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My best grade team - Rodney Davison 1985 to 2006

Rodney Davison | June 10, 2023

Player Contenders

Sutherland District Cricket Club - 1985/86 to 1989/90 and 1995/96 to 1996/97

John Dyson, Justin Kenny, Paul Prichard, Glenn McGrath, Steve Rixon, Stuart Clark, Stuart MacGill, Darren Mitchell

Randwick Cricket Club - 1990/91 to 1994/95

Mike Whitney, Richard Chee Quee, Martin Haywood, Anthony Stuart, Andrew Millican

Sydney University Cricket Club - 1997/98 to 2001/02

Steve Nikitaris, Ed Cowan, Phil Stanbridge, Jamie Stewart

Gold Coast Cricket Club - 1999/2000 to 2002/03

Scott Muller, Chris Swan, Andrew Symonds, Andrew Robinson, Jeff Pfaff

Beenleigh-Logan - 2003/04 to 2005/06

Ben Edmondson, Mark George

Coach Contenders

Sutherland District Cricket Club - 1985/86 to 1989/90 and 1995/96 to 1996/97

Steve Rixon, Barry Davison

Randwick Cricket Club - 1990/91 to 1994/95

Barry Davison

Sydney University Cricket Club - 1997/98 to 2001/02

Ken Shine, Wayne Turnbull

Gold Coast Cricket Club - 1999/2000 to 2002/03

Greg Campbell

Beenleigh-Logan - 2003/04 to 2005/06

Greg Campbell

Selecting my best grade team from 21 consecutive Premier 1st Grade Cricket seasons in Sydney and Brisbane from 1985/86 to 2005/06, which included playing for 5 clubs (i.e. Sutherland, Randwick, Sydney University, Gold Coast and Beenleigh-Logan) is not as easy task.

I decided to include International and Domestic first-class players. However, to be selected, players needed to compete in more than a handful of club games with me, including performing to a high level.

Representative performances were not taken into account. Individual efforts that significantly led to my club team winning a 1st Grade premiership and/or making semi-finals were very highly regarded.

Finally, the balance of the team was considered, and followed a structure of 5 x specialist batters, 1 x allrounder, 1 x wicketkeeper, 3 x quick bowlers and 1 x spinner. A Coach has also been selected to train and manage the team.

My best grade team

1. Rodney Davison - Sutherland

Richard Chee Quee would likely be more entertaining, and Ed Cowan was more prolific than me at Shield level, eventually being selected to open the batting for Australia. However, on sheer weight of grade runs, plus with the opportunity to field at short leg to McGrath, MacGill and Co. I have selected myself.

2. John Dyson - Sutherland

‘Dyso’ was a hero of mine growing up. He was also my PE teacher at Caringbah High School. The Australian and New South Wales opener just loved batting, and whilst we batted more together in the middle order during my early days at Sutherland DCC, he is my choice of opening batting partner.

3. Martin Haywood - Randwick

‘Moose’ and I clicked when playing for Randwick in 1993/94 and 1994/95. Several times we put on 200+ run partnerships, with Martin passing 150 around the time that I had accumulated a century. He was a very strong driver of a cricket ball plus also a solid technique that allowed him to be consistent.

4. Justin Kenny - Sutherland

Batting with ‘JK’ at Sutherland was like batting with Mark Waugh for New South Wales. He was a gifted stroke maker that made batting so much easier for top order accumulators. I really believe that he had as much talent as Michael Bevan, but not the same drive and work ethic. I remember a very hot day at Hawkesbury CC where JK scored an exhilarating hundred in a session. He then advanced out of his crease and missed one on purpose just to get back to the comfort of the sheds. That was him. Could have played 50+ Shield games for Tasmania or South Australia.

5. Darren Mitchell - Sutherland

When ‘Mitch’ came over from Bankstown to play with Sutherland in the mid 90s, he brought over with him much needed mental toughness and experience. In the 1995/96 season when Sutherland DCC eventually won its first ever Premier First Grade Cricket title, he contributed a 750+ run season, including a significant innings in the Grand Final. Mitch also became my most trusted ally when captaining Sutherland, which required making tough decisions about which bowlers to give the ball to at various times. On occasions, I felt like I grinded out 50-60 runs in 3-4 hours of batting in what seemed like difficult conditions, only for Darren to bat fluently to score 100+ not out in the next 2-3 hours. Mitch was certainly a talented and underrated player, possibly through growing up with and being overshadowed by the Waugh brothers.

6. Steve Rixon – Sutherland and Wicket Keeper

‘Stumper’ was the ultimate motivator and had a major influence on my early Grade and Shield Cricket career. There was no one better keeping up the stumps, and he often would keep up to medium pace bowlers straight away with the new ball. Some wonderful leg side stumpings eventuated. Training was always intense, competitive and fun when Stumper led training sessions, either as Sutherland DCC Club Captain or Coach. He had the amazing ability to extend players to another level. Batting with him, he always pushed you to score more quickly, and convert starts into big hundreds. In the early 1990s, Sutherland DCC started amassing some large totals and I remember Stumper being involved in several 200+ run partnerships.

