Randwick District Cricket Club 3rd Grade Minor Premiers and Finalists 1977-78

Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | December 07, 2023

An extract from Lyall Gardner OAM book - The History of Randwick District Cricket Club

Youth overcomes experience; 3rd Grade lose Grand Final in surprise result.

It was felt that 3rd Grade was the most likely of all the grades to take out the premiership. Ending as minor premiers and with a team comprising nine players with 1st Grade experience, they were expected to have too many guns for the young Western Suburbs team in the Grand Final, especially having beaten them in the preliminary rounds. Not to be, with the inexperienced Wests running out convincing winners.

Minor premiers

Captained by the experienced 33 year old, John Johnson, who was returning to the club after a gap of four years due to family illness, the side had two outright victories among its 10 wins. It won the last six matches to take the minor premiership by a clear margin, with eight points to spare over Wests. Bankstown was third with Northern District making up the four semi-finalists. There was a drawn game against NDs with losses to Bankstown, Sydney and Balmain, all in the first seven rounds. And while the batting, bowling and ground fielding was consistent throughout the season, it was the catching which was not quite up to the mark, particularly in the Grand Final when a possible eight chances went to ground.

The Grand Final

Like other grades, the semi-final against NDs was washed out so the top two teams, Randwick and Western Suburbs were drawn to meet in the Grand Final. Because the two home grounds were already in use for Grand Finals by 1st and 4th grades, the big match was scheduled for Wests’ second home ground, Blick Oval at Canterbury.