Claremont-Nedlands and Surrey all-rounder Cam Steel reflects on Olly Cooley Medal win, Perth Scorchers stint

Newly minted Olly Cooley medallist Cam Steel hopes to follow in long-time Claremont-Nedlands teammate Steve Eskinazi’s footsteps and become a Perth Scorcher

The 27-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder took 36 wickets at an average of 12.53 for the WA Premier Cricket season, to go with 219 runs at 21.9, to win the competition’s highest individual honour.

Steel, a Scotch College graduate who moved to England a decade ago and now plays for County side Surrey, tallied 18 votes in 11 matches to finish narrowly ahead of Scorchers skipper and Fremantle gun Ashton Turner, and Melville’s Brad Turner, who were joint runners up with 16 apiece.

He became the second Tigers player in three seasons to win the award after all-rounder Brad Hope in 2020-21 before he was snapped up by Tasmania.

“I knew I would be in the mix but I didn’t expect to win to be honest,” Steel told The West Australian from England.

“I thought I’d joined the season too late and left a bit early to be able to so it’s a nice surprise.”

Steel reflected on his time at the Scorchers as a train-on, saying he learnt plenty from the reigning Big Bash League champions.

His long-time Claremont-Nedlands and WA under-19s teammate Eskinazi, who both moved to England around the same time in 2013, was a revelation at the top of the order, giving Steel motivation to get there himself.

“Seeing the way Eski did it is pretty much what I’m aiming to do as well,” he said.

“It’s obviously been amazing to be involved with those guys and training with them, it was great for my game and hopefully I helped out by offering something different in the nets.

“I would absolutely love to do that in the future and to continue to work with those guys, it’s an amazing group and obviously they’ve had an incredible amount of success.

“Even just winning the Sheffield Shield last week and six trophies out of six over the past two seasons is remarkable, so to get anywhere near that side is incredible.”

Steel capped off a brilliant season with a 50-over premiership alongside Eskinazi and Nick Hobson, who backed up his BBL grand final heroics with a player-of-the-final performance, before flying out for the UK the following week to start pre-season training with County side Surrey.

Claremont-Nedlands prevailed over Bayswater-Morley by just 12 runs with Hobson blasting an unbeaten 122 off just 73 balls.

“It was really nice to win that one-day flag, we thought our flag-winning days might’ve been over at Claremont,” Steel said.

“It was off the back of a Nick Hobson masterclass as per usual, he’s the most deserving out of anyone for that sort of thing.

“He’s dominated grade cricket for a long time and has deserved a go at the higher level, so there’s a few people chuffed for him.”

Neither Steel or Ashton Turner made the Premier Cricket team of the tournament, captained by Perth’s title-winning skipper and Melbourne Renegade Jon Wells.

WA Premier Cricket first-grade team of the year

Jayden Goodwin (Subiaco-Floreat) - 673 runs

Lochie Hardy (Claremont-Nedlands) - 605 runs

Jon Wells (Perth, captain) - 720 runs

Keaton Critchell (Midland-Guildford) - 660 runs

Lane Berry (Bayswater-Morley) - 629 runs

Brad Turner (Melville) - 336 runs, 34 wickets

John Sanders (Willetton, wicketkeeper) - 287 runs, 36 catches

Connor Blaxall-Hill (Perth) - 330 runs, 41 wickets

Jay Chislett (University) - 39 wickets

Justin Kandiah (Midland-Guildford) - 36 wickets

Matt Hanna (Willetton) - 44 wickets

Kyle Wiggers (Bayswater-Morley) - 37 wickets