A century for Ken White

Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | March 27, 2025

The senior member of Randwick Petersham Cricket’s supporters’ group “The Legends”, Ken White brought up a century on Wednesday 19 March 2025. It wasn’t a “ton” of runs however, but a century of years. He turned 100 years of age, celebrating the occasion with his son Alan and family in Perth, Western Australia, where he moved in 2004.

Making the 100 milestone is not surprising, as Ken was one of those determined and never-say-die cricketers in his playing days with Petersham / Petersham-Marrickville, a club he joined 77 years ago.

Ken White had the distinction of being one of just five members of Petersham-Marrickville DCC to play in three 1st Grade premiership teams in the 50 years history of the club. Along with Clive Johnston, Noel Hughes, Brian Hazell and Johnny Martin, Ken White played in each of the club’s wins in 1954-55, 1955-56 and 1961-62. One of the club’s most consistent cricketers, he took 20 wickets or more with his right-arm quickish off-spinners in 13 of his 14 seasons with Petersham / Petersham-Marrickville.

Sylvester Kenneth White was born at Marrickville on 19 March 1925. A product of North Newtown Intermediate Boys High, he was an inter-schools representative runner while also captaining the school cricket team. His athletics success, however, gave way to cricket and when he left school, he played in the local Western Suburbs Juniors. Like so many promising sportsmen, his development was interrupted by international hostilities and he joined the R.A.A.F. shortly after his 18th birthday.

Following his discharge three years later, White returned to the junior association and won selection in the representative Telegraph Shield side. Success in that competition, highlighted by a hat-trick, brought calls for a move to Sydney Grade cricket and in 1948-49, the 23-year-old lined up for Petersham. Selected in 2nd Grade, he was promoted to 1st Grade after just three games and celebrated with a first-ball wicket as part of a sensational debut performance of 6-58 against North Sydney. He went on to take the bowling honours for the season with 35 wickets at 20.29 which included three five wicket hauls, with 6-38 his best.

The calibre of Ken’s bowling in his first season can be measured by the quality of the batting in the 1st Grade competition. In a round against St George at Petersham, his figures of 4-122 stood out in a drawn game where Saints’ 6-403 was almost matched by Petersham’s 3-342 at the end of play. First class players, Les Favell and Wally Yeates, made two of the four centuries while Ken had the distinction of dismissing Ray Lindwall first ball in taking the bowling honours.

Season 1950-51 was Petersham’s last as a single entity and Ken took the bowling honours with 30 wickets at 18.73. His tally included 6-41 against Cumberland at Lidcombe Oval but in the final game of the season, which was the club’s last, he sent Petersham out a winner, taking 7-52 to knock Gordon over for 152 chasing the home club’s 7-186 declared, at Petersham Oval.

Season 1951-52 saw Petersham merge with Marrickville. While not all players remained with the new Petersham-Marrickville entity, Ken stayed on and remarkably continued in the same vein, again taking out the bowling aggregate with 36 wickets at 22.50. In a round against eventual premiers Randwick, White took 6-23 in their first innings of 92 and followed up with 4-35 in the second to give him match figures of 10-58. His performance, along with the batting of State players Jack Moroney and Clive Johnston, helped the side finish runner-up in the competition while the club took out the coveted Club Championship. Topping the bowling aggregate that season meant that Ken had taken it out four times in his four years in 1st Grade, a remarkable achievement considering he had been virtually catapulted directly into the senior grade from junior cricket.

Following his 10 wickets against Randwick, Ken went on to achieve the magic 10 wickets in a match on two other occasions. In 1952-53 he took 6-30 and 4-49 to give him 10-79 against Mosman while three years later in 1955-56, he took 7-52 and 4-39 versus Western Suburbs for match figures of 11-91, the greatest performance in his outstanding cricket career. That same season, he took a hat-trick as part of a 6-64 performance against Sydney University.

When Petersham-Marrickville took out the 1st Grade premiership in 1954-55 and successfully defended it the following summer, it was no surprise that Ken White was a leading wicket-taker on both occasions. His contribution was a major factor in the achievement of the side. His dependability and consistency were second-to-none and his ability to bowl for long periods, tie batsmen down and take wickets, were attributes which confirmed his reputation as one of Petes greatest spin bowlers.

Over the following seasons, White continued to be a force in Sydney 1st Grade Cricket. In 1957-58 he recorded his career best single innings figures of 7-43, while playing North Sydney in 1959-60, he clean bowled five batsmen in taking 6-55. Never one to bother the scorers with his batting, the left-handed tailender hit his highest score in 1st Grade with an undefeated 36 in 1956-57.

Proving that spin bowlers get better with age, Ken added his third 1st Grade premiership to an imposing cricket career record when Petersham-Marrickville took out the Sydney title defeating St George in the 1961-62 final. He also had the thrill of capturing the prized wicket of Australian Test opener, Jim Burke, as part of his 23 wickets that season. Such success however, brought with it a fitting conclusion to a wonderful life in cricket and as the victory celebrations came to an end, so did the cricket playing career of Ken White.

In his 14 seasons, he took 93 1st Grade wickets for Petersham and 304 for Petersham-Marrickville for a total of 397 at the magnificent average of 20.45. He took five wickets in an innings 23 times and 10 in a match on three occasions while contributing 609 runs with the bat. He also won the club 1st Grade bowling aggregate eight times. In his first season he played a couple of games in 2nd Grade for a return of 10 wickets, which gave him a club total of 407 wickets in his career. He was not lost to the club and continued to serve on the Committee and with the Saturday morning coaching classes for many years.

I never met Ken White in person, but have enjoyed many phone conversations with him since 2013 when he joined “The Legends”. An affable gentleman with a sharp mind, I was amazed at his recall of many incidents during his cricket career. Clearly, he loved his cricket and especially his time with Petersham / Petersham-Marrickville. I asked if he would send me a note of some of his memories and within a few days, a hand-written document of five or six pages arrived in the post. At times he would call me when he remembered something specific and while he opened with the comment “I won’t keep you long”, we were generally still speaking over 40 minutes later! His love of the game and his time in it was interrupted during those phone calls by a number of emotional moments from a man recalling many special memories in his life.

Happy birthday Ken White!! Thanks for the memories.

Lyall Gardner OAM

Randwick Petersham Historian