Country club cricket in the 1970’s was, I suspect at an all-time high, both in standard and player numbers. It saddens me now to see that in many country- townships, cricket is either non-existent or close to it. When I was recruited to play with St Peters Cricket Club in Armidale in its 1975/1976 pre-season recruiting campaign, I gained the impression that St Peters was a club on the way up.
The next decade in fact proved to be the “golden era” for St Peters CC. On a recent visit to the cricket archives in Armidale, Mike Porter, the President of our Regional Association for over three decades, presented to me the historic records of premiership teams, with St Peters winning over the ensuing decade, five club championships, three A Grade Premierships, one 2nd Grade Premiership and two 3rd Grade Premierships.
St Peters was a club that was managed well during my many years there. There was an emphasis on supporting and promoting junior cricket with many senior players like Bede Ryan, Ian Watts and Brian Gream, spending many seasons coaching junior school and representative teams on their Saturday mornings, before their competition matches in the after-noon. These fellows made a huge impression on generations of younger cricketers, through their dedication and obvious love for the sport. They imparted not only the cricketing fundamentals, but also the importance of tradition and respect for the game.
I remember early on in my introduction to the senior players, Ian in a semi-serious mood during after match pub celebrations (or was it commiserations?), stating one of his often quoted dry one-liners- “You need a sense of humour to play cricket”!
