Chad Gilmour - the 10th wicket specialist

Sutherland District Cricket Club | January 29, 2025

Chad Gilmour was, it’s fair to say, a rabbit with the bat. At the end of the 2009-10 season, his career stats for SDCC stood at 190 runs (average 4.75) scored and 192 wickets taken (average 22.99). In the space of six rounds in the 2010-11 season, he was part of two record-breaking 10th wicket partnerships, in 2nd Grade and then 1st Grade.

In Round 6 in 2nd Grade vs Bankstown at Bankstown Oval, Chad joined Grant Davies with the score on 9/172. Grant was not out on 47. The other nine members of the team started getting dressed in their creams, anticipating that they would soon be in the field. Chad stayed at the crease with Grant for 66 minutes, putting on 71 for the last wicket, surpassing the previous record that had stood since 1981-82 (60 by Darren Smith & Ken Williams). Grant scored 83 not out (off 116 balls) and Chad made 33 (off 68 balls – the only time he passed 20 in 143 matches for the Club).

 

In Round 11, Sutherland played Sydney University in 1st Grade at Glenn McGrath Oval. Uni batted first and finished day one on 8/305 declared. On day two, Sutherland was in trouble at 6/75 before Matthew Hopkins (67) and Adam Zampa (37) put the innings back on track with a partnership of 70, before Zampa was dismissed. Adrian Ezquerro (25) joined Hopkins and dominated in a stand worth 31 before both were out in the space of four runs. Chad Gilmour joined Daniel Rixon (0*) with the score on 9/180 – still 126 runs away from an unlikely victory. In 51 minutes, they chanced their arms and took the score past 200, then past 250. With the partnership worth 81, Daniel was unfortunately dismissed for 63 off 57 balls, leaving Chad stranded on 16 not out off 23 balls. We were all out for 261, 45 short of the Uni total, but a lot closer than most thought would be the case when the partnership started.

Daniel and Chad broke the 1st Grade 10th wicket partnership record that had stood since 1968-69 (77 by Ted Cotton & Brian Stephen). Thus Chad entered the records books twice in the one season for his batting exploits, something he could only have dreamed about at the start of the season. At season’s end, his career stats had improved to 266 runs at an average of 5.78 and 217 wickets at an average of 22.87. He finished his career with 280 runs and 239 wickets from 143 matches.