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last year
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan
Founder
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
503 Likes
513 Followers



Corey Richards was a wonderful cricketer. Technically very correct and could play shots all around the ground and he was an excellent fielder.

It might sound a bit strange but as a wicket keeper playing against Corey, you didn’t mind him scoring a few runs.

Corey played 55 first class games for New South Wales and Australia scoring 2,953 runs at an average of 31.41 with 7 centuries and 15 half centuries. His highest score in first class cricket was 164.

In 81 limited overs games for New South Wales Corey scored 2,176 runs at an average of 32.47 with 3 centuries and 13 half centuries. His highest score in one day cricket was 151.

In his prime Corey could mix it with the very best

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/32/paul-ryan/blog/1908/corey-richards-stay-ahead-of-the-game
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last year
Bankstown District Cricket Club
Bankstown District Cricket Club
Sydney, Australia
10 Likes
30 Followers



Paul Talbot, affectionately known as ‘Straws’ started playing for Bankstown Cricket Club during the 1973/74 season and spent the next 27 years as a one club player taking 586 wickets at an average of 19.83 in all grades.

Paul is Bankstown first grade cap number 130 and took 263 wickets in first grade at an average of 22.78 from 1978 to 1995. He took 5 or more wickets in an innings on 7 occasions.

1988/89 and 89/90 were very productive seasons for Straws as he got pipped at the last hurdle to come 2nd in the Bill O’Reilly Player of the Year Medal and played NSW 2nd XI cricket

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/356/bankstown-district-cricket-club/blog/950/paul-talbot-donrsquot-give-up-and-enjoy-yourself
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last year
Shaun Graf
Shaun Graf
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
15 Likes
0 Followers



My best Grade Cricket team - Shaun Graf Melbourne and Perth 1976 - 2000

In Melbourne what’s now known as Premier Cricket used to be called District cricket but for sake of consistency of the recent headline I’m keen to participate and pick my Best Grade team of players I played with in District Cricket.

To position my career I made my First grade debut for St Kilda in 1976 and played with the Saints until I made my way to Perth to play with South Perth for the 1983/84 season.

After one season in Perth I returned to Melbourne to play for St Kilda and then joined Frankston for their first 3 seasons in 1993/94, 1994/95 and 1995/96 and then returned to St Kilda in 1996/97 before finishing up in 1999/2000.

So here's my Best Grade team comes from the players I played with at St Kilda and Frankston in Melbourne and South Perth in Perth.

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/283/shaun-graf/blog/1766/my-best-grade-cricket-team-shaun-graf-melbourne-and-perth-1976-2000
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last year
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan
Founder
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
503 Likes
513 Followers



Hamish Solomons is the very proud owner of Cap Number 355 for St George District Club. He’s a Life Member of St George and it’s where he scored 3,251 runs and took 334 wickets across the grades he played.

What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?

Captaining the premiership season of 2005/06 where we witnessed firsthand the emergence of Trent Copeland the bowler who had been my wicket keeper the season before. I actually wrote a piece about Trent and had the pleasure of delivering the nomination for Trent to become a Life Member at St George

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/32/paul-ryan/blog/1029/hamish-solomons-better-than-yesterday
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last year
Brad Bannister
Brad Bannister
Teacher
Corrowong, NSW, Australia
32 Likes
3 Followers



As I sat watching Shane Warne’s Memorial Service, I still can’t quite believe he has passed.

Many of his exploits have been shared, but I thought it timely to share a personal yarn.

I didn’t know Warne, but in November of 1999, I was playing cricket in Brisbane and was lucky enough to be asked to be a net bowler for Australia for the first test of the summer at the Gabba v Pakistan.

It also happened to be the debut test for Adam Gilchrist. Even though they had played many ODI’s with each other they decided it was pertinent to spend a bit of time bowling to Gilly as the keeper and go through the varieties he would be tossing up in the game.

