 Missy's Mail 20 - The Grand Final Edition
[Editor’s Note: Apologies to Missy and faithful readers. This article fell between the cracks during the lead up to the Grand Final]
What a season it’s been. At times it has been more on and off than one of Jimmy Hosking’s relationships, but here we finally are at seasons end. Well, nearly. At the top of the pile, at the pinnacle of Sydney Grade Cricket two teams remain and will battle it out at Bankstown Oval for 3 days to determine who stands triumphant as the best 1stgrade team of season 2007/2008. Those two teams are St. George and Gordon.
Beverley - To be wrapped in cotton wool
Two proud clubs with more yesterdays than a weekend on the History Channel. The Saints boast a whole heap of notable former players and legends of the game including the likes of Fairfax, Lindwall, Morris, O’Keeffe, and some bloke named Bradman used to go round for the Maroon and Whites, to name a few. They are also privileged enough to play half of their fixtures at Hurstville Oval, one of the most picturesque playing arenas available to grade cricketers, recognizable by its cycling track or velodrome around its circumference. Two seasons ago Brad Rasool attempted to run the track in less than a minute - only to fall agonisingly short, by seconds, much to the amusement of his team mates. Wouldn’t have happened in Bradman’s day. He used to do it in 38 seconds.
Most impressively, St. George have won the Club Championship a staggering 21 times. It has also won the Poidevin Gray Shield 4 times in the last 5 years. A strong club indeed.
On the other side of the coin is Gordon. A club that faced the threat of extinction not so many years ago when Sydney Grade Cricket looked at a 16 team competition. In 2005/06 The Stags finished 20th. The following season 9thand this season 7th. Missy can recall a season when Gordon’s premier side failed to win a single match.
Truly a great story of survival.
Now just 9 sessions of cricket stand between what would be the most of unlikely victories in the top grade. Season 1990/1991 was the last time a Gordon player held aloft the Belvidere Cup, but that was many a blue moon ago. Howitt “Jnr.” recalls the fixture well as he celebrated his 30thbirthday on the afternoon that Gordon successfully defended their 1989/90 crown.
In round 13 of this summer, Gordon sat in 8thspot, still an outside chance of making the 6, but 9 points adrift of the leaders. An outright victory against Blacktown gave hope and placed them 7thon aggregate heading into round 15. A double bonus point victory over Manly had Gordon jumping 4 places in two weeks into 4thspot.
Ever since that win at Blacktown, the first XI from Gordon have never looked back. Wins against a high quality Sydney Uni side including Test Match stars Clarke and Macgill and then knocking over a Randwick Petersham team that included the best batsman in the country at the moment Simon Katich to book a place in the final.
But Gordon is a team full of high quality first graders, and at the moment they are full of confidence.
Wicket keeper and make-shift opening batsman Iain Beverley will no doubt be wrapped in cotton wool this week as he looks to extend his incredible winning run of never having lost a game of finals cricket. I wouldn’t usually recommend touching wood during one of my articles, but in this case I must insist.
 Reece Bombas, who has been at Gordon since he was but a mere twinkle in Tony Wilson’s eye has seemingly recovered from his earlier attempts to head butt a fist and found form at the right time of the year. This pleases Missy, and that’s what first grade are all about. Pleasing Missy. Reece is a player of rare talent at the club. And by that I mean he is under 21 and doesn’t bowl leg spin. Truly a remarkable feat.
Despite hours of searching, the webmaster was unable to find a photo of Reece headbutting a fist on his birthday.
Craig Simmons will play his final game for the GDCC on the weekend, and Missy has already put a reminder on his phone to introduce himself to “The Ship”. There were a handful of occasions when I thought Simmons had waved at him, but in fact he was signalling to a first grader who was standing closely behind me. Shame. Seems like a nice bloke, and takes a good picture. Very photogenic.
Of course it is difficult to look at the two team sheets and disregard the names of Casson, or Nicholson, or Henriques but where the battle may be won, may just be between the lesser known names of the two elevens. Who would have predicted Dylan Connel, who was dropped to 3rdgrade for “being a bad bloke” reasons, would claim the scalps of Ussie and Kato? (Missy is on a nick name basis with everyone in Grade cricket). You just never know who will turn a game, or who will win the game for their team. Because rest assured someone will. Someone will have their name in lights. It just depends from which XI that name lies.
So many quality players have graced the field for Gordon’s premier side this season. Durie, Medcalf, Jones, Archer, Dowsley and Garrett are all names that come to mind, but there can be no doubt without the assistance of Higgins, Gordon would not have the chance to reacquaint themselves with Belvidere. For 30 minutes one sunny Sunday afternoon at Chatswood oval Missy graced the field as a substitute fields person. The story is widely told, thanks to some loud mouthing by Howitt and The Peoples Champion, Ahmed.
B. Casson to G. Mail. Usual short rubbish from Casson, Mail cuts behind point to M. Higgins. No run.
B. Cason to G. Mail. Usual short rubbish from Casson, Mail cuts behind point, straight to M. Higgins. No run. Sorry, cancel that. 4 runs.
An interesting twist in the story comes from further inspection of the rules and regulations of Sydney Grade Cricket. Had Missy fielded the ball successfully and not conceded 4 runs Gordon would not have made the finals. It’s far too difficult to explain, however you would also be right in saying that Missy is the reason that Beau Casson finds himself on a plane to the West Indies. You’re welcome Buzz.
Rumour has it that Brad Rasool will also find himself on a plane to the Windies. However this is for completely different reasons.
Whilst on the topic of rumours, it is understood that Elliot Richtor is to be having some sort of Pre-Grand Final do, or “shindig” as it is called on his MySpace website. Hopefully this function causes far less media attention than his last orgy, which found Elliot all over the news and forced him to sport a pair of Sunglasses he discovered in his “High School Musical” showbag from the 2006/7 Royal Easter Show for an unnaturally lengthy period.
Elliot will not be hosting the function on Sunday at The Greengate Hotel. That’s why it’s not listed under “MySpace parties of the Week”. However I strongly urge all to attend. This weekend will be a great one for the club and I sincerely wish both teams the best of luck and hope they produce some truly wonderful cricket.
Missy “insert witty and or comical nickname here” Higgins | 
