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THE UNIVERSITY OF CLUB UQCC OLD BOYS CRICKET NEWS Cnr Upland Rd & Sir William Macgregor Dr, St Lucia, Qld Tel. 07 3346 9530 Edition 22 – December 2019

IMPORTANT DATES 2019-20

19 January 2020 – Gators Blue at Oval 9 February 2020 – Wests at Uni No. 2 21 February – Old Boys Long Lunch, Emporium South Bank 1 March 2020 – Gators Gold Graceville No. 2 UQ SPORT Downs Club TBA Semi and Final dates TBA IV Tour – University CC – March 2020

Welcome

Welcome to the 22nd edition of the UQCC Old Boys newsletter. In this edition we:

1. Get an update on how the students are faring this season and a wrap up of the Uni brekkie 2. We hear from UQCC Old Boy, Richard ‘Dicky’ McInnes who has a fascinating article on his involvement in elite men’s and women’s sporting teams the years 3. Some long term UQCC records have recently been broken – we take a closer look 4. Have comments and feedback from the Old Boys network 5. Provide match reports from our recent Old Boys games

Club Update

Scott Henry does a great job as the UQCC Operations manager. I thank Scott for the following updates.

The Club is currently in a great position heading into Xmas and is currently:

• 1st in Club Championship • 1st in 1s, 2s and 4s Men • 2nd in 1s and 2s Women

Old Boys Long Lunch

Our Annual Old Boys Long Lunch will again be held on Friday 21 February 2020 at the Emporium, South Bank. Further details will follow but please note the date for your diary.

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18th UQCC Test Brekkie

The club’s 18th Annual Corporate Test Breakfast proudly supported by FDC was held on Wednesday 20 November 2019 at the Royal on the Park Hotel. Andrew Courtice once again did an outstanding job as MC for the 280+ guests in attendance.

Former Australian Test player and current Strikers coach entertained the crowd with his insights into life, playing experience and current coaching career. His story on his Test match 200 vs including follow up text to on how he found it difficult to navigate through the 160’s (given Waugh’s highest test score was 153) was a highlight. The breakfast continues to be the club’s main fundraiser of each season and, as such, the club is greatly appreciative of the continual support of sponsors and Old Boys. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2020.

A Call Out for old UQCC Photos

I am putting out a call out for any old photographs that you might have of UQCC teams or individuals. We would like to maintain them on the Club Database for safekeeping. Please provide the date the photo was taken and the names of anyone in it. If you could use your technological skills to have them scanned and sent to [email protected] and [email protected] we will ensure they are recorded for prosperity.

George C Scott

If you refer back to Edition 7 of this humble rag you will come across a contribution from ‘George’ Chris Scott who played two seasons for UQ in the 1980’s. George was a very popular member of the club being involved in all aspects of both on and off field activities. In those days he played at Nottingham, keeping to the likes of Sir and Eddie Hemmings. He later went onto play for Durham as a wicketkeeper batsman. Chris was a fine player, but unfortunately his record

2 will always have an asterix for one thing – grassing a nick off enroute to his world record 501….

However, every cloud has a silver lining and we had the pleasure of catching up with George last week in as the production ‘The Front Bar’ flew George out from his Cambridge UK abode to feature on their B Lara expose. Thanks to Fox Sports, George pouched this opportunity and a number of us had a great lunch with him to catch up on the last 35 years. Here’s a link to the show – good work George and remember it’s great therapy to talk about it! https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/cricket-2019-brian-lara-record-501-chris-scott- warwickshire-vs-durham-west-indies-/news-story/09906ebe74854b5d977860e78d983614

Richard “Dicky” McInnes

At the recent Uni Test Breakfast, Jason Gillespie explained about the ‘road less travelled’ to get to his current roles in cricket coaching (via , Yorkshire etc). It reminded me of UQCC Old Boy Richard McInnes and the career path he has taken over the last 25 years. He is a great guy and a talented cricketer, but it is skills in coaching and sports administration which has led him to the four corners of the earth. I have watched with interest as his career has evolved and I sensed there was a very good story to be told.