Well, these two legends of the game grabbed another of the net bowlers (in hindsight, I’m glad it wasn’t me) to bat against him with a stump. This ‘other’ net bowler was a quality first grade cricketer who had arrived in Brisbane at the same time as me, but had come from the much stronger Sydney First Grade Competition and played first class cricket for NSW.

Shane asked the guy to pad up and bat against him with a stump. Gilly parked himself behind the stumps and the batsman confidently asked Shane whether he should deliberately miss them and occasionally hit a few?

Shane gave Gilly a wry smile and said to the batter, “how about you just go down there and do your best champ.”

Well, let’s say that for the next forty minutes, this guy tried his absolute best to hit every ball with his stump. He missed every one, the harder he tried the further he missed by. The longer the session went the more the rest of the team and us hangerons stopped what we were doing to mill around and watch. The boys were egging everyone on, and the batter became more and more embarrassed. He left the net session with his tail firmly between his legs.

A classic example of never pushing a genius.

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last year
Cricket NSW
Cricket NSW
71 Likes
102 Followers



NSW 1992-93 and 1993-94 Sheffield Shield and Mercantile Mutual Champions - 30 year reunion

4th Row – Gavin Robertson, Phil Alley, Tristan Alley (Phil’s son)
3rd Row – Warwick Adlam, Pat Farhart, Neil Maxwell, Mark Patterson
2nd Row – Michael Bevan, Richard Chee Quee, Steve Waugh, Randal Green, David Freedman, Phil Emery, Trevor Bayliss
Front Row – Steve Rixon, Brad McNamara, Adrian Tucker, Rodney Davison, Mark Taylor, Wayne Holdsworth

On Friday 22nd September 2023 at The Four in Hand Hotel in Paddington, Sydney, Cricket NSW sponsored a terrific 30-year reunion of the 1992-93 and 1993-94 successful NSW teams.

Over the 2 seasons NSW won the two Sheffield Shield competitions and the two Mercantile Mutual One Day competitions.

In 1992-93 NSW defeated Queensland in the final of the Sheffield Shield and Victoria in the Mercantile Mutual One Day competition.

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/154/cricket-nsw/blog/1530/nsw-1992-93-and-1993-94-sheffield-shield-and-mercantile-mutual-champions-30-year-reunion
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last year
Sydney University Cricket Club
Sydney University Cricket Club
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
10 Likes
14 Followers



Ian Fisher - Sydney University Cricket Club Hall of Fame Article

Ian Fisher is the supreme example of a player who was initially and strangely rejected and unwanted by the Club and yet who returned to bolster the 1st Grade’s fragile batting, to captain 1st Grade to positions of strength, to inevitably top the aggregates, to inspire his younger charges with tactical awareness and belligerent left-hand batting.

In 1970-71, for example, the side relied almost exclusively on Fisher who scored 851 runs. The next in aggregate was Ian Foulsham with 298. When Ian scored 120 against the strong St George side in 1972, the other ten batsmen dribbled out 94 runs. Against Randwick in 1973, on a soft and grassy pitch, his 119 not out included 97 after lunch in even time. In his 100 not out in 1974 against a Northern District side that contained three NSW bowlers, his second 50 was plundered from only 17 balls of destructive mayhem

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/260/sydney-university-cricket-club/blog/1898/ian-fisher-sydney-university-cricket-club-hall-of-fame-article
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last year
NSW Premier Cricket
NSW Premier Cricket
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
49 Likes
56 Followers



Allrounder John Saint from Sydney University Cricket Club won the 1993-94 Bill O'Reilly Medal for the best and fairest in Sydney Grade Cricket.

