Denis Hinds - A Cricketing Life
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | June 21, 2025
Randwick has quite a history with left-arm spinners. Bill Ellison, an over-the-wrist spin bowler who played for 37 years in taking 1,072 wickets across all competitions, heads the list followed by the orthodox-style Trevor Jay who took 950 overall, including 709 in 1st Grade. Then there was the orthodox Denis Hinds, who completed his career with an astonishing 1,059 wickets, 739 of which were with Randwick and Randwick Petersham. It was a brilliant career by a dedicated player and a great contributor to the game.
Denis John Hinds was born at Mascot on 20 June 1951. Educated at Sydney Boys High, the budding left-arm spin bowler didn’t venture into Grade Cricket until he joined the original Sydney Cricket Club as a 21-year-old in 1972. He began in 4th Grade and alternated between that and 3rd Grade for four seasons with the occasional match in 2s. Having taken 113 wickets in that period, he forced selectors’ hands and in 1976-77 he started the season in 2nd Grade. Half-way through the summer however, he was in 1st Grade alongside one of the legends of the game in Rick McCosker. And while he spent the next seven seasons in 2s, in 1984-85 he was the leading spinner in 1st Grade, taking 24 wickets with 6-91 his best.
Mellick Wealth Management is a proud sponsor of Randwick Petersham Cricket Club
In a restructure of Grade Cricket by NSWCA in 1985, Sydney CC was dropped from the 1st Grade competition. As a result, Hinds linked up with Randwick prior to the start of the following 1985-86 season. Commencing in the lower grades, he was an instant hit, bagging two five wicket hauls in his first two matches in 4th Grade. He followed that with 3-19 in his only 3rd Grade game before becoming a regular in 2s where he took 5-61 against Gordon among other excellent performances. And to top off a great season with his new club, he went on to play 1st Grade, taking 4-49 against Manly at Coogee in his only appearance.
Over the following 15 seasons leading up to Randwick’s merger with Petersham-Marrickville, Denis played a mixture of games in 3rd and 4th grades. He also appeared in the occasional match in 2nd Grade although in 1987-88 he was there for half the season producing a 6-38 performance in a brilliant win over North Sydney.
It was quite an amazing period for the wily spinner as he took 185 wickets in 3rd Grade and 211 in 4ths. His best season in 3rd Grade was 1995-96 when the team won the premiership. He was the leading bowler with 39 wickets at just 14.38 runs each and was responsible for one of the great Grand Final performances. Playing at Caringbah Oval, he bowled 48 successive overs with 18 maidens in over three sessions to reduce Sydney University from 2-124 to 216 all out, taking 6-86 in the process. Randwick was able to run down the target for the loss of just six wickets to take the premiership. In those 3rd Grade years, he also returned figures of 6-50, 6-37 and his best, 6-20.
In 1990-91, Hinds captained the 4th Grade team, leading it to the semi-final which was lost to Penrith at Kensington Oval. That was not due to any lack of effort on Denis’ part however, as he produced career-best figures of 8-53. He also took 5-52 against Parramatta in a season tally of 45 wickets–another career-best performance. He came within two wickets of breaking that personal best record four seasons later when he took 44 wickets at just 13.13 with 7-34 his top figures. Randwick were minor premiers that season but in a major upset, lost the Grand Final to Parramatta. And four years later the name Denis Hinds again went into the record books as he was the last to captain a Randwick 4th Grade team in 2000-01–the final season before the merger.
Affectionately known as “Groucho” in cricket circles, Denis celebrated his 50th birthday in June 2001, just a month before Randwick Petersham Cricket Club came into being. But age was not a dampener for the enthusiastic little spinner as he was one of the first to line-up for a guernsey with the new club. And to show how experience counted, he topped the bowling with 42 wickets with his 6-35 against Wests the best of three five-wicket plus hauls. With another 37 scalps the following season, he was again the star with the ball, particularly as the side won the club’s first premiership under the captaincy of Greg Hartshorne. And the Denis Hinds star continued to shine brightly two years later, when his 32 wickets topped the bowling figures in 5th Grade.
