Geoff Lawson - in doubt, bounce ‘em
UNSW Cricket Club | February 06, 2023
Wagga Wagga in the Riverina region of New South Wales has been the breeding ground of many Australian sporting champions and Geoff Lawson is a proud member of the Wagga Wagga sporting cohort.
From concrete pitches and cork balls, Geoff’s love of the game spans many decades and he’s made a tremendous contribution to the game on and off the field.
Geoff Lawson left Wagga Wagga and made his way to the University of NSW where he made his first-grade debut in 1975 and went on to take 215 first grade wickets for UNSW at an average of 17.66.
At 20 years of age in 1977/78 Geoff made his first-class debut for NSW and on 28 November 1980, he became Australian Test Cricketer No 309 when he made his Test debut against New Zealand at the Gabba.
In 46 Tests for Australia, Geoff Lawson took 180 wickets at 30.56 with best figures of 8 for 112. He scored 894 runs with the highest score of 74.
All up in first-class cricket Geoff played 191 games and took 666 wickets at 24.87. He took 5 wickets or more in an innings on 28 occasions, 11 of which were in Test matches and two 10 wicket hauls, both in Test matches.
He played 79 one day games for Australia and 130 one day games for NSW taking 88 and 149 wickets respectively.
That’s a total of 903 wickets across Test matches, first-class cricket, one-day internationals and one-day games for NSW.
He is also the highest wicket-taker for his beloved NSW Blues with 367 wickets and a former captain of NSW.
Geoff Lawson was awarded Life Membership of UNSW Cricket Club in 1992, Life membership of Cricket NSW in 2002 and inducted into Cricket NSW Hall of Fame in 2014.
It’s been an incredible journey, let’s find out more.
What year you were born?
Born in Wagga Wagga on 7th December 1957
Can you remember you first game of cricket?
At Wagga Public School ( locally known as Gurwood Street PS ) we played two cricket matches every recess and lunchtime on a concrete square about 40 x 40 metres. 3rd and 4th class on one corner and at 90 degrees 5th and 6th class the other. It was very competitive as you had to get the ball (tennis ball) in the field to bowl and you got to bat if you took the wicket. On Saturday mornings all of the local primary schools put a junior (3rd and 4th class) and senior team (5th and 6th) in the competition with the junior team playing on a mowed strip on the outfield of Bolton Park.
I don’t remember how I went, it was 15 a side, but it was bloody good fun and you got a free soft drinks at the end. That ground is now called Mark Taylor Oval and is adjacent to Michael Slater Oval and Geoff Lawson Oval and right next to the Warren Smith nets. My first senior primary school game was on the concrete pitch 50 metres away (we played with cork balls) which is now named after me. I did top score in that game with 7 not out as Gurwood Street were thoroughly trounced by the Bishop Henschke School.
Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?
My cricketing journey hasn’t reached a terminus yet. I started in Wagga for the school and then Lake Albert Cricket Club from age 12 until I left the bush to go to university. I had one season when I was 14 playing for Police Boys Club (they only had one team in the senior 2nd division competition). My wicketkeeper in that team was Peter Mortimer of rugby league fame. Big brother Steve was opening the batting for LACC first grade - very quick between the wickets and once scored a ton with 70 singles!
The Mortimer brothers from Wagga Wagga celebrating grand final victory with Canterbury Bankstown
I used to finish junior cricket at noon down at Bolton Park, ride my bike 8kms home, have a quick lunch and change from shorts to longs and turn up at an Ashmont 2nd division senior game and hope they were short so I could at least field. They played games against the RAAF at Forest Hill Base and Army at Kapooka Training Camp who had wonderful turf wickets and often very good players who were serving there at the time, also outstanding catering!
At 15 I was picked in the LACC first grade team as an all-rounder but I really wasn’t up that standard so played most of the season in the seconds were we won the premiership (LACC won 1st to 4th grade titles that season). I got back into first grade in the next season and learned some wonderful lessons about the game and the peripherals from a team that contained three of my high school teachers Derek Rogers, uncle of Test opener Chris and some of the best cricket talent in the bush.
