Greg Douglas - the enforcer
Penrith Cricket Club | April 23, 2023
Image - Dougo the Enforcer. The famous front foot pull on show at Waitara, batting for Wests in the early 80s. Not pretty, but pretty effective.
John Benaud likened Dougo’s impact on team spirit and performance to that of Steve Small on the First Grade team in the late 70s.
Greg Douglas, newly-wed and seeking affordable housing, came to Penrith from the inner-city Club Western Suburbs, one famous for a tradition of uncompromising toughness practised by such names as Simpson and Wellham, Rixon and Toohey. When ‘Dougo’ arrived in the 1990/91 season he had been brushing shoulders with Dirk Wellham, once a successful NSW captain and Test batsman, and a cricketer notable for encouraging his team mates to engage opponents with a cold, steely eye, and, when appropriate, place a foot on the throat until condition is terminal. Dougo admired the philosophy, but applied it with more personality than his mentor.
He was instantly likeable, with twinkling eyes and a booming laugh, and built like a small tank, arms like hams, although when it became common knowledge that he sold Cadburys chocolates for a living a braver team mate called him “roly-poly”. He once confessed to eating so much chocolate it gave him a headache. In an Annual Report the President thanked him “for his efforts in organising soft drinks and confectionery for the canteen“.
Not too keen on this image—upon arrival, after half a season in Firsts, he had been appointed Second Grade captain and announced that “players need to take a long hard look at themselves, their cricket and their training”—Dougo went on a diet and dropped heaps of weight. “I’ve never eaten so many buckwheat pancakes in my life,” he told Tim Sullivan.
He brought a hard edge to the Seconds. Pre-season, he committed to wintry Sunday morning training sessions at Nepean High School. He worked individually with players, tweaked their games. Accordingly, his players loved playing with him and for him. He drove the team because he was always in the action. From beyond the boundary you’d hear ‘DOWN!’ in a bass roar from the slips as a drive scudded towards a fielder. Or, ‘CATCH!’ when it was in the air. He was an outstanding fielder anywhere, and possessed a flat, hard, accurate throw.
At three Clubs, Wests, Penrith and Balmain, from 1981/82 through 17 seasons, his career in First Grade was somewhat stuttering, perhaps one of those players selectors see as “never quite ‘there’”. Ironically his best First Grade season at Wests was 1989/90, the one previous to coming to Penrith, when he scored 487 runs @ 34.78. At Penrith, when he captained the Seconds for three seasons from 1991/92, he scored 1424 runs @ 31.64, and took 30 catches.
