Petersham-Marrickville 1st Grade runners-up 1976-77
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | March 01, 2023
Back Row - Jack Ross (President), Graeme Hughes, Brian Sharp, Greg Hartshorne, David Jurd, Peter Maloney, Gary Goodman, Barry Blanchard, John Bain, Brian Hughes (Hon Secretary)
Front Row : Ross Palmer, David Chardon, Brian Riley (Captain), Ray Phillips, Stuart Gardner
Season 1976-77 was a particularly good one for Petersham-Marrickville, taking out the minor premiership in 1st Grade before being narrowly defeated in the Grand Final while the 3rd Grade team marched away with the premiership. And while 2s and 4s slipped from their impressive positions attained the season before, the club advanced to sixth place in the prestigious Club Championship.
1st Grade on top
Although 1st Grade didn’t bring home the Belvidere Cup, it would be hard to argue that it was not the best team in the competition. The side won the minor premiership by a clear 10 points winning nine of the 14 rounds including two outright while losing just three with two drawn. It also won The Sydney Morning Herald Club of the Year competition and the $500 prize for the third time in five years. Going into the last round, the club led by one point from NDs but took the full six points to win by two --78 to 76.
The side was bolstered by wicket-keeper/batsman, Ray Phillips, from the Sydney club and leg-spinner, Peter Maloney, who played the full season. Off-spinner, David Jurd, who started in 4th Grade a year earlier, was also promoted mid-season. All three featured in the Grand Final while Phillips made the NSW Colts. The major losses were Bill Anderson who retired to coach rugby league after a career yielding 2,819 1st Grade runs and fast bowler, John Coyle, who joined Wests after taking 82 wickets in four seasons in 1s.
The Grand Final
The Grand Final was played at Petersham Oval against University of NSW who had won through by overcoming Bankstown despite a fired-up Len Pascoe who took 7-76. John Rogers, the University captain, won the toss and batted. Early wickets to Dave Chardon, Greg Hartshorne and David Jurd however, quickly reduced the students to 6-107 and in danger of being dismissed cheaply. But a fighting seventh wicket partnership of 110 between 19 year old Greg Livingstone (61) playing in just his third 1st Grade match and veteran wicket-keeper Jim O’Brien (75), reversed their fortune. Geoff Lawson, hitting out for 38 late in the order including 22 with three sixes from one Jurd over, added the extras and a competitive score of 284 was posted.
Resuming at 0-14 on the second day of play, it was all Petersham-Marrickville as they took the score to 4-195 after Goodman (24) and Phillips (61) had given the side a solid start. Graeme Hughes with 52 and skipper Brian Riley, hitting a pugnacious 48, appeared to take the game away from Uni. But the run-out of Hartshorne when he and Chardon were caught at the same end, triggered a collapse which saw five wickets lost for the addition of just 32 runs. At nine down with 57 to get, the last pairing of Peter Maloney (21*) and Stuart Gardner (26) gave it everything, belting 48 in 37 minutes before Gardner holed out to Chris Chapman in the deep when nine runs were needed. The victory gave University the premiership in just its fourth season in the 1st Grade competition.
Tough as teak
The Petersham-Marrickville 1st Grade team was a solid, determined and extremely competitive team. They played hard and gave no quarter. Opponents expected a tough match when they took on the Petes and their expectations were generally realised. Led by the aggressive Brian Riley, the side was quite verbal on the field with insults and intimidatory comments directed at opponents. And while so-called “sledging” can be traced back to W G Grace and made into an art-form in the Ian Chappell years in the early 1970s, it was also creeping into Grade Cricket. Light-hearted banter was being replaced by more personal comments designed to upset an opposing player’s concentration much to the chagrin of the NSW Cricket Association.
Solid individual performances make 1st Grade a most competitive unit
The success of the side could be put down to team-work rather than the brilliance of one or two players. Indeed, no batsman made 500 runs with skipper Riley the closest with 482. Opening bat, Gary Goodman, had a good season scoring 455 while Graeme Hughes was next best with 337. Hughes’ runs came from just six trips to the crease due to his NSW Sheffield Shield commitments. He was one of only four who played in all eight first-class games that season. He scored 205 runs with 48* his best. In Grade, his best score was 101*in a team total of 4-202 when chasing down Bankstown’s 7-183 declared in a one-day match at Bankstown.