In 2005-06, Hinds gradually eased himself out of the Grade ranks playing half the season in the club’s Metropolitan Cup Gold team. It was an interesting move as the 5th Grade team went on to win the premiership. But without diminishing the brilliance or importance of his many special moments in Grade Cricket, some of Denis’ finest moments occurred during the seasons which followed in the ranks of the Metropolitan Cup where he directed his energy towards the future of the club’s many young up-and-coming players. While he finished his first season as captain of the club’s Metro Cup Gold team, over the following summers he also captained the club’s second Green team, varying his presence as a means of balancing the sides.
Denis played and captained the Metro Cup teams, amazingly, for another seven seasons. Content to take a “back seat” in an effort to ensure every opportunity was afforded to the young players, he took the ball only on those occasions when the situation called for his guile and experience. He also concentrated more on his batting, scoring a rare half-century in a total of 497 runs which was not far below his Randwick / Randwick Petersham career tally of 754. And despite his advancing years, his leadership and cricket expertise remained in demand as evidenced by his recall to skipper a couple of 5th Grade matches in 2012-13 when aged 61.
Denis’ outstanding contribution to the game and the club was formally acknowledged in 2006 when he was made the 43rd Life Member of Randwick Petersham. It was a fitting tribute to a true gentleman of the game who has always played with fairness and honour. And apart from being a practical contributor to the club he has also made a financial commitment as a regular team sponsor and advertiser on behalf of his legal firm.
Although Denis had put away his cricket playing gear, the call of the game on a Saturday afternoon was too much for him to resist and in 2014-15 he was back on the park….as an umpire. It was the start of a career which lasted through to the end of the 2023-24 season. In all, he stood in 131 NSW Premier Cricket matches and another four in Metropolitan Cup.
A statistical analysis of Denis Hinds’ playing performances makes for interesting reading. His overall career wicket record stands at 1,059…453 for Randwick, 320 for Sydney, 165 for Randwick Petersham and 121 in Metropolitan Cup. Of his 938 Grade wickets, he has 38 in 1st Grade, 227 in 2nds, 237 in 3rds, 383 in 4th Grade and 53 in Fives. This tally covers a period of 46 years between his first Grade Cricket wicket in 1972 and his last in 2018 when he finally hung up his boots. Age-wise, he took his first wicket at 21 and his last at 67 when most “old cricketers” are collecting the Age Pension let alone wickets in cricket matches!
Contrary to popular belief, Denis was no slouch with the bat in his younger days, when he scored 1,986 of his career 3,237 runs with Sydney CC. In those days, he sometimes batted in the first few, although with only a single half-century to his name it was no surprise he concentrated on his bowling as the years wore on. In his later years however, he showed a glimpse of his batting prowess when he hit 56 in a Metro Cup match.
Test cricketers are the product of grass-roots cricket programs developed under the watchful eyes of dedicated mentors. Should a player emerge from the club’s Metropolitan Cup ranks in the years ahead to don the Baggy Green of Australia, there is every likelihood he will do so with the Denis Hinds polish and stamp of approval.
4th Grade Premiers 2002-03–Randwick Petersham’s first premiership team
Back: Bill Hendricks (umpire), Owen Ridge (Scorer), David Townsend, Nigil Singh, Zachary Levien, Aaron Hildred,
Greg Hartshorne (Captain), Darren McCoy, Tim Donahoo (umpire)
Front: Matthew Taylor, Denis Hinds, Grant Frakes, Troy Brewster, Andy Hollingsworth, Michael Watson, John Connell (Manager)
Lyall Gardner OAM
Randwick Petersham Historian
BeaconPoint Club Clips - The Role of a Club Coach with Michael Haire from Randwick Petersham Cricket Club
