Manly Warringah DCC 1st Grade Premiers 1949-50

Manly Warringah District Cricket Club | November 30, 2024

After 44 years of 1st Grade cricket, Manly won the premiership for the first time on Saturday, 5th April 1950, finishing on top of the competition ladder with 81 points, there being no finals or semi-finals at that time

The result of the premiership was in doubt right up t the last day, as there were two other teams which could have taken out the pennant if they had won and Manly had lost or drawn. It therefore seemed likely that captain Bruce Cook would be faced with some worrying decisions in the course of the afternoon, for there was a lot of rain around and always the chance of our opponents securing easy wins on rain-affected wickets.

Our match against University at the Oval commenced 30 minutes late owing to the dampness of the pitch, and with a threatening sky overhead, both Cook and the large crowd of local supporters – not knowing the position in the other games – were worried that rain could cost them the Premiership. University batted first and had slumped to 6 for 70 when the drizzle in which they had been batting for some time, became a downpour, and the players were forced to leave the field. There was an air of extreme tension at this stage, for no word had yet arrived about the other games. However, shortly afterwards, Bruce Cook received advice that both the vital games had been abandoned and he conveyed the news (which meant the premiership was ours) to his jubilant team-mates. Soon after, the Manly match also was abandoned, rival captains Cook and Vic Emery deciding to call it a day to allow celebrations to begin.

The season was a personal triumph for Bruce Cook who, after the fifth round, had taken over the captaincy from Keith Miller when Miller was belatedly called on as a replacement to join Alan Walker in the Australian team touring South Africa. Walker, incidentally, when selected for the tour, became the first locally-born and taught representative to play for Australia.

Whilst the win was very much a team effort, there were many fine individual efforts that contributed to the premiership victory. 

The batting was topped by a fine young strokemaker from Newcastle named Doug Dives, who was in his first season with the club. His 313 runs at an average of 44.71 included two courageous centuries when his team were in dire straits. The aggressive Vic Brown scored most runs (476) at the very respectable average of 31.73, including brilliant innings of 100, 81, 78 and 52, while Jim Burke, John Gwynne, Bruce Cook, Bruce Adrian, Dudley Frazer, Eddie Robinson and young Jim Kennedy all chipped in with important innings during the year. Frazer also kept brilliantly, securing 19 catches and 4 stumpings.

The bowling attack was an extremely strong one, with honors pretty well shared between fast bowlers Tom Brooks and Col Graham, medium pacer John Gwynne, and leg-spinner Eddie Robinson. These four bowlers took over 100 wickets between them, and each averaged under 20 runs per wicket – a fine performance. John Gwynne’s results confirmed just how much he had improved, his 30 wickets costing just 14.73 runs each. His figures included 6-38 against Cumberland, 6-40 against Paddington, and 5-52 against Petersham.

All this added up to a well-balanced side that thoroughly deserved all the success which came its way. In all, the team played 15 games, won 8, drew 5 and lost 2.

1st Grade Premiers 1949-50

Pictures: Keith Miller, Dudley Frazer, Doug Dives, Jim Burke

Back Row: Taylor, George Lowe (President), Jim Kennedy

Middle Row: Ewart Smith, Geoff Morrow, Eddie Robinson, Bruce Adrian

Seated: Col Graham, John Gwynne, Bruce Cook (Captain), Tom Brooks, Vic Brown