Flight Sergeant Ian Smith has swung a bat for Air Force Cricket for nearly two decades, and this Anzac Day he's rallying aviators to join him at Bowral's Bradman Oval for a match that sharpens the force's edge and bonds.
As Air Force Cricket (AFC) vice-president since 2013, he's guided the Air Force men's and women's cricket teams through both lean and good years, and he sees this annual Anzac Day clash as a cornerstone for cementing cricket's value within Air Force life.
"It's about coming together with like-minded people, and giving back to local communities," Flight Sergeant Smith said, explaining what's driven him since joining as a player in 2006.
That same passion powers the annual Anzac Day game against an Australian Public Service (APS) team, a tradition hosted with the Bowral Museum that's continued to grow in popularity since the first match in 2014.
Flight Sergeant Smith's cricket roots stretch back to age eight, as a 'RAAF brat' shifting between NSW and Victoria.
By 12, he was in senior cricket ranks, later coaching Victoria's women's firsts in 1996 before joining Defence at 25 in 2000.
Early in his RAAF career he reformed the RAAF Richmond Cricket Club, rallying "cricket-minded people together".
In 2006, he joined Air Force Cricket, stepping up as vice-president in 2013 when it risked folding.
"I thought that would be a travesty, we had just stood up the women's team," said Flight Sergeant Smith, currently Deputy Training and Unit Safety Adviser for Air Mobility Training and Development Unit at RAAF Base Richmond.
This Anzac Day, he's cheering his team from the sidelines, focusing on development rather than playing, leading a mixed squad from Brisbane, Tindal, Canberra, Sydney and beyond.
"We start off the morning participating in the Mittagong dawn service," Flight Sergeant Smith said.
"They'll wear the uniform, [and] march up with the veterans."
'Like Air Force life, you really do need to draw together. There's that teamwork and sacrifice that we all give.'
After spending quality time with RSL veterans and holding a service in Bowral with the APS team, they will hit the pitch on the Bradman Oval.
"It is always such a fantastic, moving day," he said of the event supported by the Air Force Sports Council.
"It's that camaraderie and that common goal, that unites everyone. Like Air Force life, you really do need to draw together. There's that teamwork and sacrifice that we all give."
Flight Sergeant Smith believes that such unity bolsters the Air Force's capability. From four personnel turning up at Nationals years ago to 48 men and 22 women trialling in November 2024, the squad, now 115 men and 79 women, proves cricket's draw.
One recruit, Leading Aircraftwoman Lauren Woods, watched Air Force women face her sister's NSW development squad at Bowral in 2016 when she was a teenager.
"She finished Year 12 and signed up the following year," Flight Sergeant Smith said, noting Leading Aircraftwoman Woods was set to fly in from RAAF Tindal for the Anzac Day game.
Flight Sergeant Smith is big on women's cricket, a passion sparked by coaching the Air Force women's team in 2012 and stoked by his belief in fairness.
"If we've got a men's cricket club, we should have a women's," he said.
"I'm a big advocate for equal rights, I'd be more than happy for my daughters and nieces to be a part of the Air Force I serve in today."
With the help of the Air Force Cricket committee his drive has paid off. Trials now draw 20 to 25 women each year.
Flight Sergeant Smith has seen the game transform lives. One player rediscovered herself and her passion for life on the pitch.
"Whatever sport you play, make sure you honour the uniform that you're wearing," Flight Sergeant Smith said.
