Jamie Baker - be patient, bat all day
UNSW Cricket Club | April 09, 2023
Jamie Baker made his first grade debut for UNSW during the 1981/82 season and went on to score 4,180 first grade runs at an average of 31.91 including 7 centuries and 14 half centuries. In all grades at UNSW Jamie scored 5,171 runs.
Jamie moved to Adelaide in 1991 and continued playing Grade/Premier Cricket.
Let’s find out more about Jamie’s journey in the game
What year you were born?
1961
Can you remember you first game of cricket?
Under 10s for Lisarow/Ourimbah vs East Gosford. I was run out 2. There are many; M.Palin, A.Shaw , G.Holt who would say this was a portent of things to come
Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?
I played for Gosford Cricket club from the ages of 10 to 19, with our home ground being the wondrous Grahame Park (like the Village Green now sadly lost to cricket ), in the same junior teams as the talented Greg Briggs (Australia u/19s and now over 50’s captain) .
In those days Gosford was part of Northern NSW Country Cricket so I was able to play for Hunter Valley Colts in the JS White Colt Carnivals in Tamworth (the Kings School main oval is named after JS White and he did a lot for country junior cricket and became a mentor). I learnt a lot playing country NSW venues in Under 21 and 23s culminating in a Country vs City match at SCG. In the qualifying game beforehand at Dubbo I scored a duck for Northern Country vs Southern on Day 1. The 2 selectors that day, Dick Guy and Barry Rothwell came up and told me that I’d never succeed with the grip I had. I managed 80 the next day but struggled with grip theory from then on.
Despite a lovely letter from Randwick’s Lyall Gardiner which I still have, I settled in at UNSWCC for 11 seasons .
I moved to Adelaide in 1991 playing for Kensington DCC and Adelaide Uni, retiring to village cricket for Stirling CC in the Adelaide Hills
I also had 2.5 seasons playing League cricket in Hythe and Folkestone in the Kent League. Many UNSWCC and Parramatta grade players: K.Gentles, S.Stewart, K.Farley, J.Robson, G.Clark, P.Scolari , M.Delgigante all enjoyed the hospitality of the legendary Dick Apps, on the Romney Marsh. He was the life of every party and loved the way Aussies played his special game. He was 50 and still playing in my season. We opened the batting in a League match one day and he copped a rising ball to his head from a young quick that brought him to his knees, with a fair bit of claret around. He batted on refusing a loan of my helmet and next ball charged the quick and cover drove him for four. Sweet as you like! Not quite believing what I’d seen, I walked up to hear him say sotto voce: “that’s why the Hun never crossed our shore, my son “. RIP Dicky.
In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in grade cricket?
3rd grade when 19.
I was picked up by the Captain who was a Professor and he put me in charge of the treasured Kookaburra. It was in a cool box after having been in a freezer all night (apparently to gain greater bounce through being harder!!). This was a) the only ball tampering I espied at UNSWCC and b) an early introduction to the dark art of eccentricity that UNSWCC excelled in!
At what age did you make your first grade debut in grade cricket and can you remember how you performed on debut?
20 vs Wests I think. I was run out by either Tony Le Bas or Matt Troy with a direct hit very early to bowler’s end stumps. Things went downhill from there and was rightfully sledged by Greg Dyer et al with a couple of failures. I remember Dave Gilbert being very rapid.
If you can share with our audience, how would you describe yourself as a cricketer?
“Patient” opening batsman. Graham Bush from ACT/ Wests used to always suggest that defender pellets were the best way to get rid of me! I had a few years in the sun as a leg spin bowler before regressing.
Who were the greatest influencers in your career?
My parents Trevor and Maria. I followed dad around the grounds of Lismore, Murwillumbah and Gosford whilst mum was my no.1 fan.
What was your highest score in first grade cricket?
180 not out vs Petersham at Village Green. Henry (Geoff Lawson) declared on me when I was surely only a couple more hours away from a double ton!
What would you consider to be the best innings you played in your career?
