Gone too soon: The life & legacy of Scott Mason

Winston Mason was sunburnt. His backside ached, and he badly needed to stretch his legs.

For six hours he had refused to leave the hard plastic chair he was occupying in the David Boon Stand, for fear it might cosmically impact the fortunes of his son, Scott Mason, who was playing the innings of his life out in the middle of Bellerive Oval.

When he finally did stand – in applause as Scott made his way off the ground at stumps, unbeaten on 168 – he felt no pain, only pride.

Beside Winston stood his wife, Jill, and beside Jill, her parents. All four had just witnessed a seminal moment in their lives.

"When Scott got to 150," remembers Winston, "his grandfather said, 'If I die today, I die a happy man'."

The concepts of life and death understandably came and went without too much thought on that day 20 years ago, as matters more pressing – most notably, a come-from-behind Tasmanian win over Victoria in the Sheffield Shield – took sharper focus.

And at the heart of that win was Mason. Playing his 15th first-class match, the 26-year-old left-hander had broken through for his maiden hundred, finishing with 174 to set up victory for the Tigers in an otherwise low-scoring encounter.

For a player who is universally remembered as driven, ambitious and passionate, it was the performance he had long craved.

"It's such a relief," he said at the time. "Now I know I can do it."

Watching on, as always, was Tim Coyle, who had been Mason's batting coach since his early teenage years in Launceston.

"He was a player of tremendous promise," Coyle tells cricket.com.au. "But first-class cricket is such a big jump ... until you actually make that quantum leap, and score some runs and feel comfortable at that level, you just don't know.

"For many that leap is too far, but for him it wasn't, and that hundred set him up for what could have been a really long career."

Life however, is rarely so linear. For the next two years, Mason navigated the undulating world of professional cricket with a steady determination. When confronted with a serious health issue, he chose optimism.

Yet on April 9, 2005, precisely two years, two months, and 23 days after his breakthrough century, he lost his life.

It was a tragic, premature end, and a loss that continues to be felt in Tasmanian cricket.

* * *

"He was from up in George Town, and moved down to Launceston to play his cricket," remembers former Tassie quick Adam Griffith, who was two years Mason's junior. "He actually ended up playing for Launceston, which was the arch-rival of my club, South 'Lonny' (Launceston), so we had a few battles along the way.

"Then each year we'd play together in the NTCA (Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association) versus NWTCA (North-Western Tasmanian Cricket Association) rep games, which were great fun and really good competition as well.

"So we played with and against each other a lot, and trained together as well, and then we relocated down to Hobart around the same time."

It was in Launceston that future Tigers trio Mason, Griffith and allrounder Scott Kremerskothen came under the tutelage of Coyle, a native of the city and a man who would go on to become Tasmania's most successful coach. With Greg Shipperd in charge of the senior squad, Coyle ran the state's underage programs in that region, in which Mason had been a regular face.

"I worked with a lot of young cricketers in Tasmania through those years, and Scott and I had formed a really close relationship," says the 62-year-old, who went on to work as Cricket Tasmania's general manager of game development, before taking on the head coach role ahead of the 2005-06 season.

"I had a lot of belief in his cricket, and he had a lot of trust in my coaching, and that's the basis of a good coach-player relationship.

"We'd spend many, many, hours together working on his game, and others did as well – there were many people who were involved in his career."

Mason was 21 when he made his first-class debut against the touring South Africans in December 1997.

"When he walked in and took his guard," Winston once recalled with a grin, "Lance Klusener said to him, 'Now you are going to face the meanest, fastest f---ing bowler in the world, Allan Donald'."

He made 28 and 11 in that match but didn't appear in the Shield for another 16 months. From there, a series of middling scores meant he was in and out of the side, playing 10 times in four seasons while averaging 16.53.

Refusing to be discouraged by his results, Mason focused instead on training ever harder, and soaking up advice from the elite players around him.

"He was always in the nets, always asking questions, always wanting to get better," Michael Di Venuto tells cricket.com.au. "He was always going in for extra hits – probably a little bit ahead of his time in that sense; more like the modern-day player now."

Griffith nods along at the sentiment.