The Wagga Teachers College (now Charles Sturt University) brought a lot of sporting talent to the area and players like Bob Lomaro (Bankstown Cricket and Wests Rugby) and Wally Wellham (Wests Cricket) lifted the local standards markedly. I was later to play against them in Sydney Grade.
From Wagga I went to UNSW to study Optometry (my LACC 2nd grade skipper Hedley Cole was the local Optometrist and had offered me a partnership on my graduation and return! ) and I am still involved at UNSWCC 46 years later.
I took a year off study to play for Heywood in the Central Lancashire League which was a terrific cricket and life experience. I still have friends there and always visit when I’m in the UK, as I do at Haslingden CC in the Lancashire League where I played in 1988. Sadly these experiences are not as available to up and coming Australian players anymore due to visa restrictions - perhaps Brexit will reverse that. Among those times I slipped in over 100 first class games for the Blues and 46 Tests.
In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in grade cricket?
I made my Sydney debut for UNSWCC in a 4th grade redraw in March 1976 (after finishing the season in Wagga) where I bowled 4 overs before it rained. I then concentrated on the rugby season until the following spring when I was named in first grade under Derek’s brother John Rogers knowing gaze.
At what age did you make your first grade debut in grade cricket and can you remember how you performed in debut?
I was 18 when I debuted in first grade at Reg Bartley Oval against Sydney CC lead by Rick McCosker. Rick had made his Test debut the summer before and I was one of the kids in the Bob Stand with my best mate from Wagga Steve Kiddle watching him make runs against the Poms and hearing the crash of a Dennis Lillee shortish one punch into John Edrich’s ribs.
My first wicket was John Pearson who cut a long hop straight to gully - Pearso was a terrific opponent who played hard and was first in the sheds for a drink afterwards no matter what the result - and we would discuss this dismissal for the next 40 or so years and he always claimed to have set me going on my cricket journey. I got a couple of wickets in a rain shortened match which we nearly won but the fact of being on the same ground as a Test cricketer was the chief thrill.
Rick McCosker
What were your strengths as a player?
I think my main strength as a player was that I would never give in or give up. I always played hard until the last run was made or the last wicket taken.
What was your highest score in senior cricket?
My highest score in first grade was 97 NOT OUT against Randwick at the Village Green. Umpire Johnny Purser gave the number 11 Professor Peter Dodds (now that is another story as how he was even playing, as the ‘keeper) out caught behind off the shoulder to extinguish my chance of a ton, I was least pleased and reminded both the Professor (for playing a dodgy shot) and Johnny (for making an egregious error) of their shortcomings for the next 40 years. I did get a 100 and take 5 wickets in a Central Lancashire League game.
What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?
My best bowling for UNSW is 8 for 38 against Cumberland (now Parramatta) on a very suspect deck at Old Kings. Jimmy Dixon dropped a sitter at gully when I had the first 8 and then proceeded to take the last two in his next over. The next day I was called up to go to India to replace Allan Hurst for the last month of that 1979 tour. I also got 8 in an innings against the West Indies at Adelaide but they cost plenty. !
You played 46 Test Matches for Australia can you share with us how you found out you’d been selected in the Test team what do you remember about your Test debut?
After being within an hour of making a Test debut at Eden Gardens in 1979 (Bruce Yardley passed a fitness test with a broken toe) and then missing the 1980 Centenary Test tour I was picked for the First Test against the Kiwis in Brisbane in November 1980. Future NSWCA President Alan Davidson was a National selector at that time and came into the SCG dressing room to give the news during a Shield game. It really wasn’t an all-consuming moment as I had been on a tour before and was in really good form, bowling quick and getting the better players out. The previous year I had shaken Geoffrey Boycott up with some short, sharp stuff in the MCC Tour match at the SCG and the press had been talking me up a bit. The debut Test was a bit underwhelming as we beat NZ by 10 wickets. I didn’t get much bowling, the ex- World Series players being preferred and found myself dropped after a winning Test match in which I’d bowled well given limited opportunities.
Geoff Lawson celebrates the wicket of Geoff Boycott
180 Test wickets for Australia, 367 first class wickets for NSW, 215 first grade wickets for UNSW, quite an incredible career, how do you look back on your cricket career?