My friend Jim Dixon surprisingly highlighted 150 not out vs Bankstown in his recent review on Cricket Sydney. I guess because they had such an amazing attack that day with NSW first class player swap-ins (6 First class bowlers plus Kenny Hall). Several of their bowlers could also bat a bit!! And wanted to do so asap, so things were quite fiery early. Henry cost me another double ton by relenting to pressure and calling the game off an hour early!
There were two solid 90’s of special importance to me. One against Balmain in a low scoring match at Drummoyne against a fired up Andrew Jones and a gun attack, and the other for Adelaide Uni in a Grand Final on Adelaide Oval – flat track but lots of pressure .
What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?
Can I count Kent League cricket in England, if so, 9-20 (“Almost a Baker’s Dozen” was the Headline on the back page of the Folkestone Herald!). And no, the home town umpire wasn’t at my end – in fact he did gave a dodgy LBW at the other end for the penultimate wicket!
I managed a couple of 6 wickets in 1st Grade; 6 for 19 I think vs Waverley and one vs Penrith after coming on early, including Barry Wood and Trevor Bayliss in the first over. I took 5 wickets for Australian Unis vs Oxford/Cambridge.
Who have been the best fast bowlers you have played against?
I was lucky (?) enough to face Geoff Lawson at the Village Green nets before his first overseas tour to Pakistan. That was the fastest and most accurate I’ve faced – every ball rising on a 4th stump line.
Geoff Lawson
Mike Whitney was a wonderful competitor who could be nasty and fast, but scratch the surface and he was a great sportsman. Our lower order batsman Adrian White was crabbing a few runs one day when Whits said: “Whitey, no denying you’re a good bloke and batting well ……which is why I’m sure you realise that the next one is heading straight between your eyes!” I’m sure I heard him chuckling to himself . Rowan McGregor related a kind story in a recent profile about who Whits hated bowling to. Funny thing though is that I’d heard Whits talk about Sammy Mesite, Spike Milliken et al similarly! In this match above I managed a ton but was given not out when plumb LBW before scoring. I knew it, my team mates behind the screens at Coogee Oval knew it (I think I saw them go up with the appeal!) and Whit knew it. Maybe the umpire was from NZ, as it was soon after Whit’s infamous heroics at MCG. After suggesting I should have walked (which I did contemplate), he never mentioned it again until in the bar after.
Jim Dixon was a treasure with an incredible engine. I was reading recently that in the UNSWCC Premiership year he sometimes bowled 18 eight ball overs in a spell! Ouch.
John Skilbeck, David Gilbert, Steve Bernard were super quick but Darby Quoyle, Murray Radcliffe and Richard Stobo were amongst many other quicks who caused me trouble in early years. Helmets were probably my saviour but I took a while to get used to them and or I was a slow learner. After somehow seeing off Skilbeck against St George one day, I took the lid off and Steve Bernard hit me on the head straight after; David Knox did the same in PG the next day. I did hit a few of my only sixes that weekend after the hits including one onto the scoreboard at Coogee (cheers J. Lupton!) - not sure what that says.
In later years, I had some lively encounters with Andrew Jones and Wayne Holdsworth.
Jamie Baker batting for UNSW v Manly
Who were the best spinners you have played against?
Seems like Cracka Hourn was the stand-out for all of us in the 80s. He could mesmerise you in flight with his back spinners. I sensed that Freddy Freedman might follow suit at the time I departed. Tom Shiner was tricky. Wayne Mulherin and Peter Taylor would spin across me with bounce and I found that hard to counter.
When I was starting out at UNSWCC Mark Ray, Paddy Grattan-Smith and Stephen Campbell caused me a lot of trouble in the nets.
And I’d like to mention the gentleman Chris Elder. He was so incredibly accurate for a leggie, year in, year out, never a loose ball.
Who has been the best 3 batsman you’ve played against?
Rod Bower and Greg Giese seemed to score tons against us for fun in my early years then the Waughs were great to watch and Justin Kenny had a purple patch. All made batting look effortless, power with grace that I could only dream of.
