 Stobo Salute v Western Suburbs
Western Suburbs. A club with a long history, and some outstanding players therein. Warren Bardsley, Alan Davidson, Bob Simpson, David Gilbert, Brad McNamara, Dirk and Wally Wellham and Greg Dyer spring to mind. I think Western Suburbs also claim Adam Gilchrist – I’m not sure when he played for them, but he must have been just out of nappies – and others, like Steve Rixon and Peter Toohey also played with the Magpies.
(Kurt Morrison made his first grade debut vs Wests)
In the 1980s, at various times the Western Suburbs attack included Gilbert, Murrary Radcliffe, Anthony Dwyer, Chris Killen, McNamara, and Greg Matthews – it was an attack that would have done any State justice in the Sheffield Shield.
(Alan Davidson, Bob Simpson and David Gilbert)
Gilbert was very quick; Radcliffe bowled out swingers at a lively pace, and was desperately unlucky not to play first class cricket; Dwyer was also very quick as a teenager, and was extremely unfortunate to have had his career cut short by injuries; McNamara was a true all rounder (he scored his first 1st Grade century against Gordon, at Chatswood Oval, I think); and Matthews was the off spinner.
 Put Dirk Welham, Greg Dyer and ‘Radar’ O’Reilly into the team, and Western Suburbs was a match for any side.
Phil Emery scored a very good 70 against them at Chatswood, I recall, being hit on the instep by a Gilbert yorker in the process.
(Dirk Wellham)
One of the best grade games that I ever saw was a semi-final between Western Suburbs and Northern Districts, at Waitara Oval, in about 1985. Western Suburbs had to win, Northern Districts only had to draw, in order to progress to the Final. Emery and I saw the second part of the Sunday’s play, and Northern Districts held on, eight wickets down, against Gilbert, Radcliffe, Killen, McNamara and Matthews.
I recall that Emery and I both decided that day that we wanted to play semi-final cricket; clearly it was unlike any other cricket played during the normal course of the season.
Michael Cant scored a very good hundred one year against Western Suburbs at Pratten Park. The innings was notable because no other batsman came to grips with the wicket or an attack that included England’s Angus Fraser, then a very promising County bowler.
 Fraser was devastating with the second new ball, and ran through our lower order claiming the last five wickets for virtually nothing. Western Suburbs won that game, with Craig ‘Flea’ Hawarth – a small man with enormous power – scoring a century.
(English fast bowler Angus Frazer)
And Western Suburbs were our opponents during that extraordinary bushfire week at the beginning of January 1994. The 1st Grade game was transferred to Riverview’s main oval, because Killara’s groundsman could not get down the F3 from the Central Coast because of the fires.
Hot westerly winds, ash and burnt leaves falling on the ground as we played, eerie light, smoke everywhere. A truly bizarre atmosphere. A large branch fell of a gum tree, and crashed on to the pavilion late on the first day. Fires were in the Lane Cove River Park, a few miles away.
Greg Hayne scored a tremendous, match-winning century on a demanding wicket in extraordinary conditions, against an attack that included a wonderful leg-spinner, Tom Shiner.
It was also Kurt Morrison’s first game in 1st Grade, I think. Kurt was one of Gordon’s finest; nearly 250 1st Grade wickets (348 in all grades) and over 3,300 1st Grade runs are testament to that.
 Towards the end of the Western Suburbs’ innings, Kurt was on a hat trick. The inimitable Shiner was to face the hat trick delivery. Surely a better chance for a hat trick never existed. But Tom held out, and Kurt was denied. Nevertheless, I think he took four wickets in a memorable début match.
(Nick Medcalf in 4th grade semi vs Wests. Is that a ferrari in the background?)
Pratten Park was well known for its famous ‘ridge’. Certainly it was a favourite of mine to bowl on, and I had my first five wicket haul in 1st Grade there, as we defended a total of 120-odd in the 1984-85 season. The keeper always seemed further back at Pratten, and the ball carried wonderfully.
We also had a couple of games there where I recall Gordon batting first, and then having the chance to bowl to the Western Suburbs openers in the final hour of the day. As a result we knocked over the very dangerous Scott Hookey over cheaply in the few games that I remember playing against him at Wests.
Western Suburbs also provided us with a memorable Semi-Final in 4th Grade two seasons back. Batting first, they scored 300 or so at Killara. We then fell in a hole in the first session of the second day, and lost five or six wickets for not many. It was a desperate situation.
 But cometh the hour, cometh the man. Nick Medcalf set himself to play the innings of the season and, with Mark Weise, dug in for the second session.
Medcalf finally fell sometime after tea, but Weise carried on. The tail stayed with him, and we hung on deep into the final hour. But with Weise’s dismissal, we were nine wickets down with 20 minutes or so to bat. Michael Bourne walked in – was there ever a more composed and capable No 11? – and he calmly saw us home.
(The scene at the end of the 4th grade semi vs Wests)
A slip up at any time in those final four hours sessions, or a loss of nerve, and the season would have ended prematurely. With it would have gone a Premiership in our Centenary year.
So I would hope – nay, expect – that Western Suburbs will give you a stern contest across the grades.
Bon chance, et allez les rennes!
RMS
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