It’s probably a little-known fact, outside the ACT, that West Indian great Gordon Greenidge, who was still playing Tests at the time, played First Grade cricket in Canberra.
It was the 89-90 season and my old club Northern Suburbs had just amalgamated with City-Daramalan to form Canberra North-Daramalan. The amalgamation came about as some of the older inner-city club’s Junior resources had started to fall.
This combining of clubs also put at risk the deal City-Daramalan had put together, through several major sponsors, to secure Greenidge’s services for playing and coaching young cricketers.
The Canberra Times reported at the time “The deal is believed to involve about $30,000 plus car for October to February, when Greenidge has to return to the West Indies to qualify for the 1990 tour of England”. This obviously was a significant amount for the time.