At UNSWCC JG Robson, Greg Livingstone and Jim Dixon were good to watch from the other end when on song.
Rod Bower
Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
I played with Darren Webber in Adelaide who had the same qualities as the guys above. He could hit a very long ball and scored a big ton when we batted together once - whilst I managed about half that from twice as many scoring shots, in twice the time. He scored another ton vs NSW the following week which I believe Mark Waugh said was the best he’d seen.
Darren Webber
Who would you consider to be the best fieldsman you played with or against?
It was a joy to watch Anthony Pratt from UNSWCC hovercraft over the ground and pounce on the ball in one movement. Trevor Chappell motored along similarly.
Two extraordinary catchers were Mark Waugh and Jamie Siddons – both seemed to have the softest hands and see the ball so early at 2nd slip or short cover.
Was there any batsman in particular that stirred the emotions and competitive spirit where you really wanted their wicket?
Probably Greg Bush. He put a similar amount of stock in the value of his wicket and knew his technique well. We got lucky one year with Manly batting first on the first day of a new season at Manly Oval. We were keen to break the Bush-Tuckerman partnership early and Bushy hit a nice cover drive first ball but it stopped just short of the boundary. He turned for 3 only to be run out at the bowlers end. Manly 1-2 off 0.1 overs!
Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
Best performance: my friend and Oncologist to the stars, Dr Michael Back in one innings at Drummoyne was involved in 9 dismissals: 5 catches, 3 stumpings and a run out!
Mark Atkinson was always in the game he could bat as well and was one of the few cricketers smaller than me. We once roomed together, total height < 3 metres! In the Petersham match I batted all day which you would’ve thought would be enough to put anyone to sleep but Mark was yapping as much at 17:59 as he was at 10:59. “Come on guys, Bakes has never batted for a whole day before, he’ll be nervous about that, now’s our chance!! “ For the umpteenth time that day I had to back away chortling.
Mark Atkinson
Phil Emery – easy on the eye
Stumper Rixon – legend.
And though I didn’t play him in Sydney, I’d like to mention a mid-week game at Folkestone against a touring team in 1989. A 17 year old Aussie opened the batting and got dropped behind first ball. Our keeper insisted on skolling a pint of bitter at drinks an hour later as punishment, then managed to catch a towering top edge next ball off the same batsman: Adam Gilchrist caught behind 115. Every ball was out of the middle of the bat and along the ground. He was that good even then that I felt he could construct a top edged “get out” shot to perfection. Indisputably for mine, the second most obvious selection in any greatest World XI team of all time.
Adam Gilchrist
What’s the most exciting finish you’ve been involved in?
Early days I broke my finger fielding in a one day match against Waverley with both Grieg’s playing. . I came back from hospital and went in to bat one handed at No.11 with 4 runs needed off 3 balls. At the other end was the self-proclaimed worst batsman in Sydney Grade (but excellent keeper) Chris Hangar – neither of us likely to get the ball off the square. We managed to snick a few towards Cracker Hourn and scrambled home.
Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?
I really admired the older guys who even after long careers were still striving every ball and had their tricks. Mick O’Sullivan (RIP MoS, such a great bloke and canny flight bowler), Ken Hall, Dave Chardon, Greg Hartshorne and Greg Matthews.
You left Sydney and moved to Adelaide, was the move cricket related to break into first class cricket?
During the recession we had to have my fiancé now wife was able to find Architecture work back with her Mother’s practice in Adelaide and a role opened up there with my employer as well. It seemed like the natural thing to do and of course if I was good enough there would likely be more chances cricket-wise. Every quick in Adelaide thought I was another one year blow-in.
How did you go in Adelaide and how did you find the difference between grade cricket in Sydney to Adelaide?
