Queanbeyan’s Mark Higgs is renowned for his comfort at the crease. The first-class cricketer was an all-rounder throughout his lengthy career, aggressive as a left-handed middle order batsmen and clinical as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler.
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As a player his talents took him from the Queanbeyan Bluebags, to the ACT Comets, the NSW Blues, the SA Redbacks, Lincolnshire County in the UK, as well as a short stint with the Hobart Hurricanes in the 2013 Big Bash League. Following his retirement as a player, Higgs returned to Canberra and continued coaching the Comets alongside overseeing Cricket ACT’s high-performance program.
But after his departure from Cricket ACT last year, Higgs looked to opportunities outside of cricket and found himself amongst familial Queanbeyan cricketing company when he joined the real estate agency of former ACT Cricket chair Ian McNamee.
“Ian would have known me since I was a child, he played cricket with my father,” Higgs said.
“I grew up in a family where we played a lot, my cousins played a lot and the Frost brothers [Bluebags’ Michael and Stephen] spent a lot of time at our place so I was always playing backyard cricket.”
In contrast, McNamee’s cricketing career was markedly different from Higgs, with the majority of his roles revolving around administration in the official capacity.
“My association has been a bit different,” McNamee said.
“It has been more in the official capacity because I gave cricket away when I was 22 for work - that was when I was playing with Mark’s dad - but I’ve been involved with Queanbeyan cricket club continuously since the 1960s.”
While still patron of the Queanbeyan Bluebags, McNamee left his role as Cricket ACT chair last year and cited his involvement in securing a Canberra test match and the installation of the lights at Manuka Oval as highlights from his time on board.
“It [the test match] has been coming for a long time and a lot of hard work has gone in for a long period of time, but a lot of the things that have happened at Manuka Oval would not have happened without those lights.”
“That’s what lifted Canberra cricket to another level and it might well be that we score a day-night test match in Canberra, I mean the lights have the quality.”
The competitive drive that caused Higgs to represent different teams across the continent, and McNamee to doggedly fight for the Manuka Oval lights, has translated into a successful career in real estate for the pair.
“I’d been working in property development in the UK and cricket wasn’t on my radar,” Higgs said.
“But the credit crunch in the UK caused me to come back to Queanbeyan and rejoin the club and eventually I wound up here with Ian at McNamee’s.”
Higgs oversaw his first auction last week on Saturday, May 28, when he sold off one of the city’s oldest and most heritage-laden homes.
Gemma Varcoe
Fairfax Media journalist, based in Queanbeyan. Football and DC Comics tragic.
Fairfax Media journalist, based in Queanbeyan. Football and DC Comics tragic.