How many can they say they have been intimately involved in the dressing rooms of UQCC, the Australian Men’s and Women’s cricket team, the Bangladesh Under 19 and National team, the Netball team and now the Australian Water Polo team.

How many can compare the work ethic of Mr Cricket vs vs ? Which dressing room had more fun, which fans were more rabid?

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Richard played in the 90’s at Uni and up until Thanks to Richard for this down payment on last season was a regular in the Uni Old Boys his memoirs. team. It appears he has turned a little soft as he has made himself unavailable this year due to an impending hip replacement – suck it up!

The Best Seat in the House

The editor of this newsletter has been at me for some time to pen some of my career experiences. Although my journey is not to be compared with many of illustrious UQCC alumni, I guess I have had a pretty good seat to watch some amazing events unfold. So, in the following paragraphs, I have endeavoured to capture some of the stories from my last 20 years which have included multiple World Cup campaigns with different countries, multiple Ashes series’, coaching in a foreign country and being involved with some amazing male and female athletes.

In 1995 the Sunshine Coast Scorchers were admitted into the Brisbane Grade Competition. As a 21-year-old living in Hervey Bay, completing my electrical apprenticeship, I decided to ‘have a crack’ and see what I could achieve. This would become a reasonably consistent theme through my life, leading in the main, to some wonderful opportunities. So, for the 95/96 season, I did the trip from Hervey Bay to Brisbane each week to play and loved every minute of it. The Scorchers had some success as we won the one-day competition in our debut year. I also managed to have a decent game against Uni where I took five and made some runs.

This was to be important in the following year when I enrolled to study at QUT and moved to Brisbane. Attending Uni, living at Chapel Hill, having played with Martin Love and Rendell O’Connell as a younger man, Uni was the obvious choice as a Club. I decided to “have a crack” at Uni and fortunately WEP remembered me from the previous season. He immediately made me feel very welcome, and I settled in to play at UQCC for the next three seasons. I played the first year, in and out of the top grade, often slashed with Kaspa, clearly a like for like substitution… Ray Reynolds was coaching the Club at the time and I offered to help him out. I really enjoyed the coaching side of things, helping people who wanted to improve. Little did I know this would become a career for me and a vehicle to travel to the four corners of the world.

The end of the 96/97 season was a significant one for the Club, with WEP passing away in March. The stalwart of the Club who did so much for so many would not be there for the following season. Much has been written and spoken about WEP, so I will not add too much more, other than to say how privileged I was to say, I was at the Club while he was still there and that he had a significant impact on me in that short time.

I remember chatting to UQCC and Bulls legendary LAFS PW Jackson and he encouraged me to throw my hat in the ring for Club Coach. That was enough for me to “have a crack”. Toot Byron and Nev Paulsen from Qld Cricket assisted me through the Level 2 course that I technically needed to be a Club Coach. I still remember my goal in that season was “for every player in the Club to

4 improve one part of their game” and I felt my job at the time was to help them do that. I am not sure how much influence I had, but we managed to win 4 of 5 Grand Finals that season and claim the Club Championship, which in those days was rare. The following year we played in four Grand Finals winning two, so it proved to be a successful time for the Club on the field.

During these years I was studying a Human Movement degree at QUT and volunteered a lot of time with Qld Cricket. Most of time I assisted the then Bulls coach John Buchanan with the analysis work, compiling lists of highlights packs from VHS video and recording details for John to use in team meetings. This would later become a pivotal experience for me. I continued to play through those two years and would love to have continued for longer. However, Qld Cricket offered me a full-time job, based in Rockhampton, to replace Terry Oliver, who had been promoted to the QAS coach. I was 26 and enjoying my cricket but could not see myself cracking a spot in the Bulls line up any time soon. So, I made the decision to retire for the first time and started work for in 1999.