I joined Kensington who had signed up a couple of other players from interstater that year, Jamie Siddons and Brayshaw, they also had Jamie McPhee (Australia under 19s). I wasn’t even in the top 3 Jamie’s at my new club! There were opportunities with several 50 over trial games vs NZ and Tasmania but I wasn’t enough in form to take advantage of them. I felt like I devalued the currency of Sydney Grade cricket in the eyes of many in South Australia as my CV read well in advance with O’Reilly medal stats etc. Disconsolately, I had a gap year after a poor first season. A guy called Greg Howe (whose son Harry now plays for Waverley/Easts) talked me into coming back the following year for Adelaide Uni. I averaged 75 that year, then was part of a Premiership team a year later, and minor premiership the following year. So things worked out ok in the end .
Differences:
Sydney Grade was far more progressive it has to be said. It seems crazy in the early 90s that some Adelaide teams had covers but absurdly weren’t able to use them (so as not to disadvantage the clubs who didn’t have!). The Ground review committee in Sydney ensured that all grounds/pitches and facilities were of 1st class or near 1st class standard even in the 80s – surely one of the reasons for NSW’s Shield dominance.
Great ideas like Shield cricketers swapping in for one week of a match was a wonderful innovation in Sydney, and that decision alone made Sydney grade immensely more enjoyable …. And the fact that the Shield players yearned to play grade cricket and take it up to you.
Who has been your funniest team mate?
Jim Robson – the multi-talented, gregarious theorist has been mentioned by many. But some of his theories may be losing their lustre over time! (E.g. I still haven’t seen anyone else find value in the late-cut from outside leg stump! I predict that John Pym’s “fall-down” sweep will be adopted before that one.) So I’ll nominate instead UNSWCC’s leading wicket taker Rob Stark. Full of quick witted bravado he could light up a ground even without driving his patrol car onto the field. Though in an Intervarsity game once he was in a bind as his Captain needed a long spell from his spearhead. Starky was torn between giving his all for his beloved UNSWCC and keeping a designated rendezvous behind a rose bush. To wit, the accused spent the intervening hour acting out the gradual progression of a fake injury to enable said liaison.
Jim 'Jungle' Robson
Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?
I played the debut game of one Michael Slater (who coincidentally switched back to Sydney from Adelaide, in what it has to be said was a pretty decent trade for UNSWCC!). He got dropped a few times early from slashes into slips. As self-anointed senior partner I walked down for a mid-over chat with some gravitas for the new upstart. Our Captain Jim Dixon often suggests that it might have been better for all if the opposite had happened i.e. Slats had come down to me, recommending that I start playing a few shots.
My friend Michael Killer Kilborn who Captained Oxford, made a nervous debut for Uni at Pratten Park. He walked out to bat and got to the square and looked like he had been shot. He stood deathly still for 10 seconds whilst contemplating what to do, as at that moment he of course realised he had forgotten his most important protection!
Opening the batting against Imran Khan with the much heralded orange ball in a Uni derby was a highlight; and for some reason the biggest crowd we’d ever had at Village Green Imran was given out LBW in a much talked about decision that helped sway the match our way and that we still chuckle about it.
Playing with the giant Phil Alley one day in NSW 2ndXI. I couldn’t help but notice that at the beginning of some overs he would finish short in his follow through and start cursing about how unlucky he was finding chewing gum constantly in his spikes. He’d prise it out but next over same problem. The culprits weren’t hard to spot, sniggering quietly in the background …. Mark Atkinson and Justin Kenny in slips. Putting their used chewy into Phil’s run-up footmarks in alternate overs. Being invited to join in made me feel like Sidney Freedman, the MASH Psychiatrist, helping BJ in the famous practical joking episode!
And if I could also mention the famous Sam Parkinson in Adelaide, who was a laugh a minute character on and off the field. After a night out finding himself penniless, hungry and under the weather (and not wanting his long suffering wife to come fetch him again or go DUI), his canny trick was to walk into local pizza parlour and order takeaway for his home address, on the condition he could get a lift with the delivery driver and pay COD on arrival.
Michael Slater
What were your most embarrassing moments in senior cricket?
In one of my last A Grade games in Adelaide I was dismissed twice on first day. Not a pair but close. The fine master at Adelaide Uni CC was Paul Blocker Wilson who did not let that go unnoticed.
