Simmo: A Western Suburbs District Cricket Club Story
Western Suburbs District Cricket Club Sydney | March 30, 2025
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”.
The team that Alan Davidson had led did not endure for long after his retirement. Jim DeCourcy, Les Ellis and John Watkins all chose to stay in Newcastle. Ray Bowden, Alan Strickland and Don Allum all retired within a few years of each other. Ken Muller, so consistent and reliable for so long, lost form altogether at the start of 1967-68, and dropped out of the side.
Bob Simpson sweeps during his 311 against England at Old Trafford
And so it was necessary to rebuild the First Grade team, but Wests still had an undeniably great cricketer around whom to build it - Bob Simpson. Already captain of Australia, Simpson's stature as an international cricketer was further boosted in 1964, when his monumental 311 against England at Old Trafford set him on the way to a new record for the most Test match runs scored in a calendar year. He led Australia on tours to the West Indies and South Africa and, in 1965-66, retained the Ashes at home. And, when there was time for club cricket, he kept on scoring runs with the same relentless efficiency he displayed in first-class matches. His average for Wests, batting on pitches that were often underprepared and were always uncovered, was over 61 and, on average, he scored a century once in every five innings. The only batsman who has matched his performances in Sydney Grade cricket, over a similar period of time, is Victor Trumper.
There were many seasons when his representative commitments limited Simpson to only a handful of innings for Western Suburbs, but he never failed to make an immense impact. In 1967-68, he was phenomenally consistent. In three Tests against India, he scored 294 runs at 58.80; in all first-class games he managed 1082 runs at 57, including a marathon 277 against Queensland in Sydney. Not content with that, he also shattered records at Western Suburbs, amassing 1187 First Grade runs at an average of 131. "Sunny Jim" Mackay's First Grade record (of 1041 runs, set back in 1905-06) was obliterated, as Simpson hit centuries in half of his twelve innings, and added four more half-centuries for good measure. On top of it all, he hit 211 runs in his three innings in the new First Grade, one-day knockout competition sponsored by Rothmans. With a touch under 2500 runs for the season, Simpson was plainly at the peak of his powers.
And then he retired. He was only 31, undoubtedly one of the finest players in the world game, and had years of cricket left in him, but there was no money in playing the game and Simpson had a family to support and a future to secure. "I'd known for years when I was going to retire", he says. "I was working as a journalist, and I knew I wouldn't go to England as a player in 1968 because there was an 18 month period when I could make a lot of money." Incredibly, Simpson made much more money as a journalist, covering the 1968 Ashes tour and the West Indies tour to Australia that followed, than he could have made by leading Australia in those series.
For all Simpson's success, this was a transitional period for Western Suburbs, and the First Grade side's only significant success was its victory in the Rothmans Knockout competition. Wests cruised into the final with barely a testing moment; Gordon Goffett's innings of 75 and 56 helped the side to build matchwinning totals against Petersham and Bankstown and Grahame Corling bowled with both economy and penetration. In the semi-final, Wests' batting struggled on a difficult pitch against Balmain's representative attack of Dave Renneberg, Ross Collins and John Gleeson, but Bob Simpson's brilliant 96 helped his side to reach 164 and Corling, Wally Wellham and Dennis Kelleard dismissed Balmain for only 86. The seamers, Corling, Wellham and Kelleard, also dominated the final, removing Gordon for just 130 at Hurstville Oval; and although Wests stumbled in the chase, Simpson (57) and Goffett (30) did enough to pave the way for a two-wicket victory.