The next four years saw me working across Central Queensland, Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast and Brisbane North as the Regional Cricket Manager. During this time, although still playing in Rockhampton. I was appointed coach of the Queensland Country team (99/00 and 00/01) and then the in (2002/2003). All valuable experiences that would assist me in later years. During the 2002/03 season the ECB poached from Cricket to head up their Academy program in Loughborough. Rod also took with him, Troy Cooley, who was heading up the pace program at the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy. I was seconded to run the Pace and Spin Programs for the CBCA program in 2003, under new Head Coach, Bennett King. On the back of coaching the Bulls to multiple titles in the preceding years, Bennett was the man to implement several changes in the Academy including the location, to the National Cricket Centre in Albion Queensland.

This was a fantastic experience and a great group of players including , , Callum Fergusson, , , Adam Crossthwaite and Queenslanders Steve Magoffin and Aaron Nye, among a group of 23. Toward the end of this program, I was appointed Assistant Coach of the CBCA team to play the visiting Bangladesh team prior to their top end Test Series against Australia in 2003.

During their visit we supported the Bangladesh team with some coaching work and it was during this , I received a random phone call asking if I would like to go and work in Bangladesh as their Under 19 and Development Coach in preparation for the ICC U19 World Cup. Given I was on secondment and was due to head back to be Regional Cricket Manager again, after some deliberation with my wife we decided to “have a crack”. By October 2003 we were living in downtown Dhaka, Bangladesh and to say it was a culture shock would be an understatement.

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Words can’t describe Dhaka, other than to say it is an assault on the senses…. all of them at once. However, their passion for cricket is unmatched. An impoverished 3rd world country, cricket is the only stage in which they can compete with the best in the world. It is seen by many as their opportunity to escape from poverty. At the time, a population of 140 million people crammed into a country the size of . A third of which goes under water each year with monsoon rains and melting snow from the Himalayas flowing down the Brahmaputra and the Ganges Rivers. Much of the country is an alluvial flood plain - not the ideal place to locate 140M people. Dhaka, which is comfortably smaller than Brisbane geographically, had a population of 14 million and that is the ones they counted!

Despite the conditions, we set about putting together a program to have the Bangladesh U19 team ready for the Youth World Cup in 2004, being hosted in Bangladesh. This was a major event and the first ICC event to be held in Bangladesh since being awarded Test status during the 1999 World Cup in England. The expectation to perform well and make the country proud, was on a whole new level. Unfortunately, their capacity, resources, ability and time frames did not align with the massive expectations of the country. In the lead up to the World Cup, we toured , the first team to go back in following the hotel bombing during ’s Test tour. As a young bloke from the country Queensland, I was a bit naïve to matters of world terrorism back in 2003. Fortunately, there were enormous levels of security and we toured without any major incidents.

In the Youth World Cup, we finished up beating Australia in the Plate Final – a great effort given they were skippered by Tim Paine and had many of the players from the 2003 CBCA program. This sent Bangladesh into raptures. This was the country’s debut win against Australia at any level and the entire land celebrated for days.

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We then established the first ever High-Performance Academy program in Bangladesh with a focus on preparing them for the physical, technical, tactical and mental aspects of performing at the next level. Our initial Academy intake included names who would go on to become the backbone of the National team for the next decade and included , , Tamin Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortaza. It was an exciting time as we made significant changes to how Bangladesh teams prepared and while they did not start winning everything, they certainly become more competitive. We brought an U19 team to Australia in 2004/05 and beat Australia 3-0 in Australia in ODI’s, we recorded the countries inaugural first-class win, and first-class series win away from home in Zimbabwe. I was fortunate during this series to coach against and spend a lot of time with the late Kevin Curran and his young boys then, Sam and Tom, playing games in the nets and around the ovals as we toured Zimbabwe in 2005. Both Sam and Tom have since gone on to establish themselves as English Test players, Kevin would be very proud.

We also took the Bangladesh U19 team to England and played an ODI and Test Series. We did not win the series but did have the Sir Alistair Cook led England team including Joe Denly, , and , in trouble in the test before rain washed out play.

