Story
In the remote South Australian outback lies Farina - an abandoned railway ghost town with a spirit that refuses to fade. Once a year, this quiet place bursts back to life as locals, stockmen, grey nomads and descendants gather to play cricket on a desolate, rocky oval - ensuring the town’s legacy endures.
Ghost Town Cricket is more than a story about sport and the love of this timeless game. It’s about community, connection and resilience.
It follows those who return not for trophies, but to rekindle the soul of a place that shaped them - and to honour the memories that still linger in the rubble.
What begins as a quirky outback tradition becomes something much deeper - a reminder of where we’ve come from, and the quiet power of coming back. Even just for one day.
Awards / Screenings
Culture Cinema - Film of the Festival, Best Sports Film / Press
Saath Jiyo Film Festival - Best Documentary Director
Nawada Film Festival - Best First Time Director, Best Documentary
Mumbai Indie Film Fest - Best Documentary Short
Docuworld Film Festival - Nominee, Best International Short
Australia Independent Film Festival - Quarter Finalist
Down Under Film Festival - Official Selection
Lift-Off Sydney Film Festival - Official Selection
London Breeze Film Festival - Official Selection
Goa Short Film Festival - Official Selection
FilmInk - Short of the Week
Press and feature articles:
Director's Statement
During the boredom of covid lockdown in 2020, like many people, I found myself questioning what I truly wanted to do with my life and career. I’d spent years in the creative industry - telling stories for others, but I was craving something of my own.
I’m a self-confessed cricket tragic and have loved the game with all my heart since I was a young boy. In the back of my mind, I’d always searched for a way to express that love through creativity - an ambition that had lingered for many years.
One day, scrolling through Instagram, I stumbled on a photo of the most fascinating cricket match in Kashmir, India. Played on a cracked clay surface with no grass in sight, thousands surrounding the field. There was something raw and beautiful about it, and that single image sparked a feeling I couldn’t shake - a deep urge to tell the story behind it. The match, the people, culture and community that flooded my mind with wonder as I stared at the photo. This curiosity set me on a path to find a cricket match equally as unusual - that could become the centre of a rich and soulful story.
That search led me to Farina - an abandoned town in the South Australian outback, slowly being brought back to life by a group of volunteers and descendants via the Farina Restoration Group. And at the heart of this revival - a cricket match. Rough, rugged, makeshift - and the perfect anchor for a story I could call my own.
What I found in Farina was far more than a quirky, good humoured outback game. I found connection. Community. Resilience. History. As the story unfolded and the characters emerged, I felt a deep responsibility to bring these themes to life - with soulful storytelling. I wanted people to feel the heart of the place, the weight of its past, and the beauty of what it means to return.
Ghost Town Cricket is my debut film. Self-funded, produced with love and shot with a tiny, passionate crew in just over four days and one of the most awesome experiences of my life. It’s a tribute to the salt of the earth people of the outback, the enduring legacy of a town that refuses to be forgotten and this beautiful game I've loved since I was a boy.
Series Concept
From the photo that inspired it all, Ghost Town Cricket was originally conceived as a pilot for a broader series called "Uncovered Grounds" - a collection of stories that bring to life the world’s most fascinating, remote and unexpected cricket matches.
From an annual game in an outback ghost town, to a tournament played on a frozen lake in the Swiss Alps (Cricket On Ice), beach cricket in Scotland (The Ship Inn) and the crater like ground of Lahanthora, India that inspired it all - each episode explores the pure love of the game, and the extraordinary lengths people go to in order to keep it alive. Through these matches, we uncover more than just unusual settings where cricket has no right to be played. We meet the characters, hear the histories, and feel the heart and spirit of what makes cricket such a deeply human game - bringing to life its many wonderful values that are often difficult to harness.
Whether the series sees the light of day is yet to be seen (yes, funding is the key) - but the stories are there, waiting to be uncovered. If you'd like to learn more or view the pitch deck, the team behind Ghost Town would love to hear from you.