But the ultimate shocker was after getting a duck at Nth Sydney No 2 in the late 80s, things only got worse from there. Possibly oblivious to my low score, a Nth Sydney official Kevin Cunningham, who I’d met a few times before at NSWCA, came in to the dressing room whilst I still had red mist in my eyes. He wanted to resume a previous conversation about the merits (or lack thereof) of Universities playing Grade cricket!!
It may have been a hot topic at the time but there’s a time and a place ….. I not only “requested” that Mr Cunningham leave the dressing room, but the building. When doing the “trudge of disappointment” walk around the ground shortly after, I looked back across and admired the new Pavilion then saw who it was named after …..one Kevin Cunningham. I’d ordered him out of his own Pavilion!
Who was your childhood hero?
Dennis Lillee
Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?
Usain Bolt, Cathy Freeman and Elyse Perry
Cathy Freeman
Who’s your favourite cricket commentator?
Jonathon Agnew and Michael Holding …. Mark Atkinson will be when he surely takes it up!
What was your favourite ground to play at?
Village Green, Coogee Oval and Adelaide Uni Oval
Was there a particular team you especially looked forward to playing against?
I guess Sydney University for obvious reasons. In those days we were lucky enough to have the upper hand mostly. There always seemed to be some surprises though: one year they gave me the silent treatment until I nicked off and next year John Grimble had a plan to bowl a metre outside off stump. As if my scoring rate wasn’t slow enough!
Any memories of Sydney Grade Cricket you’d like to share?
They were heady, formative days for me with every match a challenge.
I’d like to make mention of the often eccentric characters that were part of grade cricket in my era who really added to the culture. In the scoring fraternity, there was Manly’s incredible Jack Skiller who knew everyone’s average to two decimal points and lived such an amazing life away from cricket. To Dick McCord from Petes, Ern Cosgrove, UNSWCCs David Lemon and Tom Boyce, Julie from Sutherland and John “ not so “ Silent Sands from Penrith had to be admired for their passion for their team.
And there were a lot of great umpires who I really liked and admired. From the Gentleman’s Gentleman Tom Brooks and Ted Wykes, Rocky Harris , the affable Arthur Watson, Graham Parker and Mick Jay, Jack “Catfish” Purser ( very few knew that he was Johnny O’Keefe’s OK’s drummer), the Emerson’s etc. Their commitment was amazing e.g. Ian Emerson commuting 4 hours each way from the country to umpire all weekend. My father joined the fraternity in the late 80s. Over time I learnt to respect the men and their decisions and I’d get irate at teams that overtly pressured them.
Though in a Semi Final in Adelaide I was reported for ignoring an umpire and persisting to get a fieldsman to belatedly admit that he had in fact NOT caught my opening batting partner as had been determined….very belatedly, like when the new batsman was taking guard. The umpire and captain took stock of this late admission and against the Laws agreed to bring the original batsman back.
As we only won by one wicket, it might have made the following week’s Grand final win possible, and I thankfully wasn’t suspended.
Sydney Grade also opened the opportunity for me of working as a barman with the inimitable Bob Radford at the SCG , and meet many legends of the game .
Sydney Grade cricket was of much, much wider interest than just Sydney. Just like their city mates, genuine cricket lovers all over country NSW like: Alan Boyd from Temora, John Gallagher from Harwood Island, Bob Patterson from Newcastle, Ian Smith from Kyogle, Mike Gregg from Blackheath, Trevor Andrews from Gosford, Ted Williams from Wamberal, Donny Skinner from Dubbo, Bill Robson from Goulburn all had a great tradition for decades.
They would do the newspaper shuffle early on a Sunday morning in summer and go straight to the Sydney grade scores working through the names they knew to see how they’d gone the day before. And tell their mates “did you hear that our local boy got another ton yesterday, he must be close to playing Shield.” It was what I had done when growing up, eagerly waiting to see how Gosford peers like Ross Steele and Russell McCool had gone. It’s a shame to hear that the scores might not be published any more.