The state of my body today is a reflection of the hard work it took to keep running in and bowling …. fast, then medium fast , then decidedly medium !
I had a double hip replacement in August 2020 and the good doctor reckons he’ll see me sooner rather than later to get both knees replaced. BUT I wouldn’t swap the ice packs, the bloody toes, the broken jaw (well maybe I’d swap that) the places, team mates, opponents, the wins, the losses for quids. I’ve travelled to the corners of the world directly or indirectly due to the great game.
Ultimately the memories of the game are really about the people you meet on and off the field. My time coaching in Pakistan was illuminating and fascinating because of the people and the culture - the common thread is the game of cricket. I have recently been to Rwanda where the MCC have built a splendid cricket ground with turf pitches and the majority of cricket is played by women. I would never have been to these places unless my life was imbued with the game. A kid from Wagga Wagga who has been everywhere from Buckingham Palace to Kigali and met Mugabe, Zia ul-Haq and Mandela as well as Brian Riley and Geoff Milliken
You were part of UNSW Cricket Club maiden first grade premiership winning team in 1976/77. What was it about the team that led to its success that season?
Winning a premiership takes a lot of things, among them leadership, skill, self-belief and a fair dose of good luck. I have often maintained that Sydney Grade (now Premier) cricket is the strongest club system in the world. In my global travails I haven’t seen evidence to challenge that assertion. NSW is still supplying a disproportionate number of players to the nation’s professional framework.
Winning the Sydney premiership is a reflection of outstanding cricket, it just happened that in 1976/77 a number of young unknown talented players came together with a couple of veterans who were wonderfully lead by a John Rogers who knew winning ways from powerful St George outfits. No inhibitions, no fear of failure, a certain joy in just playing the game for its own sake, a balanced team that took three spinners into the finals and that slice of luck when a catch gets caught in the keepers pad as the result goes down to a few runs. Oh yes, and an obsession with fielding practice!
UNSW First Grade Premiers 1976/77
Paddy Grattan Smith player summary
UNSW First Grade Premiers 1980-81
Mark Ray player summary
How important has UNSW Cricket Club been to your cricket and life after cricket?
The UNSW cricket club has been central to my life since March 1976 when I turned up for my first training session to be instantly given the epithet “Henry “- (thanks Jungle!). I studied at the university, I served on the university council for 7 years, my original Poidevin Gray premiership cap is buried in the university time capsule, my wife Julie has just been awarded the first ever female life member of the club.
Where once the Chancellor would turn up and watch matches and the vice chancellor would attend annual dinners and have a drink in the sheds post victories, the current administration had lost all understanding of the value of its sporting clubs, including having seven Olympians at Tokyo and in particular the cricket club seems a notion above their intellect. The light on the horizon is the end of the current vice chancellor’s tenure is imminent.
UNSW Poidevin Gray Premiers 1976/77
Who were the best three fast bowlers you have played against?
Having played first class cricket though the 80s the list of challenging fast bowlers is lengthy. It was the zenith of the West Indies power from Marshall (appearances for Easts) to Holding, Roberts (a season at Sutherland), Garner, Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke, Franklyn Stephenson, then onto Walsh and I found Ambrose quite a mouthful. All those along with Hadlee, Willis, Kapil Dev, Akram, Waqar, Sarfraz (with his reverse swing) and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan (Syd Uni and NSW). Did I mention Patrick Patterson?
Thommo was coming off his best in the 80s but he and Dennis Lillee together were irresistible before his shoulder injury. Botham when it was swinging in England was a handful and Graham Dilley when on song was amongst the very best. Playing against Randwick with Mike Whitney and Evan Gordon was as challenging as many Test attacks especially when they put the shutter door up at “Coogee Surf and Dive“ when Big Roy (Whitney) was bowling over the wicket from the Ella Stand end
Malcolm Marshall
Who were the best three spinners you have played against?
