Beatle's Match

Gordon District Cricket Club | December 20, 2024

Graeme Watson (‘Beatle’) came to Sydney in 1976 with the reputation of being a very hard-hitting batsman and a bowler who, on his day, could be pretty sharp. He took a while to make his mark in Grade cricket – being in the Shield team meant he was coming and going all the time. The first game where he really showed his talents was against Sydney. Gordon had lost comfortably on the first innings, having got the worst of a damp wicket. A challenging second innings total was set for them, and, going on their first innings performance, an outright win looked highly unlikely. The target was 180 in about 105 minutes.

Beatle and Marshall Rosen opened the batting and showed they were up for the fight immediately. They set about the bowling with great ferocity with particularly Beatle launching some massive bombs. A number of balls were collected from distant houses as he charged towards the target. Several disappeared over the tall trees at the southern end of Chatswood Oval. Marshall supported him well and, at his dismissal, Chris Drake joined the fun and the total was comfortably reached with a couple of overs to spare. Beatle’s 106* was a brilliant innings and showed everyone how much talent he had. 

A few games later, Gordon played Sydney University on a wicket with a little bit of juice in it. Graeme absolutely destroyed the University batting card, taking 8-42 and really hurrying up some pretty handy players. Again, he had demonstrated his immense all round talents.

Gordon vs Sydney at Chatswood Oval, December 4^th and 11^th 1976

Sydney 1^st Innings

J.Pearson       c Peifer b Antman        5

K.Foster                            b Rosen      17

I.Merritt       c Bourke b Antman        4

J.McQueen                       run out      49

G.Condon                   lbw M.Falk      39

G.Olsen                 c Cox b M.Falk      38

P.Mirkovic      c Bourke b M.Falk      42

G.Green                          b M.Falk        4

C.Fletcher                         b Poole        2

D.Hinds                             not out        9

P.Horneman                    b Rosen        1

Sundries                                                 8

Total                                                    256

Bowling:

P.Antman 2/42, C.Piefer 0/28, M.Rosen 2/6, G.Watson 0/20, A.Poole 1-36, M.Falk 4/61

Overs 69.7

Batting time 276 mins

Gordon 1^st Innings

M.Falk           c Green b Fletcher      11

P.Antman                b Horneman        0

C.Piefer                  b Horneman       3

C.Drake c McQueen b Fletcher      40

G.Watson   st Green b Mirkovic      12

M.Rosen              c & b Mirkovic        7

P.Bourke                     b Mirkovic       1

D.Gray               c Green b Olsen      0

M.Cox             c Condon b Hinds     41

A.Poole                     c & b Foster    13

A.Falk                                not out      0

Sundries                                           12

Total                                                140

Bowling:

C.Fletcher 2/34, P.Horneman 2/24, G.Olsen 1/35, P.Mirkovic 3/21, K.Foster 1/9, D.Hinds 1/5

Overs 42.6

Batting time 166 mins   

Sydney 2^nd Innings

J.Pearson not out 53       

K.Foster not out 6             

Sundries 4

Total No wkts (dec) for      63

Bowling:

A.Falk 0/19, M.Falk 0/36, A.Poole 0-4

Overs: 12

Batting time 37 mins

Gordon 2^nd Innings

G.Watson                              not out   106

M.Rosen             c Olsen b Mirkovic     49

C.Drake                                 not out     20

Sundries                                                  8

Total                          One wicket for   183

Bowling:

C.Fletcher 0/15, D.Hinds 0/34, G.Olsen 0/24, P.Mirkovic 1/41, P.Horneman 0/37, K.Foster 0/24

Overs 20.6

Batting time 100 mins 

[Author: Michael Falk]