7. Chris Swan – Gold Coast

‘Swanny’ formed a formidable opening bowling partnership with Scott Muller in the 2002/03 season when Gold Coast Dolphins won their first ever Brisbane Premier First Grade Cricket Flag. He was also a quality all-rounder. I enjoyed a long and prosperous batting partnership with him against the Sunshine Coast Scorchers in Maroochydore where we both made unbeaten centuries just prior to qualifying for semi-finals. In the final against Wynnum Manly, he played such as strong hand with bat and ball that he was elevated shortly after into the Queensland Bulls Sheffield Shield Squad and has made a career out of playing and coaching cricket ever since.

8. Scott Muller – Gold Coast and Captain

After several years of watching Martin Love carve out centuries and double hundreds against New South Wales, I finally saw the back of him early in Brisbane Grade cricket when facing up to this fine quick bowler. Scott certainly ‘could bowl’ and he also ‘could field’. He could also bat and made important runs in a tight game facing up to Mitchell Johnson. Strangely enough for a fast bowler, Scott was also an excellent and inspiring skipper whom I have selected as captain of my best grade team. This has nothing to do with him giving me a regular bowl for the Gold Coast ‘Dolphins’ in the 2002/03 season, but in the way in which he built and developed his team. The No.1 leg spinner in the Dolphins team that season had only taken 6 wickets in 7 games and wasn’t turning the ball much. So, in the 2nd innings against Wests he trialled my part time leg spin versus the main spinner, bowling us in tandem for 15 overs each. Although a little expensive, I took 5 wickets, which eventuated in a team shuffle that included selecting an extra batsman, which made a lot of difference to the success of a team that eventually won a premiership.

9. Steve Nikitaris – Sydney University

‘Nikko’ was certainly a raw and unpredictable quick bowler when he first started out with First Grade with Wests, but by the time he and I joined ranks at Sydney University DCC in 1997/98 he was the real deal after being developed at Penrith DCC under the tutelage of Trevor Bayliss, plus opening the bowling regularly with Stuart Karppinen, who were a fantastic opening bowling combination. Stavros could be unplayable at times in the late 90’s and he had that rare ability to take 5 wickets in an innings on flat wickets, beating batters for pace and in the air with swing, knocking them over bowled and LBW. He was always fun to be around and I’d rather him in my team than play against him. The added bonus of Steve being a left arm fast bowler gave him the nod over both Stuart Clark and Anthony Stuart, just by a whisker.

10. Stuart MacGill - Sutherland

‘Stuey’ was simply too good for Sydney First Grade batsmen in 1995/96. Such a big spinner of the ball who always backed himself to take wickets generally with a 6-3 field and bowling middle and leg stump line. Regular 5 wicket hauls eventually led to him taking a massive 58 wickets for the season and promotion into the NSW Sheffield Shield squad. I was always keen to get Stuart on early as he could provide half the bowing attack for an extended period of time with the quicks able to be rotated to bowl quality spells.

11. Glenn McGrath – Sutherland

Legend has it that ‘pidge’ started in 2nd grade for Sutherland DCC in the late 80s with a wide taken in front of 2nd slip by my brother Greg who was wicketkeeping at the time. By the final round of that season, he had advanced to 1st Grade replacing NSW Under 19s opening bowler Nigel Brookes who was out injured. Glenn was tidy in that game; however, I wasn’t so sure at the time that he had enough pace to lead the attack in future seasons. I was so wrong, and he finished his career as possibly the finest fast bowler of all time. Glenn’s strength was that he used his height to great advantage and would bowl an impeccable line and length. Greg Matthew’s would always say that with Glenn you only needed to give him a piece of sound advice just the once. He made the most of his opportunities and has the rare personality to thrive in the big time. It was brilliant seeing him develop into such a great bowler from Club to Shield to Test Cricket through the pathway of Sutherland DCC. It’s fantastic that he played in the 1995/95 Grand Final Premiership win with Sutherland against Bankstown. We would never have gotten there without his batting performance in the semi-final.

Coach: Greg Campbell – Gold Coast and Beenleigh-Logan

The blonde haired Tasmanian Fast Bowler who was a surprise selection for the 1989 Ashes Tour didn’t have much golden locks left by the time I arrived at the Gold Coast Dolphins CC during the 2nd half of the 2000/01 cricket season. Playing in the Brisbane competition was different and a challenge, and I believe that Greg helped me to continue to improve as a player until the mid 2000s despite me not playing any first-class cricket after the 1999/2000 season. Greg coached the Gold Coast Dolphins 1st Grade team to their first ever Premiership Flag in 2002-03, however in an outrageous decision, was sacked as coach straight after. I was so impressed with Greg’s coaching methods and management that I followed him to Beenleigh-Logan DCC for the next 3 seasons, which concluded my Premier Grade Cricket Career. If given the opportunity, I believe that ‘Campo’ would have been an excellent coach for a Men’s State team in Sheffield Shield, List A and Big Bash Cricket, etc.