I had the pleasure to catch Deadly Derek Underwood in his final series and you got just a taste of how impossible he was to play on uncovered wickets, bowling essentially medium pace cutters on a handkerchief. Abdul Qadir didn’t have great success on harder Australian pitches but anything with a frisson of turn he was lethal and his two wronguns, one that skidded while the other leapt at the bat’s shoulder. His spin compatriot Iqbal Qasim likewise was special on vaguely dry surfaces. Playing against WA often meant lots is seam up stuff but Bruce Yardley was always a danger whether on the SCG or the WACA .
With his grounding in medium pace Roo really ripped over the top of the ball and got lots of top spin and resultant bounce. I enjoyed our Test matches together, he was a live wire on and off the field and the ultimate competitor. When England employed 3 fly slips to him at the WACA in 82/83 he still took them on scoring 40 odd all to third man and turning the game around.
Derek Underwood
Who were the best 3 batsman you’ve played against?
Picking 3 best batsmen is once again very tough when you look at the class of the 1980s.
The WIndies would trot out Haynes, Greenidge, Richards, Lloyd, Richardson then Lucky Larry Gomes then Jeff Dujon! India had Gavaskar, Chauhan, Vengsarkar, Gundappar Vishwanath
Pakistan Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal, Miandad of course. Martin Crowe and Geoff Haworth Aravinda de Silva. The aesthete David Gower, the Middlesex Mauler Mike Gatting (Balmain CC) Gooch, Botham on his day, Alan Lamb and the crusher Robin Smith .The common denominator with all of those run makers was that they had great defensive techniques to back up the ability to put away anything vaguely lose and they could all play the short ball - some by attacking with pulls and hooks like Richards and Smith and others like Gavaskar and Zaheer but ducking and swaying. My nemesis in Wagga was Albert Jones, a wily old leftie from South Wagga - I could never get him out or even make him look hurried!
Geoff Lawson takes the wicket of Viv Richards
Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
The best attacking innings I’ve ever seen was by Wayne Phillips 120 at Barbados in 1984. The WIndies were at their peak and we had drawn the first two Tests in Guyana and Trinidad (where AB played the best defensive innings I’ve ever seen!). Flipper did a rare thing and tore apart the WIndies quicks, hitting all of them for 6 including Garner out of the ground over the 3Ws Stand into Fontebelle Road and cutting Marshall behind point for six in an era before rebounding cricket bats.
It would be hard to go against the best opposing innings as Beefy Botham at Leeds in 1981 - but I’d prefer not to talk about it as I’m almost over the nightmares. The best grade innings I saw was by Chris Chapman in the 1980/81 semi-final against North Sydney at the Village Green. He came in at 4 for 2 and the whole season on the line and made 92 (the thick kykuyu outfield at the Hive in those days meant the 92 was worth about 150!) We went on to win another title with a convincing win against NDs in the final.
Wayne Phillips
Was there any batsman in particular who whatever reason always you to cause you a few problems?
All of the batsmen listed previously were difficult to bowl to, on their day IMPOSSIBLE to bowl to - there was no length or line that was capable of drawing a dot.
Randal Green and Neil Howlett were very good players both from NDs who I always had problems bowling too. The two were good enough to have lengthy first class careers.
Can you recall a time when you thought, wow, this is a step or two up from what you were used to in grade cricket?
Making the step up from grade to first class had its challenges when I debuted for the Blues. It was the middle of World Series and the “establishment“players were in the West Indies so NSW were down to 4th or 5th choices. I was very lucky to get picked and really wasn’t up to that standard despite having a good Colts series (3 day games) with Richard Done and Greg Price. Fortunately my Bumblebee team mate Greg Watson was already in the team and Andrew Hilditch my NSW Colts captain was to become the state captain in just his second first class game!
We were incredibly short on experience, debutants in that game included David Johnstone from North Sydney, Bobby Vidler from Bankstown, Chris Beatty from Newcastle and Kerry Thompson from Newcastle. Allan Border was the veteran with 8 games under his belt. It really was learning on the job and we lost our first games at home (and then lost only twice in the next 10 years).There was no dedicated coaching staff and little administrative help. Those circumstances would not be countenanced today but it did lead us quickly to self-reliance as a team and as individuals which certainly served me well through the next 14 years. The other step up was purely in the physical - 4 day games, consecutive days in the field and very hard pitches that are tough on bowler’s bodies. Players in NSW probably have a smaller step to make moving to the higher standards of play because of the excellent quality of club cricket.
Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
Best ‘keeper I saw was Allan Knott - used to glide across the ground and never seemed to leave his feet. Standing up to Underwood would test you!
Played a lot with Steve Rixon and on a dusting SCG he was unparalleled .Keeping to David ‘Cracka’ Hourn was a fearful business as he turned it big and bowled at decent pace. If Cracka had decent knees he would have taken 300 Text wickets. In my first few Shield games I fielded at bat pad for him without a lid or shin pads ( deemed superfluous in those days ) how faaarking stupid!!! However he did take 9 wickets in an innings and I took a few catches close in. Stumpa Rixon down the legside was simply brilliant. He made many leg side stumping’s off Trevor Chappell’s mediums where they would set up a batsmen for the over balance - wonderful stuff that you don’t see these days.
Rod Marsh standing back, Chris “Cliffy “Hangar and Andrew Nealon at the VG we’re all wonderful. The best ‘keeper at the moment is Alyssa Healy - great balance and soft hands. Most ‘keepers these days are picked on batting first and glove work later.
Steve Rixon
Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?
I played with a number of blokes with enormous competitive spirit. Some were overt like Dennis Lillee , Greg Matthews , Merv Hughes (Mervyn was very clever with his outward aggression which concealed a cunning method - a great man to have on your team as were Dennis and Mo!
One of the cherished times I had in the game was playing many games with MR Whitney. A wonderful left handed bowling foil and a man who would run over broken glass and then eat a handful to help out the team or a team mate. Roy never took a backward step. His ultimate competitiveness was shown when he occupied the crease - a genuine number 11 he always defended his wicket as though his life depended on it.
The covert competitors are epitomised by Allan Border. He put his body and soul on the line for his team often batting uncomplaining with broken and cracked fingers, but hardly uttered a word while doing it. Players don’t stay at the top levels (and that would include long first grade careers) unless they want and often need to compete. Once again the essence of quality club cricketers is that they may not have the innate talent of the professionals but they have a fierce desire to be in the contest. Mark Waugh is the most innately skilled player I have seen or played with or against, he was the covert competitor who got bored with game quite a bit. I’d love to see him and Dougie Walters bat together!
Mike Whitney
Who has been your funniest team mate?
Funniest team mate …. funny peculiar is no contest - GRJ Matthews . He roomed with me on his debut - that was the last time we shared rooms in the next 14 years!
Funny humorous - David “Cracka “Hourn. Just watching Cracka put his creams on in a flurry of talcum powder (hides the grass stains apparently ) or grovel in the SCG dust looking for a contact lens, finding it, licking it and then putting it back in (to the budding Optometrist’s horror ) or whacking Dennis Lillee back over his head with the second new ball and telling Steve Rixon “ no problem Stumpa, I’ll take DK you take Clem (Terry Alderman ) “ with no helmet, Cracka with rhyming slang and an obscure rugby league reference would make you smile .
Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?
David Gower was a unique batsman- he could make the game look easy in the most difficult conditions, he played the game in a pure spirit. He was an imposing opponent on the field and as soon as stumps were drawn he was available for a quiet beverage. The 1989 Ashes were a pinnacle for Australia and quite to converse for the Gower lead Poms. He had been under the pump from the media and the public as 5th Test began at Trent Bridge. The Ashes were already ours and 16 English players had defected to a rebel tour of South Africa. What could be worse?
David won the toss and sent us in and proceeded not to take a wicket all day. Geoff Marsh was finally dismissed just before lunch on day 2, Mark Taylor and he putting on over 300. In those days the lunchroom was shared with both teams sitting next to each other and the fielding side could walk straight from the ground into the room while the batting team had to walk around behind the stands.
By the time we arrived for relaxing nosh David was washing down his first boiled potato with a glass of champagne - a little unusual to say the least. As I was the first Aussie in for tucker (having locked Merv in the toilet) I enquired of David exactly what he was doing. With the mere bat of an eyelid he responded “Henry my man, I’m just celebrating our wicket! “. Now you don’t get much like that these days - they’re way too serious.
