The Hotel Elliot has quickened the pace – Noel Duffield, one of the great characters of the hospitality industry and his son Jason and daughter, Olivia, have left and there’s a change at the railway end – in come Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait, and his good mate, Matt Kelly.
And the question everyone is asking Shaun is: “Will you play cricket for Port Elliot?’ He said there was a real chance to play the occasional local game, but definitely after his current Twenty-20 Big Bash commitments with the Adelaide Strikers, who start their campaign against the Hobart Hurricanes in Hobart on December 22.
Shaun arrived home last week after nine months away, including time in India with his fiancée, Mashoom Singha, a model from Mumbai, where he is also heavily involved in the hospitality industry.
“We have been seeing each other for three and a half years,” Shaun said. “Mashoom is looking forward to coming here.
“The pub game has always been something I have been interested in; I have enjoyed socialising and having a social drink. While I feel I have a couple of years of cricket left in me it is something that I can do on the side and have an interest. I will still live in Adelaide for now, but I will commute all of the time; it’s not far from the city.
“I knew Kells (Kelly) was in the market to buy a pub, and having seen the way he has managed pubs in Adelaide I saw it as a great opportunity.”
Matt, and his wife, Tanille, have a daughter, 10, and a son, seven.
“I love it here already,” Matt said. “We’re all excited about the big change.”