The only other century during the season was by Brian Riley. Just 13 matches after scoring his maiden 1st Grade century in his 142nd game, he had a second when he hit 112 in the win over Nepean, 231 to 216 at Marrickville Oval. Outside of Riley and Hughes, there were just seven half-centuries with Brian Sharp’s 67 playing Nepean the best. And while 18 year old, John Bain, hit a fine 59 against Sutherland, it was his 29 in the semi-final to guide Petes to a win over St George, which earned him the plaudits.
Bowler’s best
The team’s bowling was its strength. There were five regular bowlers who shared all but one wicket for the season. The spearhead was again David Chardon with 47 wickets at just 14.2 runs apiece, which topped the club and 1st Grade competition stats. His best performance was 6-19 to skittle St George at Hurstville Oval including their Test match champion Brian Booth for a duck who was caught by Saints’ Steve Halliday who was “subbing” while a Petes player was off the field. He also took 5-44 to have eventual premiers Uni. of NSW out for 104 and suffer a four wickets loss at Marrickville Oval in a one-dayer.
Chardon was well supported by fellow opening bowler, Greg Hartshorne, who had what turned out to be, a career-best bowling season with 42 wickets. His best was 5-54 in a losing match against Sutherland when team-mate of one season earlier, Les Johns, slammed 84 for the Sharks. But his effort against Mosman at Petersham, produced a happier outcome. With 4-54 in the first innings and 4-19 in the second, he led the way in having the Whales out for 121 and 135 for an outright win by five wickets.
Spin to win; Maloney on the cusp
A similar result occurred a few matches earlier when Peter Maloney spun a web around the Cumberland bats in their second dig for a 5-64 return and an eight wickets outright win. He was in a purple patch, having taken 6-49 in the defeat of Manly at Manly Oval the game before, while two games earlier, he had a hand in the win over Randwick with 3-42. But more was to come as in round 6 in a one-day match against Waverley at Marrickville, he took 4-68 in their innings of 7-169 as they held on for a draw. The stumbling block was Waverley and England opening Test bat, Geoff Boycott, who remained 120*. Boycott scored 1,160 runs that season. Maloney had taken 20 wickets in five games and finished the season with 35 at 21.00. He was rewarded by the State selectors with a place in the NSW Sheffield Shield team against Victoria which was rain affected and he didn’t get to bat or bowl.
Finger spinners, Stuart Gardner and David Jurd, completed an excellent attack. Left-armer, Gardner, took 29 wickets at 19 and right-hander, Jurd, 20 at 18.2. Gardner’s best was 5-28 to keep Northern District to 180 at Waitara although their fast-man Steve Bernard put the skids through the Petes bats to have them out for 141. Gardner had some useful performances with the bat, including the 20 he made in a 10th wicket partnership of 48 with Peter Maloney in the Grand Final while one week before, the same pair combined to sneak a three runs win over St George in the semi-final with “Stuie” making 6 and Maloney 9*.
David Jurd, a 19 year old from Inverell, was ushered into the side in round 11 after he had produced a fine double of 64 runs and 4-26 with the ball, against University of NSW in 2nd Grade at Village Green. He repaid selectors’ faith with 3-24 to assist in having Mosman out for 121 but it was the next game where he stamped himself as a player of promise. Playing Sydney University at University Oval, he knocked the students over for 95 taking a brilliant 6-38 in the process. He took 2-65 in the second innings for match figures of 8-103. With 2-17 in the next round defeat of Nepean, he had accumulated 13 wickets in his first three games.
Knock-out comp knocked out
The Rothman’s Knock-out competition ceased operation and was replaced by a new competition known as the ANZ Cup. It was designed to be contested by four teams drawn from the 18 Grade clubs and a country team from each of the north and south of the State. Petersham-Marrickville fell into the City Central team area along with Balmain, Sydney, Sydney University and Western Suburbs. David Chardon, Gary Goodman, Greg Hartshorne, Graeme Hughes and Peter Maloney all played in the side. Bad weather had a major effect on the competition, which was won by the Country Northern team.
