• Fueling conversations and igniting meaningful experiences for cricket fans around the world
  • Fueling conversations, igniting experiences

Stories

Recent Activity

Partner Sponsors

last year



Graham Spring debuted for North Sydney against Sutherland in 1979/80 and holds North Sydney 1st Grade Cap No 469. Over the next dozen years, Graham Spring was to become one of Sydney Grade Cricket’s finest all-rounders. He finished with 5,809 1st Grade runs and 260 1st Grade wickets.

Graham was a superb, elegant right-handed batsman, wonderful right-arm seam bowler and exquisite slip fieldsman. On the 3rd of December 1982, at the age of 21, Graham Spring was selected in the NSW Sheffield Shield team to play against South Australia at the SCG. He batted at Number 6 and bowled first change behind the Test pacemen, Len Pascoe and Mike Whitney. As testament to the strength of this NSW XI, which went on to win the inaugural Sheffield Shield Final that season, the other 10 members of this team all played Test Cricket for Australia.

Read More

Partner Sponsors

last year



QLD Colts v NSW Colts 1972-73

BackRow: David Falkenmire, David Ellis, Scott Ledger, Peter Donaldson, Ray Sippel, Neville James, Ian Gallagher

Front: Harold Crowton (scorer), Trevor Hohns, Graham Whyte, David Ogilvie (Captain), Kelvin Symons, Jeff Bell, Roger Harris (Manager)

This humble game marked the arrival of Jeff Thomson but few could have predicted the heights this unorthodox speedster would reach. All I can recall is that he was bloody quick and cleaned me up. No helmets of course. The late Peter Donaldson bowled brilliantly for Qld.

Match scorecard -

Read More

Partner Sponsors

last year



Martin Bedkober 1952-75

In 1974-75, Petersham-Marrickville won the 1st Grade premiership with Martin Bedkober at the forefront with many outstanding performances. He scored 541 runs with 118 against Nepean (now Penrith) his best while recording another 36 dismissals behind the stumps. And while he won selection in the Metropolitan Colts team for the second year, there remained a sense of frustration in not being able to further his career at the State level.

To assist him fulfil his burning ambition to play first-class cricket, Martin moved to Brisbane prior to the start of the 1975-76 season. He left Petersham-Marrickville with a Grade Cricket record of 2,752 runs and 261 wicket-keeping dismissals

Read More
last year



I was asked what’s the best sledge I ever received.

Incredibly it was from one of my own players. I was playing for Sutherland District Cricket Club in Sydney and the senior professional with a team of young players.

The game was against St George who’d won the competition the year before and we came last.

We had them on the ropes and needed 5 runs to win and I’m at the non-strikers end when our young wicket keeper Evan Atkins came to the crease.

We had a mid-wicket conference and I said ‘don’t panic, leave it up to me” and I go back to the non-strikers end with one ball to go in the over.

Murray Bennett, the Australian spinner, was bowling and he wanted to change the ball, I said "no"

Then there was issues with close in fieldsman and shadows and after what seemed like15 minutes Murray bowled the ball and Evan hit it straight to cover and started running.

I was run out by the length of the wicket.

In the dressing room it was sullen and I asked Evan “what possessed you to run”

He hit straight back, “if you slid your nose in you would’ve made it by a yard.’

We all laughed and I knew I had a good team and the loss was not an issue.

Read More

Partner Sponsors

last year



Paul Henricks was an integral member of the Sunshine Coast Scorchers teams in the club’s first 7 seasons. Having been a dominant player in the strong Sunshine Coast competition for many years he soon adapted his game and found his niche in Brisbane Premier Cricket. Eternally positive & upbeat he could always be relied upon to lift the team’s spirits with a brilliant piece of fielding, a tight spell or vital breakthrough or even tripping over in the outfield or being dismissed in a farcical manner.

Beneath this easygoing exterior however lurked a serious competitor who was not averse to gamesmanship. Perhaps most notable was the night before an away game at Graceville, the Wests captain was forced to search Brisbane’s inner Western suburbs until 3am, Henricks cynically having fallen asleep in a garden near the Toowong restaurant at which they had been dining earlier in the evening. Having been suspected of consuming alcohol, Henricks later claimed to have been weary after having unpacked an unusually large shipment of Grippo earlier in the day.

Read More

Partner Sponsors

last year



Paul Bourke hailed from Dubbo and made his way to Sydney to make his first grade debut for St George at the age of 19.

He has made a tremendous contribution to the game on and off the field. As a left hand batsman he scored 5,791 runs at an average of 27.94 including 4 centuries and 29 half centuries. He coached NSW under age representative teams and was the cricket coach at Newington College for 40 years.

Paul also has the honour of being the first 1st grade captain at Campbelltown Cricket Club to hold a premiership trophy

Read More
last year



The 1986/7 season was Campbelltown’s second in Sydney Grade Cricket. It was also the season that proved to be one the most successful in the Club’s 36 year history. The club finished fourth in the Club Championship, Runners up in Fourth Grade, Runners up in First Grade, Premiers in First Grade Limited Overs Competition and NSW Limited Overs Champions. There were many outstanding performances but the “Fabulous Five” were incredible. All clubs at different times will have a special group of bowlers and this group set a very high standard for the years that followed at Campbelltown.

Who Were the Fabulous Five?

They were the First Grade bowling attack that were unique and brilliant as a group. The players were:

Read More

Partner Sponsors

last year



A former Australian cricketer, Richard Bede McCosker was born on this day in 1946.

One of Australian cricket stars before the World Series came into being, he was a fine opening batsman who had plenty of spunk about himself. He had a solid all-round game and was particularly strong on the leg-side. Apart from having a fine array of shots, McCosker had a primitive openers' quality - temperament.

From northern NSW (Inverell), it was his decision to shift to Sydney that helped him spike his cricketing fortunes.
A former bank employee, Rick soon found out that breaking into the State team was no piece of cake. Hours of hard work and preparation coupled with some good fortune finally led to him getting a breakthrough opportunity and he never really looked back since then. A phenomenal run of form that included four successive First-class tons saw him earn an Australia call up for the Ashes series in 1974-75. Rick had a moderately successful debut series, and his composure impressed all those who saw him bat.

Rick cemented his spot over the coming years, having great success especially in Ashes contests. It appeared as if Rick was primed for representing Australia over a really long period of time but that wasn't to be. The World Series caravan lured him and once he retured from that, he was never the same player. It must also be said that the struggles started slightly before the WSC move, ironically during the Ashes tour in 1977. Nevertheless, he was a strong performer for Australia during his brief career. His spot was often under the scanner post WSC with plenty of competition for spots during that period. His form started dipping drastically and found himself out of the side though he did play a couple of ODIs in 1981.

After a few more seasons with New South Wales as captain, he retired after a successful career. One of the most memorable moments about Rick is his gutsy knock against England after being felled by a Bob Willis bouncer that broke his jaw.

Read More
last year



Peter Burkhart is the highest run scorer in the history of Western Suburbs District Cricket Club.

In total Peter scored 10,512 runs for the club, of which 8,850 were scored in First Grade at an average of 31.83 and 12 centuries.

Peter is the proud owner of Western Suburbs First Grade cap number 532 and a Life Member of the club

Peter was also regarded as one of the best fieldsman in Sydney Grade Cricket. So good was his fielding it prompted former Australian Cricket captain Michael Clarke to say “he’s one of the best fieldsman I’ve ever played with”

Read More

Partner Sponsors

More