"Probably the two biggest things I remember about Mase is, firstly his work ethic," he says. "He worked so hard, and he just wanted it so badly.

"He would hit so many balls, he'd be in at training first and out last, just hitting and hitting and hitting.

"The other thing was the passion he had to play for Tasmania."

In the summer of 2002-03, the two factors merged, and Mason's performances began trending upward. In three Shield matches before Christmas, he passed fifty twice, and averaged 36.8.

"There was one game at the WACA (Ground) where he got 50 or 60, and people were going, 'This kid can actually seriously play'," says Brian McFadyen, who had arrived from Victoria that summer as Tasmania's new head coach after the long-serving Shipperd.

"He had a bit of a hard edge as well, and he'd got his technique down pat."

Like many, McFadyen had been struck by Mason's work ethic but he also liked his extroverted nature, which to him bucked the trend of what he felt was a more introspective Tasmania group.

"He was a really positive, bubbly guy," he says. "I remember when I came down he was the first one to call up and say, 'I'd like to come in and have a chat' – just that on-the-front-foot sort of guy. 

"Everyone spoke highly of him because was really hard-working, a very good fieldsman, but he just hadn't quite got there (in terms of performance).

"As an opening batsman, Bellerive wasn't the easiest place to bat with the ball moving around, and a lot of high-quality quicks around the country.

"But he all of a sudden looked like he had the game. It was like the penny had dropped, and his belief levels got to a point where he felt he could do it, and he was able to cope with the best bowling going around."

Those three pre-Christmas matches also happened to mark Griffith's introduction to first-class cricket, with the right-arm paceman collecting six wickets as he too began feeling his way into the big time.

The two Launceston boys felt they were on the cusp of doing exactly what they were determined to do: prove themselves in the crucible of the Shield.

"Right through underage cricket, your goal is to play for Tassie, and get that cap," Griffith says. "But then once you get there, it's all of a sudden, 'Righto, now I want to stay – I want to be part of this for a long time'."

* * *

No fewer than 18 wickets fell on day one of Tasmania's Shield clash with Victoria in Hobart, 20 summers ago this week.

After rolling the Tigers for 120, the visitors rattled along to 8-160 by stumps, a strong recovery after slipping to 4-5 on a typically green Bellerive Oval wicket.

They were all out for 174 just over half an hour into day two, with fourth-gamer Griffith taking a maiden five-wicket haul of 5-46. Still, a lead of 54 in a contest most figured would boil down to which pace attacks could shoot out their opponents quickest was not insignificant.

Veteran Tigers captain Jamie Cox knew the lay of the land though, and after the batting disaster of day one, he had a strategy he wanted to implement second time around.

"We had a conversation around trying to set the game up," Cox remembers. "The idea was to try and take some sting out of the new ball, so we put us blockers up the top, and then pushed 'Diva' (Di Venuto) down the order in the hope that he'd make some hay later."

The tactic meant an elevation from number three to opener for Mason, who had been dismissed for a first-ball duck when lbw to Matthew Inness 24 hours prior, but was nonetheless renowned for his technically sound defence.

In turn, Kremerskothen shuffled up four places to number three, while Tassie and Shield debutant Ben Oliver also moved up a spot to four, leaving the more aggressive trio of Di Venuto, Michael Dighton and Dan Marsh at five, six and seven respectively.

And so into the fire walked Cox and Mason, steeling themselves to again face Victoria's quicks on a pitch that was offering them plenty of assistance.

"He played his best cricket on green wickets, Scott did," smiles Winston. "On a flat deck, he wasn't worth a tinker's curse.

"He wasn't very tall, Scott, and (Shane) Harwood, (Mick) Lewis and Inness, every ball they bowled was at his throat.

"But when he survived 'til lunch, I just knew he was going to make runs that day.

"Those first 20 runs were the best 20 runs he ever made, and the most important as well."

Mason and Cox put on 52 for the first wicket to just about draw Tasmania level. When Cox departed for 28 on the last ball before lunch, he was replaced after the break by Kremerskothen, another young man looking to find his feet in Shield cricket, and one of Mason's closest friends.