Caricature of Jamie baker by Steve Lopes
What do you enjoy most about playing cricket?
A couple of balls sum up the highs and lows of cricket, for me. Scott Hookey was going to be the key wicket for us at Pratten Park one day and our under-rated quick Dave Gallop had him caught behind early ….but it was a no-ball. Next ball another nick and caught behind again – legitimately this time. He celebrated with an even higher Toyota leap during which he did his hamstring and was out for a month, at the peak of his form!
Not many other sports can connect great highs and lows so easily. Cricket can tease and bring you down individually and team-wise, in the shortest time frame. We all invest inordinate time for a few of the successes but the flops are never far away. I was just an average cricketer with average talent but I trained hard and the cricketing gods smiled upon me on enough days to be writing this.
More than other sports in my mind, cricket has a great way of enabling average talent and people of all shapes and sizes to have their day in the sun. Add in the dreaded white line fever that many of us have suffered from and there is a great theatre that awaits. Especially over 5 days of a Test or a long season .
And I guess the fact that 30 years on I love coming back to Sydney and catching up with my UNSWCC mates.
What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?
Carrying my bat and hitting the winning runs in Grand Final on Adelaide Oval whilst St Peters Church bells were ringing, after a nervy run chase.
I also might make mention of a seemingly minor thing in Sydney that has stayed with me that shows that words can make a difference. I had been picked for a Grade cricket representative team to play a touring team at SCG back when these things were allowed. I walked into the historical changing rooms nervously knowing that there were some Grade legends playing. From up the back I hear “Hey Bakes, great ton you scored against us last month! “ It was the Prince of batsmen, Rod Bower, who must’ve scored 20 tons better himself, calling that out in front of our peers as a welcome. That was 30 years ago and I sadly haven’t seen him since to say how impactful that was. In an era where @theGradeCricketer accurately holds a mirror to the face of Sydney Grade cricket and highlights the tribalism and the regular alpha atmosphere, this was the antithesis of that and something I treasured.
Jamie Baker pull shot at Adelaide Oval
What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?
The Adelaide Grade Final 95/96 and Semi Final. We lost 4 players from the minor round team so had a real challenge. Peter Hamblin from Sydney Uni CC also played. We went undefeated from there until the following years’ finals.
NSW Blues beating the Vics in a 2nd XI match late ‘80s by a wicket in Melbourne in front of a significant post work crowd at Albert Park.
Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?
Dave Gallop, Peter Jourdain and Michael Snoz O’Connor – long story!
What are your hobbies?
Triathlons, table tennis
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
If you’ve got a good score the match before, play like you haven’t (Unfortunately this advice came after or because of my 180 not out. The following week I was out for a duck to Glenn McGrath in one of his first grade matches)
Bowling straight spin is often better than big spin- came too late as well to help .
What is your current occupation?
Oncology Business Manager
Let’s give your employer a plug, who do you work for?
Are you still involved in cricket and if so, in what capacity?
I had a brief stint as batting coach at Adelaide Uni and coached my sons in under age. Now I just watch them .
If you were running Cricket at state level what would your 2 priorities to ensure cricket in the state remained strong and successful on and off the field?
I have an obvious bias but there is an important place in Test cricket for the batsman who can bat time and the attacking spinner. It’s so good at the moment to see Sth Australia committing to Lloyd Pope at the beginning of a season on unfriendly pitches.
We need to prioritise first class cricket more so that it can survive and then always find ways to regulate balance between bat and ball and quick and spin bowling. And I think that there should be more encouragement for variety in pitches, what’s the point in them all being drop in roads.
No-one can deny that the Somerset Bunsen burner has been good for English cricket and occasional green tops. Perhaps with the caveat that the visiting team has the right to bat or bowl first. The laws of the game need to be respected but we can experiment around the edges to find an optimal mix. And keep an eye on what England are doing – is it just me or are there good ideas and incredible talent coming out of there at the moment?
Finally, I’d like to support the male and female cricketers who take the knee this Season. .
