Stags and the City No.1
Let me begin by saying that without a 6th grade side you don't have a Cricket Club. One of the most pleasing aspects of this season so far has been the reintroduction of a Colts team. Many a great Stag has started their career there and many a great Stag has finished back there! Brett Rosen, Mitchell Kleem and I even think Packers once had a trot there just to mention a few. Not only does it blood future talent, but it offer attracts the players who are the soul of the club.
I'm also glad that Eddie Zelma came back to the club after a couple of years with the Dragons. He's now a seasoned veteran of first grade and his experience will be a tremendous boost to not only 1's but the club overall.
There I was a month ago shacked at Baker Street Tavern on 61st and 1st Avenue in New York watching the Swans outmuscle the Eagles, when my mind harked back to when the Swannies last made the big one. It was 1996, round 1 of the new cricket season and I had been selected in the 6th grade team to play Sydney Uni. Weren’t there some characters in that side? Iqbal, Dave Ballantyne and who could ever forget the "Rock Dog" Warren Charlton! I topped scored that day with 78 and from memory when selections where announced for Round 2, everyone was promoted to 5th grade except for me!
It’s was a great summer in the US; my best to date. I still haven’t bumped into "Crowbar" but I’m sure that’s just a matter of time.
It’s taken me a while to fill the void left after playing 8 seasons of grade cricket at the Stags, but I think I finally found it in golf. My job involves travelling all over the US every week and I always make sure I have the clubs with me. The highlight so far has been playing Bethpage Black; a course in Long Island NY (about and hour out of Manhattan). It was the site of the US Open in 2002 and it will again be played there in 2009. For those of you aren’t golf nuts, this course has achieved iconic status since Tiger won there 3 years ago. Long a secret of golfers in New York, "The Black" was renovated in 1995 after it was decided it would hold the Open seven years later. The beauty of the course is that it’s a true "muni" which anyone can play provided they camp out in their car overnight or scramble for a tee time on an automated phone service. I’ve played there twice, and luckily enough we’ve got on by calling up. The other great thing is that it’s $US39 a round. Those of you who’ve played golf in the US, will realize that’s comparatively cheap given most courses of "The Black’s" caliber will cost anywhere between $USD250- $USD400.
For golf enthusiasts it’s a classic. Built in 1934 and designed by the famous golf architect A.W. Tillinghast, it measures 7300 yards long. Every par 4 is over 400 yards and yeah … there’s sand …everywhere. I spent more time in some of those bunkers than I spent on the beach growing up in Sydney! Just to make it harder, we decided to play off the US Open tees. After starting par, bogie, par I began to have allusions of grandeur and at one point thought of returning to the club house to ask if they had any application papers for the 2009 Open. Bad mistake!!!!! Double, Triple, Double bogie it went and well, the rest is history. I'd like to say that I played the course that Tiger won at and followed in his footsteps, but I don't think he spent too much time hunting down balls in the shin-high rough and thick bushland that surrounds each hole! Having played it twice, I now have new found respect for PGA players! Anyhow, if anyone is in the NY area and keen for a game, given me a call and I’d be happy to tee it up.
Oh … and my other good golf story this summer … a hole-in-one in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. I won’t go into any details because most of you that know me know that I hate to brag! 153 yard, par 3 uphill 9-iron if anyone’s interested!
This week sees the return of our First Grade side to Rosedale Oval, the scene of the now infamous “Rosedalegate” where every drying implement known to man was used to dry a very wet wicket and give Gordon 40 overs to score 350 runs. The wicket was dangerous and we paid the price and a protest was lodged. This was the first entry of myself into the journalist ranks of the Gordon Website and my career in the USA hasn’t looked back since.
Fortunately Rosedale was dug up not long after this game, was out of play all of last year and has now returned as an excellent wicket. Fairfield are to be congratulated for the work they have put in to recover the ground, however one wonders if they didn’t feel a little guilty that day in early 2004.
Good luck this weekend
Clarkey | 