Together the pair combined for the decisive partnership of the match, adding an unbroken 112 through the second session, with Mason dominating the scoring.

"It all clicked for Mase that day," Kremerskothen says. "On what was still a pretty difficult wicket, against a strong Victorian attack, he batted beautifully.

"We put on over 100 and I only made 20-odd – most of the time I was just standing at the other end watching him go to work."

Mason passed his previous high score of 60 and as the Hobart mercury hit 26 degrees and the sun began to bake the pitch and his confidence grew, he revelled in the improved conditions, accelerating his scoring to move Tasmania into a strong position.

"He was normally a bit of a grafter but that day he just had one of those innings where it all fell into place," Kremerskothen adds. "Cuts, pulls, cover drives – we were really starting to see the best of him.

"And then to be out there to see one of your best mates get their first hundred, it was just fantastic. I think he ran straight past me actually (laughs), he jumped in the air, he was obviously very excited – it was a hell of a rush for him."

Mason's hundred celebration, which also included a frenzied waving of the bat towards both his teammates and family, seemed the product of both relief and elation. It was an achievement he had dedicated his life to, and one that astute observers had seen coming.

"He batted magnificently, and it was no surprise that a performance like that finally arrived because he'd been showing so many good qualities in those couple of games in the lead-up," McFadyen says. "We felt he was due to turn those smaller scores into a big one."

As Victoria's bowlers tired and the wicket flattened out, Mason cashed in through the final session, upping his scoring rate again and perhaps riding his luck when, on 112, Vics captain Darren Berry had fumed at a not out decision for caught behind.

The veteran gloveman rebuked the umpires after play but later acknowledged Mason had played "exceptionally well", particularly against the new ball.

At the close of day two, he was unbeaten on 168 out of Tasmania's 3-268, handing his side a commanding lead of 214.

"I've been playing for a few years now and just to get the monkey off my back was great," he said after play. "I guess it was my day, and it was great having the family down (from Launceston) as well.

"Everything just seemed to come out of the middle of the bat."

The following morning, he added just six before he was out for 174 from 301 balls, with 24 fours and a six. By then however, with Di Venuto indeed 'making hay', the Tigers' lead had swelled to 254 and the game was theirs for the taking.

"It was a real moment for him, and everybody was so thrilled for him that it had happened," recalls former Tasmania quick Damien Wright, who took five wickets in that match and was another very close friend of Mason.

"When you do score your first hundred after a number of games, or you get your first five-fer, that's when you really start to believe, 'Right, I belong here now'."

Adds Griffith: "That felt like the moment where he thought, I'm good enough. You can work all you want, and prepare yourself, and skill-wise you might be good enough, but whether you're good enough to actually (perform in) first-class cricket ... from that moment everyone saw that he was, and he could have had a long career for Tassie."

By mid-afternoon on day four, Tasmania had secured an 87-run victory, with Griffith (8-116) claiming the bowling honours and Mason the standout choice for player of the match. It was the young fast bowler's first-ever Shield win, and just Mason's fourth since his first-class debut five years earlier.

"I've still got a photo somewhere of us in the (change)rooms after the game with a beer, sitting next to each other with our caps on, I think we'd just sung the (team) song," Griffith says. "That was what we used to talk a lot about, was how great it was to have four days of tough, hard cricket and to win the game, because we hadn't won much before that.

"So for two younger guys who were still forging their way, it was good to sit down and have a beer together, reflect on what we'd achieved, and talk about what we hoped was to come."

* * *

In August 2004, Mason began showing signs that not everything was quite right. McFadyen remembers him shivering through an indoor pool session and being short of breath. To others, the normally super-fit athlete appeared sluggish through pre-season. Mason sensed something was amiss too, reportedly fearing he had come down with glandular fever.

Instead, a heart check revealed an issue with his aortic valve, and in October that year he went in for surgery to have it replaced. He spent nine weeks in hospital and subsequently missed the entire 2004-05 summer.

It was particularly cruel twist of fate given he had played all 10 Shield matches the previous season, building on his maiden hundred with a steady season of 548 runs that included three half-centuries and a second century.