In March 2005, Megan and I were expecting the arrival of our second child, Maddison, and an opportunity came up to head back to Brisbane to work at what was then called the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence (CBCE), now under the guidance of and Belinda Clarke. I was fortunate to be appointed as one of the Senior Coaches.

Many would remember the infamous winter of 2005, as firstly the Australian team lost to Bangladesh in Cardiff (against a team full of the players I had coached for the past two years, so must admit to having mixed feelings at the time) and then went on to lose arguably the most famous Ashes series of all time. On the back of debacle, I received a call from Michael Brown, Head of Cricket Operations at , asking if I would like to take on a role with the Australian team as Performance Analyst. It took me less than a few seconds to say yes and again, it began one of the most exciting and rewarding phases on my career to date.

I joined the team for the first Test of the 2005/06 summer against the at . This was Mike Hussey’s first Test and Shane Watson suffered his dislocated shoulder. Having never played first class cricket, I hardly knew anyone, aside from John Buchanan and Matt Hayden, a fellow Kingaroy lad.

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I had arrived at the team hotel the evening before and was instructed to see team manager, Steve Bernard to introduce myself. I nervously did and Steve gave me one of his famous handwritten run sheets and basically said don’t be late, so nerves remained at a fairly high level. Next morning, I wake up like a 6-year-old on Christmas Day. I get up and go for a run around South Bank and come back to the hotel to get ready and that is where the dilemma starts…. What do I wear to breakfast? Do I walk down there in full training kit and look like a goose, if everyone else is in civvies? Do I walk down in civvies and sit in the corner quietly, knowing that no one will recognise me anyway? Looking back this uncertainty was unnecessary, but I was about to meet the likes of Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne, Clarke, Hussey, McGrath, Lee etal and I was keen to make the right first impression.

I still don’t remember what I did wear downstairs, but I decided to “have a crack” and walked in as confident as I could and introduced myself to the team. I guess it worked out ok but from that moment, I tried to jump in with both feet at every opportunity with the aim of contributing to the team and doing my job well.

At this Test you may remember smashing a over the grandstand on to the roof of the Gabba nets. I was doing some throw downs with one of the batsmen when the match ball lobbed on top of my net. From the crowd noise I realised what had happened and proceeded to get the ball down off the roof of the nets by another ball at it to knock it sideways. Now we have all done this at nets around the country, so not a big deal, except when Channel 9 have you on National TV catching every detail. As luck would have it, one throw, clean contact, match ball recovered and the Cricket Show had their clip for next few days.

I spent the next three years with the Test and ODI team and was fortunate to have arguably the best seat in the house to some amazing cricket and cricketers. There are so many highlights during this time, it is hard to recount all of them, but a few key ones that stand out would be. • Being able to watch Mike Hussey’s amazing career unfold • Assisting (a former teammate) in his debut series against New Zealand. • South African series in SA culminating in the game that the Proteas scored 438 to win • Champions Trophy win in 2006 • Dizzy Gillespie’s 200 in Bangladesh over 4 days as night watchman • Experiencing a from on the ground, singing the anthem • Ashes 2006/07 including the amazing Adelaide Test win from nowhere, Warne’s 700th at the MCG, McGrath, Martyn, Hayden, Langer retiring in 2007. • ICC World Cup win in West Indies in 2007 including the farcical stages of the final against , with bowling literally in the dark. • Being in the “Monkey Gate” saga with Andrew Symonds, a very difficult time for Andrew and the team, providing video footage to support our case, which in the end was to no avail. • Sachin’s 400th ODI in , India and Mitchell Johnson taking 5 wickets in that game • The first T20 World event in in 2007 in which we did poorly and have yet to master the T20 game in the men’s team. Coming off the 2005 Ashes loss and the 434-game loss, the team were stinging and were absolutely driven to be better. As a group, led by Buchanan and Ponting, we set about putting together a plan to take in the next three big events, the ICC Champions Trophy in India which Australia had never won, the 2006/07 Ashes in Australia and the ICC World Cup in the West Indies in 2007. We put together a plan to win the Big Three by being the “best skilled team in world cricket”. It seems like an obvious plan really, but the details gave all of us, staff and players alike, a laser focus on what was required to go from being very good, to be the absolute best.

