Martin Bedkober 1952-75
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | March 22, 2023
Martin John Bedkober joined Petersham-Marrickville in 1966-67 and played the first of his three seasons in the under 16 years A W Green Shield competition. In 1968-69 he was considered the most outstanding cricketer in the competition when he scored 645 runs to break Bobby Simpson’s club record of 627 established in 1951-52. His best score was 134* while he averaged 80.60. He was also selected in the Sydney Combined Green Shield team which played against Country Schoolboys. That season, he won the club’s Col Hollingsworth Memorial trophy for the most promising under 16 player.
Team manager, Bill Anderson, commented in his annual report that season that Bedkober’s batting had developed so much that at times his wicket-keeping was overlooked. Behind the stumps, Martin was quite brilliant as he caught 15 and stumped eight in his season’s tally of 23 dismissals, which set a new club record. His three seasons in Green Shield netted him 729 runs while he completed 50 dismissals with 35 caught and 15 stumped.
Young Martin made his Grade Cricket debut in 1967-68 playing 4th Grade. The following season he was the 2nd Grade wicket-keeper/batsman at just 16 years of age. The season after, he set a new 2nd Grade record with 33 wicket-keeping dismissals (23 caught; 10 stumped). That same summer he established another club record, this time in the under 21 Poidevin-Gray Shield with 20 dismissals.
The club records kept tumbling with Bedkober breaking his own 2nd Grade mark in 1971-72 when he took 27 catches and stumped seven. He batted brilliantly as well, totalling 412 runs. That double forced the selectors’ hand and from the start of the 1972-73 season, Martin Bedkober was in 1st Grade.
Bedkober showed his class in his first season in the top grade. He opened the batting in a very strong team, scoring 209 with a best score of 84. Behind the stumps, he caught 18 and stumped two. But it was his fifth year in Poidevin-Gray which caused the excitement that season. The team won the competition with Martin scoring 285 runs including a brilliant 106 while he caught 17 and stumped two, to be just one short of his own P-G’s record.
Martin excelled himself in 1973-74. He oozed quality as he won the 1st Grade batting aggregate with a huge 620 runs including 122* against Waverley at Waverley Oval, the highest score in the club for the season. His brilliance behind the stumps set yet another club record with his 37 dismissals comprising 31 catches and six stumpings. He was named the club’s Player of the Season and good judges were tipping a State call-up.
In 1974-75, Petersham-Marrickville won the 1st Grade premiership with Martin Bedkober at the forefront with many outstanding performances. He scored 541 runs with 118 against Nepean (now Penrith) his best while recording another 36 dismissals behind the stumps. And while he won selection in the Metropolitan Colts team for the second year, there remained a sense of frustration in not being able to further his career at the State level.
Martin Bedkober wicket keeping for Petersham Marrickville in the 1974-75 final
To assist him fulfil his burning ambition to play first-class cricket, Martin moved to Brisbane prior to the start of the 1975-76 season. He left Petersham-Marrickville with a Grade Cricket record of 2,752 runs and 261 wicket-keeping dismissals. Of those, 1,557 runs and 107 dismissals were achieved in 1st Grade. With the addition of 1,471 runs and 111 dismissals in P-G’s and Green Shield, his overall club record totalled 4,223 runs and 372 wicketkeeping dismissals comprising 275 catches and 97 stumpings.
Petersham Marrickville Cricket Club First Grade Premiers 1974-75
Back row – J.R. Ross (President), Graeme Hughes, John Coyle, Stewart Gardner, Lindsay Gibson, Peter Bain, Bill Moffatt, Greg Hartshorne, B.P. Hughes (Secretary)
Front row – Les Johns, Dave Chardon, Brian Riley (Captain), Martin Bedkober, Bill Anderson, Perry Nichols (Scorer)
In Brisbane, Bedkober joined the Toombul club and shared a flat with Jeff Thomson. Queensland selectors were well aware of his ability and picked him in the Brisbane Colts team to play Queensland Country Colts as a first-drop batsman in October 1975. A few weeks later he was in the Queensland Colts team for their clash against NSW at the ‘Gabba ground in Brisbane. Interestingly, opposing Martin in the NSW side were three of his Pete’s team mates, David Chardon, Greg Hartshorne and Graeme Hughes.
At the All Saints Church, Petersham just before Christmas in 1975, a huge crowd gathered to pay tribute to the wonderful talent of Martin Bedkober as a cricketer and as a person. Unfortunately, the occasion was not one of celebration but one of tragedy. It was a funeral service for the popular sportsman who a few days earlier on Saturday 13 December, had been killed when struck above the heart by a ball while batting in a club match in Toombul, Brisbane. He was just 22 years of age.
As a Player of the Season award winner himself with Petersham-Marrickville in 1973-74, it is fitting that the Randwick Petersham Player of the Season Award carries the name of Martin Bedkober as a memorial tribute.