What was your most embarrassing dismissal in senior cricket?
I have an embarrassing non- dismissal. I trod on my stumps TWICE in the Brisbane Test v The WIndies and was not given out either time - at least I was getting ‘ back and across’ and not backing away to M Holding bowling approximately 175 kph !
Who was your childhood hero?
My childhood hero was my first cousin Kevin Goldspink. As I am the youngest of the second youngest of 13 kids all my first cousins were much older than me. Kevin played rugby league for the Canterbury Bankstown ‘ Berries ‘ as they were then known, in the 1967 Grand Final and was subsequently picked for the Kangaroo tour. I loved my rugby league but was never big or quick enough to play at a high level but I have inherited some of the Goldspink’s fighting spirit.
Kevin Goldspink
Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?
I’m a baseball fan and played in the Sydney winter league with UNSW against many other grade cricketers so I’d like to meet the latest ‘phenom ‘for the Californian Angels Shoei Ohtani. He could become the greatest all-rounder in MLB history and he comes from Japan. He pitches and hits home runs, lots of them. In a sport that imposes a single skill on players he is considerably outside the square and he’s doing it in a foreign country.
There is a sport called kabbadi in India, Pakistan, that’s played like rugby without a ball on a basketball court. It has a prime time show in India and I’ve watched a lot but I still don’t understand it - I need to meet a kabbadi player to “please explain. “!
Kabbadi
Roberta Moretti Avery - Brazil’s woman’s cricket captain. She had been invited to the Fairbreak Global Tournament and I’m keen to see how well she plays and get her thoughts on cricket in Brazil where they have 20 contracted female players.
Roberta Moretti Avery
Who’s your favourite cricket commentator?
I despair of contemporary cricket commentary. The bar for getting in front of a microphone is incredibly low. Poor language skills is the main problem but listening to TV commentators think they are on radio is dreadful. Let the picture tell the story boys and girls and you add the unseen, don’t repeat yourself and don’t talk over your co- commentators. Whose teaching this stuff. ???!!
This doesn’t just refer to the plethora of ex- players. Some of the non-cricket presenters and ball by ball callers think commentary is about them rather than the game. Don’t worry about getting the message across to the audience. The best at the moment is the English guys who speak well, understate and don’t blow smoke up each other’s orifices incessantly.
I generally have my finger hovering over the mute button.
Can you share the two cricket journalist whose work you’ve enjoyed most overt he years?
Cricket journalism has changed somewhat with online immediacy and carpet television coverage of games. Most Journos are looking for an angle away from batting, bowling and fielding.
Australia are best served by Malcolm Know, Greg Baum, Gideon Haigh and cricinfo have Dan Brietig, and Geoff Lemon brings good insight. I’ve missed a few so apologies for that.
What was your favourite ground to play at?
I’ve been fortunate to play on most of the world’s great grounds. The SCG is home of course, it is special for the souls of the great players that roam the stands from Bradman to Trumper, Kippax, Morris, Spofforth , Charlie Turner - the list is long . It’s also special for the games I’ve played there and blood sweat and tears I’ve shed alongside some truly legendary players.
The Moore Park pitch was always a turner during the 1980s but it gave grip for the cutters and swing in a reverse fashion and the Bluebags were unbeatable there for a decade. Adelaide Oval is a wonderful place to play and watch, the MCG with a Boxing Day overflow, Lords had an aura and I became fond of Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore which was my home base for a while. Not many cricket grounds are named after Libyan dictators. The Village Green on the Kensington campus will always remain a spiritual place for me, no matter what they build on it.
Sydney Cricket Ground
What there a particular team you especially looked forward to playing against?
I was never fussed about who the opposition for that day or week may have been but it must be said that when the Bees played the Trees (Northern District CC) the game would be if high quality and the post-match of equal standing. Playing the Vics with Deano in the side bought the best out in me- along with most Bluebags and an Ashes Test seemed more important than most thanks to the history - nothing has changed there! I used to look forward very much to playing Sydney Uni.
What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?
