FORMER professional cricketer Simon Milenko will make a return to Redlands Tigers this summer four years after helping the club break its first grade premiership drought in a fairytale finale at Allan Border Field.
Milenko, 31, left Redlands in 2016 to pursue a professional career in Tasmania but stepped away from state cricket earlier this year and is now living in Thorneside with wife Kim and 13-week-old son Jack.
His last appearance for Redlands came during the grand final triumph against University of Queensland where the all-rounder claimed 11 wickets to help the club secure its first premier grade title in 26 years.
He played 25 first-class matches and 23 list-A games during his time in Tasmania and made a handful of appearances for Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League.
The all-rounder and accountant has now turned his attention to the world of business and is the owner of customised apparel franchise Icon Sports Queensland.
He retired from state cricket at the end of the 2020 Sheffield Shield season but said he would not write off playing twenty-twenty cricket professionally if a Big Bash club came knocking.
"If something was to come up, I probably wouldn't say no but it is not my sole focus," Milenko said.
"I am not coming back to play with the intention to continue my own career.
"I am ready for the next chapter of my life which is bringing up the family and working on my business."
Milenko decided to return to Queensland to be close to family and friends after he was told that the Tasmania Shield team was looking in another direction.
He said he could have played on for another one or two years but the timing was right to move back home.
"I had been there for four years, they wanted to move in a different direction and that was fine at that juncture in my life," Milenko said.
"It was always going to be disappointing when cricket ended but it certainly wasn't the be all and end all in terms of where I was at and everything else going on.
"The timing was actually quite nice to be able to move home and move on to the next chapter of life."
Milenko, who also played for Queensland and bagged a five-wicket haul and half-century for Australia A against a touring England side in 2017, said he was looking forward to playing at Redlands again.
He had called the club home for three years in the early 2010s and said he was looking forward to playing without the stressors of professional cricket.
"I am really excited to be playing cricket now for different reasons," Milenko said.
"When you are playing professionally, every level is always about wanting to make sure you are in form and in the team to push your own career.
"Cricket has been very kind to me for the last six years so part of it is trying to give back and nurture the next crop of kids coming through."
Milenko said he would look back on his time in Tasmania with fond memories.
The highlight of his time down south was his maiden first-class century against South Australia in 2019.
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