Damon Livermore; A Gordon run machine

Gordon District Cricket Club | February 09, 2025

When you look at the highest runs scorers for Gordon you naturally expect to see famous names like Charlie Macartney, Sid Carroll and Jack Potter and not the man who played his last game for the club in 2022. The one and only Damon Livermore.

Damon retired at the end of the 2016/17 season with a total of 10,049 runs at an average of 30.27. His total runs include 2550 runs in First Grade and the rest mainly in seconds and thirds. In his 23 seasons with the club Damon scored 13 centuries and 50 scores of 50 or more. He is third on the overall runs scoring table for Gordon behind Sid Carroll with 11,694 runs and Bob Lowing with 12,681 runs. With the 2022 season disrupted with Covid replacements, three retired players Ed Howitt, Ben Garrett and Damon made an appearance in a match vs Parramatta which meant that Damon’s span of matches went from 1992 to 2022. Unfortunately, Damon didn’t trouble the scorers that day so his total remained at 10,049 runs.

For the record, Damon started playing for Gordon in the 1992/93 season at the age of 16 where he batted four times in 5th grade for 41 runs before being promoted to 4th grade. We are not sure why an average of 10 got him a promotion but someone saw his capabilities as he scored a century in his 6 innings in 4th grade with 4 not outs and an average of 134. This took him to 3rd grade for the last game of the season. At some point early in his career, when everyone had to have a nickname, Damon was given the name of “Reg” after the performer Reg Livermore. To this day everyone calls him Reg. We will stick with Damon, however, for this article.       

Damon’s career stayed fixed in 3rd and 2nd grade until the 1998/99 season when he made his debut in First Grade. From here till 2006, Damon played mainly in First Grade with a mix of some 2nd grade games and in the 2002/03 season scored his most runs with 682 @ 24.36. I am sure Damon would admit that the team didn’t do that well that season and in fact he batted 29 times which included several second innings.

Following one season at Manly in the 2007-08 season, Damon returned to the Stags to join Ed Howitt in the mighty third grade team of that season who went on to win the premiership with a win over Sydney University at University Oval. His 635 runs with a century against Easts at Beauchamp was an important contribution to Eds’ team that included Brett Rosen, Elliot Richtor, Hamish Angus and Will Sweeney.

The following year he returned to second grade as captain and scored 568 runs with two centuries. For the next three seasons, Damon played in the third grade team and after a loss in the Grand Final in the 2011/12 season was again part of the third grade premiership team with another win against Sydney Uni at University Oval in the 2012-13 season. Damon’s 63 not out was the rock that saw us get past the Uni total, much to the relief of Ed Howitt who was hiding behind a tree unable to watch. 

The 2013/14 season was up and down for Damon with a promotion to First Grade at the age of 37 for the middle part of the season and two excellent centuries that are described later in this story.

Another season in third grade in the 2014-15 season included another stint as captain after Adam Cubbage was promoted to second grade for round 3 of that year. There were no centuries this time but two scores of 94 and 97 continued to show his run scoring capability.

A late start to the 2015-16 season in November and a request to play in the fifth grade side, including Anthony Sherman and Matt Todd, saw Damon score 470 runs, but unfortunately finished with a defeat in the semi-final against Campbelltown.

An even later start in the 2016-17 season in December in Fifth Grade saw Damon only needing two runs to reach his 10,000^th run when he went in to bat in a match against Norths. Damon decided to get his runs quickly with a massive hit over mid-off when a fielder took a miraculous one handed catch leaning over the boundary at Beauchamp which stopped Damon from bringing up his 10,000th run with a six. Fortunately, the next match saw Damon hit the runs needed in an innings of five runs.

There are four centuries that stand out in Damon’s career and it is very hard to separate them but his score of 110 against St. George at Chatswood in First Grade in the 2013/14 season is very hard to beat. The St.George attack included Moises Henriques and Dan Magin and all everyone remembers is the fence at backward point getting a bashing from his square cuts. 

Another contender for best century was his highest score of 148 not out which was scored in difficult conditions at Raby Oval against Campbelltown in the first round of the same season in second grade. Gordon were chasing 274 and at 5 for 82 the chances of victory were slim. Damon was still in, however, and was joined by Adam Cubbage, who stayed with Damon for 104 runs with a score of 44. At 6 for 186, Damon was joined by Chad Soper and step by step they added another 90 runs to pass the Campbelltown score. Damon finished on 148 not out and came off the field with the look of an exhausted winner. 

Another excellent century was at Killara in second grade in the 2005/2006 season when he scored 140 not out against North Sydney. On that day, Damon shared a 235 run partnership with Rod Hokin which is still the record for second grade for the 4th wicket and four runs (Harry Evans and Elliot Richtor 239) short of the overall 4th wicket record.

The fourth “best” century may well be rated by Damon as his best scoring 106 against Fairfield in the 2004-05 season against an attack that included Doug Bollinger, Grant Lambert and Jason Krezja. The innings was played on a lively track at Killara and the young tearaway Bollinger as at his fearsome best. Damon’s hooks and square cuts into and over the boundary at Killara certainly got the aggravated attention of Bollinger. Dougie wasn’t happy. 

It would be fair to say that the best characteristic of Damon’s batting over his career is his “eye”. He was always ready to hit a drive or a hook or cut to the fastest of bowlers and was one of the first (followed later by Test batsman Peter Hanscomb) to stand well back in his crease when facing the fast bowlers. Maybe this practice also helped the fact that Damon in his later seasons didn’t wear a helmet when batting and having been an opener his entire career, he would have faced many a short delivery. It could in fact be said that many a fast bowler noticing Damon didn’t have a helmet on would be tempted to intimidate with a bumper or two. This was just what Damon wanted and in the main these deliveries were dispatched to the boundary.

Damon finally announced his retirement after the 2016/17 season playing in fifth grade, however there wasn’t a player or supporter in the club who believed him. At 41 it was indeed his last season except for his brief appearance in 2022. 

In 2009 one of Damon’s longest team mates Mitchell Kleem interviewed Damon for his Blog. Damon’s quote for advice to young players was the following:

“Work hard at your game and always aim to improve..... you are only 3 good innings away from playing at the next level. Enjoy the time you spend with your club and with your team mates. When you get older, you will look back on these days as the best time in your life” 

After 23 seasons at Gordon maybe Damon has enough material to look back on as the best time of his life…Everyone thought he would continue playing to chase the first and second run scorers above him, but other interests meant he stayed retired.

In the end at can be said that Damon was one of the best openers the club has ever witnessed. His ability to see off the early attack with his excellent eye for leaving the ball and then knowing when to be aggressive and put the opposing bowler off their line and enable the runs to flow was a real feature of his batting.

Damon was one of our best.

Paul Stephenson