Western Suburbs First Grade Minor Premiers 1994-95 - but still so many questions

Matt Whitby | April 29, 2023

Its why many play sport, to play semi-finals and finals.

In cricket, very few get to realise their dreams of playing for their country or first-class cricket. It’s a team game and semi-finals and finals cricket does matter as it’s the reward of playing good cricket throughout the year and it creates life long memories and a bond between the players of the team and the club.

It’s why 25 years after Western Suburbs won the Minor Premiership in NSW Premier Cricket the friendship between the players remain so strong. But, what might have been if……

The 1994/95 season was my first season at Western Suburbs. I’d played Green Shield, Poidevin Gray, lower grades and ultimately First Grade cricket at Petersham before their amalgamation with Randwick, and after four years in the top grade, I felt it was time for a change. I had been taking the new ball at Petersham but I was looking for a new challenge and when Western Suburbs got in touch, my interest level rose. 

The opportunity to play with my good mate Anthony McQuire was a carrot as was the prospect of bowling in tandem with one of the best quicks in Sydney, Daniel Horsley. 

Perhaps what sealed the deal was English Test Bowler Angus Fraser was coming back to the club after spending a year at Wests previously in 1990/91. What an opportunity and how much could I learn from a guy like Gus. The Ashes series was to be played on Australian soil in 94/95 and Gus hadn’t been picked in the original touring squad, so he wanted to give himself every chance of being drafted into the squad should there be any injuries.

The Poms loss was my (and Wests) gain I suppose, and I decided to make my way to Pratten Park and join Wests. Apart from McQuire, Horsley and Fraser the team had a good mix of senior and upcoming players and everyone was excited for the season ahead. Wests hadn’t played semi-final cricket for many years and there was some optimism in the air. 

I could not have started the season any better. Playing my very first game in the black and white colours we travelled to Fairfield Oval for the opening round to play Fairfield. I took 5 for 59 and scored 99 not out. Unfortunately, we fell 5 runs short of the winning target. One game, one loss.

From there, we were undefeated up until round 10 when we lost a close match on a wet wicket against Campbelltown at Raby Oval. 

Big Gus was drafted into the Poms test squad but that didn’t deter the belief in the team and we kept winning. As a side note, Gus played the final test in Sydney and took 5 wickets, picking up the prized wickets of the Waugh twins. 

Round 11 was against a relatively full-strength Bankstown team and it remains one of my strongest memories as it was one of the best wins I’d been involved in. It was made even sweeter as I took 5 for 33 off 22 overs. 

We ended the season with one outright win, 10 first innings wins and two losses. We won the Minor Premiership with 70 points, the prestigious Bill O’Reilly Team Award and the coveted home ground advantage for our first semi-final. 

Winning the Minor Premiership was more than just a reward for all the hard work the team had put in throughout the season, but also “guaranteed” a home game semi-final which meant that if the semi-final was a draw or washed out we’d go straight through to the final.

So it was Pratten Park for us; you beauty - the boys were pumped, as was the entire club, supporters and sponsors.

With the top two teams set to play a home semi-final, it seemed a straightforward schedule; 1st plays 4th at Pratten, and 2nd plays at home against the 3rd placed team.

St George had come 2nd and due to play at Hurstville Oval against Bankstown but North Sydney took the Sydney Cricket Association (SCA) to court to challenge their determination that North Sydney’s last-round win had been a contrived result. If North Sydney won the court case they would finish in 3rd spot and if they lost they would miss the semi-finals. 

For the first time in most people’s memory, the first week of the semi-finals was postponed until the courts made their decision. Not ideal but as we were Minor Premiers we simply prepared to play whomever at Pratten Park. North Sydney won their appeal, so they moved into 3rd spot to play St George at Hurstville Oval (St George home ground) and Bankstown finished 4th to play Wests at Pratten Park.

To add further drama to the build-up, and from nowhere a whisper started floating around that Wests semi-final was going to be moved away from Pratten Park. At no stage during that season was any game transferred away from Pratten Park. We had won every game at our home ground, with our two losses at Fairfield Oval and Raby Oval. 

Unfortunately for Wests and the Minor Premiership winning team of 94/95, history will show that the game was moved to a neutral ground, UNSW’s Village Green. With the legal and courts commotion that North Sydney had prevailed in, Wests decided against fighting the SCA decision and played on. 

After scoring a very competitive 351, and an outstanding innings of 113 scored by Peter Burkhart, Bankstown successfully chased our score for the loss of 4 wickets on a very flat 2nd-day wicket.

The bulk of their runs was shared between Brett Elliott, Kevin Roberts, Scott Thompson and Dean Waugh. 

From 4th position, Bankstown then went on to play North Sydney at Bankstown Oval the following week in the final and won the Premiership and Belvedere Cup.

Lamenting, I never did play semi-final cricket again, maybe we should have taken a leaf out of North Sydney’s playbook.

Whilst for whatever reason we lost our home ground advantage we were and remain a proud bunch as winning the Minor Premiership suggest we were the best-performed team throughout the season.