry ended his career on a high, captaining Victoria to a
Pura Cup The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Lord Sheffield. Prior to the Shield bei ...
title against
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, although he was suspended for a short time during the season when he was late to a training session after accidentally setting his alarm to the wrong time. In terms of pure keeping ability, Berry was rated extremely highly, particularly his ability "keeping up" both to leg-spinner
Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
and to medium (and even fast-medium) paced bowlers. Warne, his Victorian teammate, said that "Darren Berry up to the stumps has probably been the best keeper that I've ever seen in my time ... I really wish he did get the opportunity to show how good a keeper he was, with a baggy green cap playing for Australia."Warne names Berry master keeper, Malcom Conn, ''
The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...
'', 4 December 2004
Berry has often talked about his leg-side stumping off the bowling of paceman
Paul Reiffel Paul Ronald Reiffel (born 19 April 1966) is an Australian former cricketer who played in 35 Tests and 92 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1992 to 1999. He was part of Australia's victorious 1999 World Cup team. After retirement he became a f ...
as one of his best achievements. The reasons why Berry did not play for Australia included not only Australia's entrenched and effective keeper,
Ian Healy Ian Andrew Healy (born 30 April 1964) is an Australian former international cricketer who played for Queensland domestically. A wicketkeeper and right-hand middle-order batsman, he first played international cricket in 1988, after six first ...
, but his below par batting ability. Berry averaged only 21.58 in first-class cricket, with four centuries and 11 fifties in a long career, compared with Healy's 27 at Test level and 30 at first-class level, and well below the batting numbers of Healy's replacement,
Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist (; born 14 November 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer and List of Australia national cricket captains, captain of the Australia national cricket team. He was an attacking left-h ...


Post-cricket career

In 2002, preparing for his retirement from cricket, Berry was the runner for the
St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...
, for which he played at Under 19 level, a team which he passionately supports. That year he also took up boundary riding for
Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...
before he graduated to the role of match-day
play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...
commentator on matches following his retirement from cricket in 2004. Berry was later released by Triple M and picked up his commentary career with K-Rock in Geelong. In addition to his role with K-Rock football, Berry writes a column in ''
The Sunday Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
'' and coaches the Carlton Cricket Club in the
Victorian Premier League The Victorian Premier League (VPL) is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 2023 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of two divisions that were named after the VPL's breakaway of the National Premier L ...
. Berry was then assistant coach for his beloved Victorian Bushrangers, followed by a stint in the IPL coaching alongside close mate Shane Warne where they delivered success in the inaugural season at Rajasthan Royals in 2008. He held the position as the head coach of the outhern Redbacks South Australia's state cricket team, as well as coaching the
Adelaide Strikers The Adelaide Strikers are an Australian professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia that compete in the Big Bash League (BBL).Cricket Australia (n.d), Teams and Players, Cricket Australia, accessed 1 Decemb ...
in the T20
Big Bash League The Big Bash League (BBL), also known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Australia. Established in 2011 by Cricket Australia, the Big Bash League replaced the previous competitio ...
. At the start of the 2016–17 season, Berry began work at Private Melbourne school, Xavier College, to coach the 1st XI cricket team. Berry was the head cricket coach at Xavier for three seasons accompanied by Assistant Coach and former First Class cricketer, Gerard Dowling. Berry also served as assistant coach to the late Dean Jones with Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League (2017-2019). The team won two out of three titles in which Berry was involved in strategy analysis. In recent times Berry was appointed Director of Cricket at the Rowville Secondary College – Cricket Academy in Melbourne's eastern suburbs


Other

Darren Berry's nickname is "Chuck" after the American rock and roll singer.


See also

*
List of Victoria first-class cricketers This is a list of Victoria first-class cricketers. The Victoria cricket team have played first-class cricket since 1851, when they played the Tasmania cricket team at Launceston, Tasmania, Launceston. Below is a chronological list of cricketers t ...
*
List of South Australian representative cricketers This is a list of cricketers who have represented South Australia in either a first-class, List A or Twenty20 match. South Australia's inaugural first-class match commenced on 10 November 1877, against Tasmania at the Adelaide Oval, its first ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Darren 1969 births Living people Victoria cricketers Triple M presenters Australian cricketers Australian rules football commentators South Australia cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Australian cricket coaches Cricketers from Melbourne Scarborough Festival President's XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Adelaide Strikers coaches 20th-century Australian sportsmen