What Mason couldn't have known then was that he had already played his final match. Instead, as his recovery tracked well and he was flown to Brisbane by Cricket Tasmania to watch the Tigers beat Queensland in the domestic one-day final, he eagerly awaited his return to action, desperate to pick up where he had left off in his career.

"Scotty was ambitious," says Coyle. "He wanted to take his game to the very highest level if he could … so that journey (back to cricket) was probably a little slower than he wanted it to be.

"He'd started to do a bit of running – just testing himself physically – and then it was time to start hitting some balls."

Looking back now, Winston Mason believes his son was perhaps too hasty with his comeback.

"I think he pushed himself because it was contract time coming around," he says. "I think he might have pushed himself a bit too hard."

On April 7, 2005, Mason headed to the indoor nets at Bellerive Oval, just as he had countless other times.

He had recently bought a house with his partner, and it is easy to imagine he was heading to practice with even more enthusiasm than usual, given it marked his return to batting, with his heart issues apparently behind him.

"We were all just that excited that he was coming back to play cricket again," recalls Kremerskothen.

On the scene at Bellerive Oval that day were McFadyen, Coyle and an old coaching mentor friend of his, Ashleigh Byron, and rooms attendant Roger Gillham. 

"I'd thrown him three or four cricket balls," recalls Coyle, "and we were just standing in the nets, and he didn't look great, so I said, 'Are you OK?'

"And then he just collapsed. We knew it was serious so we all jumped in, and he wasn't in a great way but we managed to get a heartbeat.

"It was traumatic. You don't wish that kind of thing on your worst enemy."

Recalls McFadyen: "I was upstairs in the office, and then someone yelled out 'Maso's collapsed'. So I went straight down, I was there within about 10 seconds, and there he was, basically just limp on the ground … it was that quick, and then I called the ambulance."

As soon as he heard the news, Kremerskothen went to Royal Hobart Hospital, on the other side of the Derwent River from Bellerive Oval, where he sat with Mason's parents, Winston and Jill, and a couple of other family members, into the early hours of the next morning. Within another 24 hours, Mason had passed.

"During his time in intensive care at the hospital he had two further cardiac arrests and was resuscitated successfully," said then Tasmania Cricket Association medical officer Dr Peter Sexton.

"It became apparent he had some blockages in both the main arteries of the heart, so a decision was made to take him to the main operation theatre and open up those arteries to restore blood circulation to the heart muscle.

"Unfortunately he had another cardiac arrest, and despite an emergency operation, he died."

Kremerskothen called Di Venuto, who was playing with Derbyshire in the UK County Championship, to break the news to him and another former Tasmania player and old friend of Mason's, Chris Bassano.

"I was in Kent playing a pre-season game," Di Venuto recalls. "We were at our hotel when Scott rang through with the news. It was bloody sad. He was one of those blokes you just loved to play with. Someone who you just willed to have success."

Wright was another who was playing in the UK at the time, with Northamptonshire. Neither he nor Di Venuto were able to get away from their County duties to attend the funeral, so Wright recorded a video message to be played at Mason's funeral.

"That was probably the most emotional thing I've ever done," he says. "I was still relatively young, and I wasn't really sure how to go about it, but I knew I just wanted to speak from the heart about what he meant to me.

"It was a terribly hard thing to do, but I was so glad I got the opportunity to do.

"I'd never lost anyone close to me before, so to lose one of your best mates at that age, it was devastating."

* * *

Right around the same time Mason passed, his old mentor Coyle learned he was going to become Tasmania's new head coach.

The timing was both perfect and horrible.

The recent one-day final win in Brisbane had been just the state's second piece of silverware, with Blues recruit Michael Bevan immediately proving himself a valuable acquisition. Within that 12-month window, the Tigers also debuted three young players who would go on to become the bedrock of a golden era: George Bailey, Tim Paine and Ben Hilfenhaus.

Yet the loss of Mason had hit hard.

"It was going to be a really exciting time for both of us," says Coyle, who delivered a eulogy at the funeral. "Scott was coming back, and for me, to have the chance to coach Tasmania's first-class team with Scott Mason in it, that was something I was really looking forward to, having had that long journey with him from when he was 12 or 13 years of age.

