Saturday was an historic one for Sydney 1st Grade cricket. When Anthony Sams held a sharp leg-side catch for Randwick Petersham in the clash against Manly-Warringah at Manly Oval, he wrote his name into the history books of Sydney Grade Cricket/NSW Premier Cricket. That snare gave him a career total of 500 1st Grade wicketkeeping dismissals–only the second player to achieve the feat since the competition began in 1893 and the first in 68 years. The only wicketkeeper to reach such a remarkable milestone prior to Saturday, was Ernie Laidler who played with St George between 1928 and 1958 and brought up the number towards the end of the 1955-56 season. Anthony’s 500 dismissals comprise 448 catches and 52 dismissals and include 5 catches to took with Bankstown before joining Randwick Petersham in 2010-11. He currently has 495 dismissals with the club.
And to make the day a more memorable one for the brilliant wicketkeeper-batsman, just hours before achieving his historic milestone, he scored his 13th century for Randwick Petersham. Coming in to bat with the score a precarious 3-5, he was the sixth batter out at 188 having scored 103 from 150 balls with 12 fours and a six. It was a simply outstanding performance by any measure.