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Part of my role in that process was around ensuring our training sessions were effective and were preparing us for what we needed to do. I was also tasked with ensuring that I knew as much as I could about every player we would come up against and every wicket we would play on over this period. To assist in players preparation, I would create vision packs for each player containing their performances in certain conditions and their opposition. Naturally some players, used these more than others - there was a not a lot I was going to be able to share with that he had not already seen.

I also set about taking the lessons learned from Money Ball to define “match ups” in cricket. Every batsman has a type of bowler they struggle with and it was my job to find out what type of bowling this was and how we could match up on them. Over time this became a key part of our planning, and a key part of getting inside the minds of our opponents, because they knew, we knew.

The next 12 months were a very satisfying period as we went on to win the Big Three in dominant fashion and many (not all) of our match up plans, came into play at different times. Watching battle with taking the ball away from him, Freddy Flintoff, all at sea against , Kallis against and even down to minor details like the positioning of mid- wicket and the square leg for England , that were unique to him, which resulted in him hitting catches almost directly to them during the 06/07 Ashes series. Of course, you need players with the skill level to execute those plans and we were very fortunate to have some of the best who have ever played the game.

In what was a sliding doors moment, in 2008, the IPL was kicking off and I was offered a role with . I was unable to take it up due to a clash with our tour to the Windies which turned out to be my last with the men’s team. During this tour, the Head Coach role of the Southern Stars (Australian Women’s team) came up. My children were 3 and 6 and the schedule would see me home for only 6 weeks in the next 18 months, so I decided to apply for the position and was fortunate to get it, ending one amazing chapter and beginning the next.

I took over the Southern Stars program in August of 2008 with Australia set to host the ICC Women’s World Cup in March 2009. The team had seen the retirement of several great players since the previous World Cup and were seeking to re-establish themselves. The 2009 World Cup was a challenging one, finishing 4th at home with England winning the event.

Over the next four years, we managed to get the Southern Stars back to the top, winning the 2010 ICC T20 World Cup in the West Indies, which would be the first of three successive World Cup

9 victories for this team. We also reclaimed the Ashes in the 2010/11 series in a memorable Test Match at Oval in .

I learned many valuable lessons in those first 12 months about the difference between coaching males and females and sought advice from many people through that time. Women’s is played over 4 days, it is always challenging to get a , so around 80% of women’s Test matches result in a draw. The female quicks don’t tend to reverse swing the ball as much, there are not as many revs on the ball for the spinners, the wicket does not deteriorate as much through foot marks and so once the new ball stops swinging, the chances of taking wickets is significantly reduced and so therefore is the likelihood of a result.

The team continued to go from strength to strength over the next few years as we introduced , Jess Duffin nee Cameron, , , Megan Schutt and Elyse Perry continued to develop into the player she is today. By 2012 the Southern Stars were #1 in Test and T20 and #2 in ODI’s, before claiming the 2012 ICC ODI World Cup to move to #1 in all three formats.

I finished with the team in 2012 and headed back to Bangladesh as High-Performance Manager/ Academy Head Coach, coaching their U19 and A teams again, with some key players coming through that group in and Mehidi Hasan Miraj who are now regular fixtures in the National team. The highlight of this stint was taking a team to the West Indies and winning a 7 match ODI series against a strong home team including , Shimron Hetmyer and .

After two years in Bangladesh it was time to head home. We headed back to Brisbane where I took a change of direction working in a tech start up assisting to develop a sports-based product and doing business development for them around the world. This allowed me access to some great clubs, from the LA Kings Ice Hockey, LA Rangers NFL, West Ham United FC, United and City, Belgium Hockey, the ICC, and almost all the NRL Clubs and a number of AFL Clubs.