When you play for a long time there tends to be a number of memorable moments. Winning the first grade premiership in my first season in Sydney is right up on the top shelf (for all the details get a copy of ‘From Pariahs to Premiers “ ), getting picked for NSW then Australia, winning the first ever Shield final under Rick McCosker’s stewardship on the WACA where we hadn’t won for 17 years, getting the Ashes back in 1982/3 and then again in 1989. Captaining NSW to Shield and One day titles and coaching an underrated, underdog team to a World Cup final.
Opening the bowling with my son Ben in a Charity game last year (we both took wickets!) was magic.
Playing in teams with some of the Blues greatest was an ongoing highlight. I’ve been very lucky.
NSW 1989/90 Sheffield Shield Champions
NSW 1989/90 Sheffield Shield champions - 30 year reunion
What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?
The best win may well have been the grade semi when Chris Chapman saved our hides but winning the premiership by 9 runs against a grizzled and talented team is tops at that level. Beating the West Indies at the SCG with Murray Bennet and Dutchy Holland skittling their much vaunted line up sure felt good.
If there was one match up, a bowler and batsman going head to head at their peak, who would you choose?
Jeff Thomson v Viv Richards. 160kph v the best player of short bowling ever - it actually happened in Barbados in 1978. Unfortunately there was no TV coverage but those that were there said it was the most horrifyingly beautiful thing they had ever seen on a cricket field .
Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?
My Sunday BBQ would start with MR Whitney - if proceedings ever got boring we could tell each other how good we were or Whit could s pin a yarn from his endless library. It’s a tough call for the others …… Jimmy ‘ Disco ‘ Dixon would be useful in cleaning up the menu or the esky, Mark Ray or Paddy Grattan- Smith could bring the spinners view to the seam up conversation Toot Byron and Greg Shipperd would be valuable opinionators . Dan Christian could bring his global roustabout experiences to the elder’s confabulation. Let’s face it we need more than 3 to hold this conversation.
What are your hobbies?
Is golf a hobby? I like golf and spend quite some time at it. It’s physical and mental exercise and I find it quite exacerbating at times. I like to read and have periods where I’ll only read non- fiction (lots of cricket books on the shelves at home) and then I’ll take Toot Byron’s recommendations on Scandinavian crime. At present I’m halfway through “Eleven Bats “thanks to a gift from one of my favourite cricketers Steven “The SOK “O’Keefe.
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
When in doubt, bounce ‘em
Are you still involved in cricket and if so, in what capacity?
Covid has halted a lot of my work with NSW cricket and the Sixers but I am involved in a major project with an organisation called Fairbreak (please look up the website at Fairbreak.net for a full view). We have been giving opportunities to female crickets from around the world who otherwise would not be able to showcase their talents. Players from associate countries in particular are invited to matches (we have played at Bradman Oval, J P Getty ground at Wormsley and other venues.
We are working toward a Global Tournament in Hong Kong next May which will include some of the major players plus some from afar afield as Botswana, Thailand , Japan, Brazil, Oman and more and they are very good players There may be some teams with 11 players from 11 different countries.
Can we ask what state cricket associations need to have as their top 2 priorities to ensure cricket in their state and across Australia remain strong and successful on and off the field?
NSW is well served by a robust club system, I’m not sure if that can be said of every state so Cricket Australia must devote more of its resources from the exceptionally well paid elite end to the clubs with their volunteers. The ACA must be a party to this, instead of pandering to millionaires it must look to where those millionaires are created.
Elite cricketers have to play more club cricket!
The current state of our national teams might indicate that the pathway system as bus being presented is not functional. The mania of short form cricket has diluted the whole system and we are not even producing a decent T20 team.
Having a CA Board that lacks cricket credentials is not working. I wish Greg Rowell all the best at getting his views digested by this most self-indulgent group.
At present in Australia there is not one state national High Performance boss with any expertise in teaching or coaching of any depth.
People who lack experience and expertise are appointing people without experience and expertise! Coaching succession plans do not exist and there are precious few experienced coaches to take positions. Ex-players believe they take high level coaching jobs as soon as they retire without doing the hard yards in pathways demanded of any teaching profession. The results are clear to see from the national position down.
