Bedecked in the training shirt of his newly joined team, his face partially concealed by a baseball cap, Mark Cleary laughingly recounts the "little bit of drunk talk" in Thailand that precipitated his move east.

Bedecked in the training shirt of his newly joined team, his face partially concealed by a baseball cap, Mark Cleary laughingly recounts the "little bit of drunk talk" in Thailand that precipitated his move east.

"It's amazing what a few beers will do," Cleary continues amidst laughter, detailing the embryonic discussions held with Cricket Victoria General Manager of Cricket Operation Shaun Graf as their holidays coincided in South East Asia.

Careful not to contravene the laws that govern player contracts, Graf suspended his holiday momentarily the following day to contact South Australia Cricket Association Director of Cricket Jamie Cox before formally pursuing Cleary.

"If a strong team like Victoria shows an interest in you, you're flattered basically," Cleary muses.

"It wasn't a decision I made lightly because the bowling squad over here is a lot stronger than South Australia but my missus was seven months pregnant at the time as well so we thought a fresh change and fresh start would be great - to come over here for the next two years."

The duration of the contract ultimately confirmed Cleary's decision. The security of Victoria's two-year offer - compared to the one-year extension proffered by South Australia - providing an assurance of significant worth to a soon-to-be wed couple expecting their first child.

The contentedness the two-year deal promised manifests itself in Cleary's speech and the near-ubiquitous accompanying smiles as we sit in an MCG cafe bearing the name of Hugh Trumble, a forebear of the Victorian team in which he now resides.

Fiancé Esther has since given birth to their first child, Eve. "It's fantastic [being a father]," Cleary enthuses as he slides his left bicep from underneath the sleeve of his Bushrangers training shirt, revealing the newly-inked tattoo tribute to his daughter.

"It's a little bit tiring - she wakes up a lot during the night but I absolutely love it, she's a beauty."

The trio have settled in Southbank since arriving in the state Cleary was persuaded to leave as a budding 18-year-old, in pursuit of a professional cricket career.

Born in Melbourne, the bulk of Cleary's upbringing occurred in Mildura after his father Chris' career as a property valuer necessitated a move.

Aged 18, an offer to employ his hitherto locally-applied cricket skills in England jolted Cleary towards a professional cricket career, though not without interruption.

While playing league cricket in England, former South Australian cricketer Brad Wigney admired Cleary's talents and suggested he pursue his cricket further in Adelaide.

"I got back and played a season of grade cricket in Adelaide," Cleary recalls.

"It went pretty well, I got into the A-Grade as a young fella and played four or five games. Then went back to Mildura the following year to get some more work"

"I had a year off to see what I wanted to do. Cricket-wise, I wanted to play cricket but hadn't really decided what level I wanted to [play]," Cleary muses, articulating the conventional adolescent indecision that clouded his return to Mildura.

In an act of cricket providence, former South Australian batsman and now Bangladesh national coach Jamie Siddons, having recently concluded his playing career, assumed the coaching role of Cleary's Mildura club.

"He (Jamie Siddons)...said: 'What are you doing here, mate? You've either got to go to Melbourne or go back to Adelaide and have a crack,'" Cleary remembers.

Siddons' indecision-countering advice confronted the inertia that had begun to infiltrate Cleary's plans and confirmed his trail toward professional cricket.

"If Jamie Siddons hadn't said 'pull your finger out' there's no way I would have gone to Adelaide," Cleary appreciatively reminisces.

"From there ... he (Siddons) rang Darren Lehmann and Greg Chappell and said 'Can he go into training? He's coming over to Adelaide next week, can he come and train and have a bowl?'"

"From there on I ... got into the South Australian Academy and three or four months later got into the second XI team."

Despite the repeated intervention of injury - most poignantly as he inhabited the Australia A team alongside contemporaries Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey and Matt Rogers who each graduated and played for Australia - Cleary pensively reflects on his time in South Australia without significant exasperation.

"[I] absolutely loved it (playing for South Australia). It was a little bit disappointing for me, I'd got a roll on, played four or five games for Australia A and then injured my back," he states.

"Then I played County cricket and did really well, then got injured again ... Then Jason Gillespie came back and got my spot with Taity and Ryan Harris - it was up and down."

Currently injury-free, Cleary understands his place in the Bushrangers team isn't a formality.

"We had a meeting and they (Cricket Victoria) said: 'Look, we're not going to say you're more likely to play four-dayers, or one-dayers, or Twenty20 - be ready for all three," he affirms.

Reinforcing the setting he now finds himself in, the lush MCG grass, illuminated by the early afternoon sun of Melbourne's recalcitrant winter, acts as his backdrop.

"From my point of view, it would be great to play the first game of whatever competition but I've just got to do what I can do wherever I'm playing and try my hardest," Cleary pragmatically intones.

The instigator of his move, Shaun Graf, reinforces the expediency of Cleary's expectations in the Victorian set-up.

"Although he will probably have limited opportunities initially, Mark will give the Bushrangers great depth in all forms of the game," Graf says.

"His T20 form last year in the KFC Big Bash was outstanding, we expect him to be an important contributor in this season's defence of the title."

In his own words, Cleary's style is "Nothing too flashy."

"More of a medium-fast seamer and occasionally swing it. I guess I'm a smart bowler, not a raw run in and let it go," he continues.

"It was only a few years ago that I thought to smarten up and use my brain a bit more. I guess that's my strength these days and thinking about changing it up - slower balls and stuff like that, especially in the shorter game."

Irrespective the dearth of assurances of his place in the Bushrangers side, one gets the impression that selection isn't to solely define the mood of his return to Victoria: the comfort of his new family life will likely offset selection quandaries encountered.

28 AUGUST, 2010 Sebastian Kipman