From there I moved into the High-Performance Manager role with Netball Queensland and the Queensland Firebirds and have spent the last four years in that role. During this time the Firebirds were the first team to win back to back titles. We designed and built a $45M state of the art indoor venue at Mt Gravatt, more than tripled the commercial revenue coming into the sport, re-structured all competitions in Queensland and launched the semi-professional HART Sapphire Series, with 42 games live streamed across the season.

During my time with Netball Queensland I was fortunate to work with arguably one of the best leaders I have come across in Laura Geitz. Her along with Claire Fergusson (nee McMeniman) formed an outstanding leadership team, with the right combination of characteristics to deal with most challenges thrown at leaders. I was had the best seat in the house to experience the amazing athleticism of these players, no more so than Gretel Tippett, who is simply a freak and a hell of a nice person to boot. The things she can do in the court are changing the game, the mark of all true champions. Laura Geitz

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In the past week I have now taken up the Acting CEO role for Water Polo Australia as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, only 250 odd days away.

Throughout this eclectic journey in sport, I have been asked a number of questions:

• Are Bangladeshi cricketers more naturally gifted than Australian cricketers? I have always subscribed to the natural salary cap that seems to apply in the cricketing world. The Bangladeshi’s do have wonderful natural talent and play from an early age with little structure around them, as do the Sri Lankans and previously the Indians, although now they are more structured to some degree. The Bangladeshis’ and Sri Lankan’s however in general don’t have great work ethic, for the challenging work and physically can struggle to match it with some other teams. This is an issue for their quicks, as their natural diet of rice does not help to produce larger frames, so on average they are shorter and finer builds. The Pakistani’s however have a more meat-based diet, as do India so produce physically better athletes who are highly skilled and therefore more competitive in more conditions. The West Indies are freakishly talented athletes but lack the desire to do the hard work to prepare but can seriously play when they get it right. The Aussies, Kiwis, Poms and South Africans all have their own limitations, be it population base, conditions, geography, but all have a great work ethic and capacity to get the best from their system.

• If you subtract the from your average, Elyse Perry is the best allrounder of all time by a large margin – is this accurate? That is hard to say as how do you compare. I would argue that there are many athletes that if they chose to pursue another sport as far as Elyse did and the schedules allowed it, could have achieved great things. Gretel Tippett would be in that boat. Mitchell Johnson is as phenomenal an athlete as I have seen also and could have turned his hand to a few sports. Ricky probably plays off scratch and could have pursued that I am sure.

Elyse Perry, & Richard McInnes • Are female athletes’ better trainers than the men? I would not say this is the case, but they are different trainers. There are fewer egos in women’s sport so there is less competitiveness in a training environment. They work just as hard, some probably harder, are more diligent when it comes to the smaller details, but at times won’t push themselves or their team mates as hard as the men do at time. All of that is a generalisation, as there are all exceptions to the rule on both sides. I do think one of the strengths of any strong side is the quality of their training sessions and certainly with in charge, arguably one of the best trainers I have ever worked with, the Aussie cricket team of the time were always going to be successful. Equally, Laura and Claire set that standard with the Firebirds and achieved similar results. • How many times did you walk into the Australian women’s dressing room unannounced? As a male coach working with female teams you are always very conscious of this and knew where to be and where not to be. The players are also mindful of that and those change rooms are very different to a men’s change room. • Out of all the dressing rooms you’ve been in – which team and which individuals were the best celebrators: The Australian team from 2005 to 2008 had some of the best celebrators I

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have seen, but they certainly earned their down time. They trained very hard to be the best and celebrated accordingly when the time was right. I won’t name names, but there were some good celebrations over the years none more so than following the 2007 World Cup win in and there is some photographic evidence which was splashed across the back page of Australian papers, with a few of us admiring the sunrise from a hotel balcony. As fortune would have it, I was able to repeat the exact same celebration and went to the same spots 3 years later after winning the Women’s T20 World Cup in Barbados and had same of the same players from the Men’s team join, myself and a couple of the Southern Stars players to celebrate their great win against New Zealand in a nail biter.

