St George District Cricket Club 2023 Hall Of Fame Inductees
St George Cricket Club | December 27, 2024
In 2023 at the St George DCC Annual Dinner, two more St George legends, this time from the 1980's, were inducted to the Hall of Fame which is located at the Norm O'Neill Cricket Training Facility in Penshurst.
Geoff Milliken
St George DCC First Grade Player No.285 - Geoff Milliken, was inducted to the St George DCC Hall Of Fame in 2023.
"Spike" who hailed from the great cricketing community of Hay in Southern NSW is one of the finest and most successful opening batsmen for the club in its history. Certainly he was one of the premier batsman in the Sydney Grade First Grade competition in the 80's and 90's with 8691 runs at 45.2. This is the 4th highest in St George 1st Grade history behind legends, Warren Saunders, Brian Booth and Bill Watson. His Highest Score of 193 in the 89-90 season is just one of 20 centuries in the top grade. He has scored the 2nd most 1st Grade centuries for the club.
Milliken played 15 First Class games for NSW with a highest score of 151. He also played 2 List A games despite earning a wonderful reputation for his patience at the and temperament at the crease.
In the season of 1996-97 he became just the 5th St George captain to win a first grade premiership.
He has also won the following club awards –
· FM Cush Award for Clubman of the Year – 1988-89
· St George Player of the Year – 1993-94
He is also St George DCC Life Member No. 42
Warwick Hayes
St George DCC First Grade Player No.295 - Warwick Hayes, was the 2nd player from the 1980’s decade to be inducted to the St George DCC Hall Of Fame.
Warwick is one of the great stalwarts of our club.
The ROCKDOG as he was affectionately known as by his teammates was a local junior who started his illustrious cricket career with Kogarah Boys in the St George DCA.
In the season of 1978-79 at the age of just 14 Warwick made his 5th Grade debut where he had to face up to Mike Whitney who was returning from injury. Warwick made his 1st Grade debut in 1983-84.
Warwick went on to become the all-time highest run scorer for the club throughout all grades with 16871 runs including 1352 in First Grade with 4 centuries. For many years he took the reigns as captain in 2nd Grade and that is where he scored his club highest score of 215 in the season of 1990-91 It still stands as the highest club score in that grade.
Amazingly Warwick won his only Grade competition, which occurred in First Grade 2008-09 at the age of 44. This came after many years of captaining lower grade teams but through weight of runs worked his way back up the grades into First Grade. Soon after he was made a life member to the Sydney Cricket Association. He is also St George DCC Life Member No.38 which he received in 2000.
During his time back in the lower grades, Warwick became a proficient off spinner and eventually finished with 110 grade wickets. This now sees him make the all-time great allrounders list for the club.
He has also won the following club awards –
· FM Cush Award for Clubman of the Year – 2005-06 & 2008-09
· David Paull Memorial Award for Senior Player Contribution to the Performance of the Club – 1996-97
· Bruce Mulcahy Award for leading 2nd Grade Batsman – 1990-91, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2007-08
Not surprisingly he is the leading run scorer in 2nd Grade with 8525 runs at 43.9. More importantly though, it was his tough leadership and inspiration that helped many younger cricketers shape and improve their game before moving into first grade as well as higher honours.
After retirement from St George, he continued to play cricket where he represented NSW and Australia in the Over 50's.
