A Western Suburbs District Cricket Club Tale: Lean Seasons
Western Suburbs District Cricket Club Sydney | September 27, 2024
The following article is an extract from our 2006 publication “Cricket in Black and White: 110 Not Out: The history of the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club”, superbly compiled by Max Bonnell:
After the excitement of the centenary season, Western Suburbs endured five lean seasons. In the five years from 1995-96, Wests never reached the top half of the Club Championship, and First Grade's position on the table hovered between tenth and sixteenth. The fact that Second Grade spent these five seasons anchored near the foot of the competition table suggested that the Club's greatest problem was a lack of depth in its First Grade squad.
It didn't help that the leadership of the First Grade side was unstable. Gavan Twining assumed the captaincy when Scott Jacobson retired in 1995, and made a good impression with his enthusiasm, example and integrity. But in 1996- 97, the Club coaxed Dirk Wellham out of retirement to act as the club's captain-coach. This was a real coup for Wests, although, after eight years away from the club and two seasons out of cricket altogether, the 37 year old Wellham was never likely to duplicate the prolific scoring of his best years. As captain, Wellham was handicapped by the loss of an opening batsman, Twining, and an opening bowler, Dan Horsley, who suffered a back injury that obliged him to spend the season playing Fourths and Fifths as a batsman. As a result, Wellham's leadership skills were applied to the task of keeping a patched-up side competitive. Matt Whitby's swing bowling was the side's sharpest weapon, and a recruit from Fairfield, young all-rounder Matt Betsey, showed immense potential.
Pictured above: Dan Horsley
Wellham resumed his retirement after a single season in charge, and Scott Jacobson returned for a single season at the helm in 1997-98. Jacobson had at his disposal a core of exceptional cricketers. Betsey and Peter Burkhart enjoyed outstanding seasons with the bat, and the pace trio of Horsley (who recovered so strongly that he claimed fifty First Grade wickets), Betsey and Whitby was consistently threatening. And yet the side had little depth to its batting, and a threadbare spin attack. After a couple of matches, off-spinner Brad Wilson was displaced by Chris O'Neil, who made his debut in Firsts after 18 years in the lower grades. O'Neil's tenure in the side lasted for three matches, and then Wests turned to another left-armer, half O'Neil's age - Michael Clarke.
Wests had nurtured Clarke from his entry into Grade cricket as a 14 year old Fifth Grader in 1995-96, when he was regarded primarily as a bowler. His talent with the bat emerged in a one-day match at Coleman Park, when Wests had lost 5-43 against Parramatta (including the wicket of Neil Davidson, playing in his 300th match for the club). Clarke joined his captain Mark Russell in a matchwinning stand of 120. In the entire history of the club, there has never been a more incongruous couple than this one - the bright- eyed, elegant, eager, athletic 14 year old and his heavyweight, ageing skipper, who punched out runs with pragmatic shots and lumbered between the wickets on creaking knees. The following season, Clarke bowled with impressive maturity in Thirds, but usually batted as low as number eight. Inevitably, his ability with the bat was recognised in Seconds in bowling that won him his initial promotion to First Grade.
Pictured above: Michael J Clarke
Everything else in 1998-99 was overshadowed by the sudden death, only days before the season began, of the Club's Secretary, Chris O'Neil. O'Neil was only 34; he had played 203 Grade matches for Wests since 1979, all the time labouring under the dual handicap of asthma and epilepsy. Few members of the Club even knew of his health problems, because he refused to draw attention to them and was determined not to be restricted by them. His connection with the club began when he operated the scoreboard at Pratten Park, while his older brother David played in the First Grade side. By sheer hard work, he transformed himself from a very plain, lower- grade slow bowler, who pushed the ball through fast without much variation or turn, into a subtle, flighty, highly effective slow bowler. He was blunt, dogged, gregarious, loyal and determined to win cricket matches and enjoy himself in the process. He worked tirelessly for the Club and, in difficult times, he became an embodiment of the Club's spirit. His sadly premature death left a bewildering gap in the Club, which missed him as a player, administrator and friend.
The Club's leading batsman, Peter Burkhart, became Wests' fourth captain in as many seasons in 1998-99. No batsman in the history of the Sydney Grade competition has scored as many runs as Burkhart without playing first-class cricket; yet Burkhart's representative career amounted to a single appearance for NSW Colts in 1991-92. He was consistently among the leading batsmen in Sydney, equally adept against fast and slow bowling, with a well-balanced, all-round game and a wide range of attractive strokes. On top of all that, he may well have been the best all-round fieldsman in the entire Grade competition, with an uncanny ability to unleash hard, pinpoint-accurate throws from the most unlikely positions. Possibly he never put together a sequence of centuries to catch the selectors' eyes; perhaps he never enjoyed the one colossally successful season that would have compelled his selection. It may have been that, like Ken Muller and Murray Radcliffe before him, the selectors decided that he was not up to scratch and refused to be swayed from that view by mere performances. Or maybe the selectors looked at his easy-going, friendly manner and decided that he didn't have the single-minded selfish determination that propels so many players into the higher levels of the game. Whatever the reason, Burkhart's commitment to Wests never wavered, and his all-round contribution to the club has been immense.
Chemist Warehouse Ashfield is a proud sponsor of Western Suburbs District Cricket Club
As captain, Burkhart guided a large number of younger players into First Grade. Michael Clarke was gradually eased up the batting order, though he had still not scored a First Grade hundred when he was plucked from the Australian Under 19 team to make his first- class debut for New South Wales in 1999-2000. Hard-hitting Steve Phillips made a strong impression as soon as he arrived at the Club, and a second Michael Clarke (known to the scorers as "Michael R Clarke", to distinguish him from "Michael J Clarke") emerged as a reassuringly sound top-order batsman. Tal seamer Colin Barry troubled good batsmen with his bounce, immaculate line and movement. Adrian McCaffrey backed up his safe hands behind the stumps with forthright batting, and all-rounder Nathan Austin batted and bowled with energy and aggression.
With three rounds remaining in the 1999-2000 season, Wests sat in sixth position, in line for a place in the expanded, six-team finals series. But the pressure of the situation proved too great for the young team, and after a series of disappointments, the side finished tenth. In a way, it didn't matter: Wests had re-emerged as a competitive force and, crucially, the Club had once again assembled a group of young players who had learned how to win matches.
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