Records are Made to be Broken

Walter Breaks Shackel’s Record When Scott Walter dismissed Valleys captain, Andrew Gode in the 2018/19 Grand Final at Alan Border Oval, he surpassed Mark Shackel as the leading wicket taker in 2 day cricket for UQCC. Scott picked up another three wickets in the including the last to fall which secured the premiership for the Blues. His tally of 335 wickets overtook Shackel’s 332.

Earlier in the season, Queensland Cricket rightly announced Scott Walter’s 500th wicket in all forms of first . At the completion of the season, he has taken 517 wickets including 98 in one day cricket and 84 in T 20s. It is hard to fathom how Scott’s first class career ended for good in October 2011 and his last List A game a year later. His record 335 wickets have come at an average of 16.11 and for too many seasons dominated the First Grade wicket tally for the competition.

It is an interesting comparison examining Scott’s career figures with that of his predecessor, Mark Shackel. Shackel was UQCC’s first to 400 wickets and ended with 411 wickets including 80 in one day cricket. He did not have the added bonuses available in T 20 cricket. His 332 wickets came at an average of 19.9. Scott Walter

Shackel of course had the all round skills scoring over 2000 runs at 21 with the bat compared to Walter’s 483 runs at 11.5. Shackel played over 11 seasons compared to Walter’s 12 yet more overs (2445 to 2224). Walter’s strike rate is 40 balls per wicket compared to Shackel’s 44. Walter also edges Shackel in the economy rates with 2.4 runs per over as compared to 2.7.

In the end UQCC have had the great luxury in recent times of having their two most successful bowlers in the history of the club. This, in an era when bowling records are much harder to break. There is not a Brisbane grade cricketer in the last decade who would underrate Scott Walter but perhaps it is forgotten how good Mark Shackel was.

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In an era of McDermott, Kasprowicz, Rackemann, Bichel, Tazelaar and Dawes all of whom took over 250 wickets for Queensland, it is probably unsurprising that Shackel did not get the look in he would have deserved and in other eras may have.

The club congratulates Scott Walter on his record. It is a long road for the man or woman who breaks it in the future. David Biggs.

I asked Mark for a response on Scott passing his record: David’s comments are flattering to say the least. It all seems like a life time ago in some respects, and like yesterday in others. If Scott’s experience is anything like mine, his memories will be less about wickets and averages and strike rates (although Scott’s are more impressive than mine and no doubt easier to recall!)... than the people of the time and friendships that last to this day. It was a bloody pleasure to play at Uni, and I was lucky enough to play for so long! Shack PS - I reckon Scott’s got me on Tinder dates and skin folds as well, but I must find time to buy him a beer at some stage!

The Oldest Record Falls

It was the season of 1955/6 and with the score at 3/28 on a dampish wicket, Bob Mihell strode to the St Lucia 1 wicket to join John Biggs. The pitch started to dry out and five hours later, their partnership would end at 234. At the time, the two Life Members did not know that it was a record partnership for not only the fourth wicket in Reserve Grade but it was for any wicket or grade at the time. It stayed in the record books for 63 years until , 2019 when Hamish Gardiner and Brendan Logue came together at 3/99 chasing Souths 299. They added an unbeaten 262 on WEP Harris Oval to set a new mark. The former record was UQCC’s oldest partnership record, an honour that now shifts into a new decade. In 1960/1, Peter O’Neill and John Moore put on 195 for the first wicket in Reserve Grade while Rod Campbell and Malcolm Brew added 113 for the tenth wicket in B Grade (Third Grade today). The oldest standing record for any statistic is AJ Marsden’s 66 wickets in the 1914/5 season.

The Club’s batting records are largely dominated by the last forty years and the reverse is true for the bowling tallies in terms of wickets taken. There were five new UQCC record partnerships broken across all forms of cricket in the 2018/9 season. This means that there are now more than half of the partnership records of the club that have been set in the 21st . Fifty-three record partnerships have been set in the last twenty years as opposed to forty-seven in the previous eighty-seven seasons. There is more cricket being played now but clearly the life of a batsman is easier today than earlier times.