The top 5 point scorers in 1992-93 were:
28 points - John Saint - Sydney University Cricket Club
26 points - Shane Lee - Campbelltown Cricket Club
25 points - Anthony Kershler - Hawkesbury Cricket Club
24 points - Scott Thompson - Bankstown District Cricket Club
22 points - Tom Shiner - Western Suburbs District Cricket Club

Bankstown District Cricket Club won the teams award with 96 points and Randwick were second with 92 points

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/1191/nsw-premier-cricket/blog/1896/sydney-university-cricket-club-allrounder-john-saint-won-the-1993-94-bill-oreilly-medal
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last year
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club
Sydney, Australia
40 Likes
43 Followers



From the moment he joined, Lyall Gardner threw himself wholeheartedly into whatever was going on in the club. He was an experienced club cricketer, who simply “lived the game”. Playing was a tonic to Lyall and his performances quickly justified his selection straight into 1st Grade, where he was a reliable and persistent into the wind, new ball bowler. His classic wicket ball was a slight inswinger that seamed further back at the batsman’s stumps after it hit the pitch. When the ball was new, you definitely had to get straight onto the front foot to him or start digging it out of your middle and leg stump!

As a player he played matches in all grades 1st to 5th, taking five wickets in an innings in each grade. There would not be many players who could boast that statistic. In fact, he took 10 wickets in a match three times and ten times he took five wickets in an innings. Best figures 8-12: 3rd Grade v Waverley 1977-78 and he won the 2nd Grade batting average with 22.83 in 1975-76 batting no. 10. Took 5-14: 2nd Grade at Rushcutters Bay on 11 October 1975 (Saturday) and celebrated by marrying Ros next day 12 October 1975 (Sunday) with the team in attendance!

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/258/randwick-petersham-cricket-club/blog/127/lyall-gardner-itrsquos-never-over-until-itrsquos-over
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last year
Manly Warringah District Cricket Club
Manly Warringah District Cricket Club
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
33 Likes
21 Followers



This fortnight Howzat Building Waratahs in History Q & A is with Scott Patterson. Scott played 11 seasons for the Tahs from 2003/04 to 2013/2014. A local junior who started his career at the club when he was only 14. His debut in 1st Grade at the age of 18 saw him facing up to NSW legend Don Nash! A great read below which we hope you enjoy.

Who were your cricket heroes growing up?
Mark Waugh. Loved the way he played so effortlessly, particularly when playing the cover drive. First bat I owned was the Slazenger V800 to try and emulate him. Took a long time before I could hit it off the square.

https://manlycricket.com/waratahs-in-history-scott-patterson
/

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last year
Joe Maiorana
Joe Maiorana
Sydney, Australia
40 Likes
2 Followers



Jack Potter (born 13 April 1938) is an Australian former cricketer who played 81 matches for Victoria.

Twelfth man three times for Australia without playing a Test, Jack Potter’s legacy will live forever in spearheading a vibrant set of innovative coaching structures pivotal in the advancement of many emerging champions including Shane Warne, Justin Langer, and Damien Martyn at the Australian Cricket Academy.

A dashing batsman, magnificent field and brilliant leader, Potter remains among the finest cricketers not to play a Test. He is also a Fitzroy – Doncaster CC legend.

But for having his skull fractured on a hard wicket in an otherwise inconsequential game against the Netherlands at the Hague, he would have made Test ranks as all those who didn’t play an Ashes Test on the ’64 tour were to be lifted into the XI for the Tests on the way home in India and Pakistan.

An astute and inspired captain at club and Sheffield Shield level, Potter was to establish the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide and mentor giants-to-be like Shane Warne and Justin Langer.

He even introduced a 20-year-old Warne to the flipper but was one to rail against Warne’s free spirit and all but expel him prematurely from the Academy after an incident around a swimming pool in Darwin.

‘He retired from cricket far too young,’ says the legendary Bill Lawry in his foreword.

Jack was a flowing strokemaker and a superlative fielder… he had balance, anticipation and could throw and catch even the hardest hit balls with stunning nonchalance.’

Besides holding the record for being 12th man for Australia the most times without winning a cap (thrice), he was the first prominent spinner to bowl a 'doosra' (a leg-break bowled with an off-break action)

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