"Fifteen years later, I thought: Well, here's our chance, we're actually going to do it together.

"I was always around the place, but to do it officially as coach and with him playing, that would have been really nice. That for me was a real motivation, but it was taken away.

"So when I did it, I did it with Scott's memory strong in the whole process for me."

Griffith recalls the squad getting together in the wake of their teammate's death, offering moral support and generally looking to draw strength from one another.

"As sad and painful a moment as it was," he explains, "'Maso' would love to know that it brought us even closer together as a group, and allowed us to continue what we'd started with him, which I think was quite amazing."

Across the next eight seasons, Tasmania won five of the 16 Shield and one-day titles on offer, embarking a run of sustained success not achieved before or since. Their drought-breaking 2006-07 Shield title was the most significant, and for the players, the most emotional, achieved as it was with a framed photo of Mason taking pride of place in their changeroom.

"We had a very successful period of cricket, and there are a number of reasons why we did well," Coyle says. "There's no doubt for some people in the team – not everyone, but some people in the team – would really have used the loss of one of their teammates as motivation to do well, and to do it in his honour.

"Those things are intangible in some ways, and it's a personal thing. I know Damien Wright was very driven."

It was Wright who took the match-winning wicket in that Shield final against New South Wales, pointing to the sky afterwards in a nod to Mason.

"Winston was with us the whole game – in the rooms, and a part of that victory, which was awesome," he says. "At the end of the game, when we had a big team photo with everyone, this huge, framed picture of Mase sat in the front, which was a really nice touch.

"He was certainly there with us, that's for sure."

Wright has never watched back the video message he recorded for the funeral, and nor has Coyle ever re-read the eulogy he delivered. Both men have those words stored away in their homes, and they are yet to decide if they will one day revisit them. Instead they have joined with the rest of Cricket Tasmania in finding other ways to honour Mason's memory. Chief among them is the annual Scott Mason Memorial match, which is Tasmania's home Shield clash with Victoria, due to the close ties with that state through the moves to Melbourne of Shipperd and later Wright.

Winston attends each year, proudly handing out the Scott Mason Medal to the player of the match, which by his count has been won by Matthew Wade – for both sides – on five occasions.

"Every game, he tells me, 'I'll win it again for you, Winny'," he laughs.

For Coyle, who remains close friends with Winston, it is too long since he has attended one of Mason's memorial matches. In 2023, he plans to change that.

"The actual name 'Scott Mason' will mean less and less to the players, because it's a new generation, but the important thing for us to do as a cricket community and for those who have been involved, is to make sure it continues," he says.

"I haven't been to a Scott Mason game for a little while now, and in talking to Winston the other day, I realised it's time I started being present again, and making sure I put a couple of days aside to go and sit with Winston and watch that game."

In Hobart each year, Mason's two former clubs, New Town and Clarence, also play a match in his memory. Wright has attended a few of those, and even spoken at one, as a means of ensuring his mate's memory endures.

"It's a lovely thing," he says, "to be able to talk about him there, and that'll always go on."

The most recent time he was there, Wright took his 14-year-old son, who he and his wife named Mason.

"When Mase was born, we wanted to name him after Scotty," he says. "It was something nice for Winston and Jill, and it was really important for us.

"It's funny, he's a keen little cricketer as well. He's going really well, and he's a left-handed batter too, so I think he was destined to have the name."

Approaching 18 years since Mason's death, Winston is still moved to tears when he talks about Scott's friends keeping his son's number in their phones, as well as the fact that not one, but three of them named their boys Mason in his honour.

For him, Jill and their other son, Stuart, Scott lives on as a "daily memory", and they are thrilled with the way Cricket Tasmania is ensuring his legacy continues in the sport he loved via the annual memorial match, and an honours board at what is now Blundstone Arena.

"Sporting people can be heroes and not leave a legacy," Winston says, "but you're better off leaving a legacy than being a hero, and that's what Scott's done.

"He wasn't an all-out star. He was a good person, a good cricketer, and he's left a legacy."

Lead image supplied by Rick Smith