John Biggs’ reaction to his record being broken was one of disappointment but he was surprised at how long it took to happen. “ I think the recent players have been waiting for Bob and I to die before breaking it but clearly they gave up on that idea.” Footnote: The Reserve grade game in 1954/5 against Toombul when the Biggs/Mihell record was established was Lou Cooper’s first game for the club. After watching the partnership, Lou made the comment that he questioned if he was up to the standard that he had just witnessed.

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Have You Ever Seen the Blind Cricketer’s Play? They are amazing as one guest scribe describes:

For all the times I’ve lugged water and lollies out onto Norman Gray Oval, I’ve only played there twice. My contribution amounted to 3 innings, 3 balls for a grand total of 0 runs. Zero. Null. Nada. Nothing. Back in the day, the Queensland Blind Cricket team used to play a couple of games at Souths over the Xmas-New Year’s break as preparation for their national championships. Seeking some opposition and in the spirit of giving, I stuck my hand up and made myself available for one of the games. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to help some brothers out, but the thought of some cheap runs against bowlers who, I thought, would have no idea where it would land, was pretty enticing. No gear? No worries! I could pinch some of theirs, who’s going to dob? No one would see a thing.

Morning of the game- 2 days after Xmas- and I amped up my prep by running (read walking) to the ground. But not before I detoured by the Greenslopes Bowls Club for a breakfast of Corn Flakes with VB and some rum and milks. I was determined to take this ‘blind’ thing as seriously as possible. Losing the toss and having to field, it didn’t take long for me to realise that I was seriously out of my depth. These blokes could play. I can’t remember what we were chasing, but it was always going to be too many with me batting at 6. Walking out to bat with a brand new Kookaburra that some bloke from somewhere had ‘lent’ me, I took guard. First ball…castled. I must’ve cut a forlorn figure on the walk back because the captain invited be back for another bat. Second ball- castled. And thus I entered history as the only person dismissed twice in a one-day game.

Cue 12 months later. Same deal; same request and I stick my hand up. This time I was determined to take it seriously. Yeah, look, I still went to the bowls club, but I went the night before, rather than the day of the game. As surprised as anyone elevated to bat at 4, I walked out to bat against the same bowler who did me over twice the year before, sweatier than a nun at a cucumber farm. On my journey, I hear the bloke from fine leg yell out, ‘Here’s the bunny, here’s number 3’ I’m thinking, ‘Well spotted from the blind bloke.’ Anyway, you guessed it; third ball...castled. My life’s destiny was to lug water and lollies onto Norman Gray Oval, not play on it.

Old Boys news

From: Hartley Anderson Sent: Monday, 22 April 2019 5:33 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: UQCC Old Boys Newsletter - Edition 21 - April 2019

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Dear Ian,

Congratulations for an excellent newsletter and to the Club for a very good season on and off the field. I’ve long said that successful Clubs have it together on and off the field. UQCC is an extremely good example of this and your old Boy communication establishes you as the benchmark. With best regards Hartley

From: Ross Johnston Sent: Monday, 22 April 2019 6:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: UQCC Old Boys Newsletter - Edition 21 - April 2019

Ian

That’s terrific, yet again.

A few comments..

Lew was one of the few ex state or A grade players who played reserve grade after their elite careers finished. He was my keeper for a year around 79...80. The mighty R2s. He was then the manager of the QCC so we had some memorable BBQs at my place that season, all fully catered. Buck was also one who played reserve grade on his way back from injury recovery. Not many others. Did you ?

From: Barry Maranta Sent: Wednesday, 24 April 2019 9:09 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: UQCC Old Boys Newsletter - Edition 21 - April 2019

Hi Ian, Have received your latest missive - many thanks not just for this Newsletter, but for your huge energy/dedication across all these precious publications...... might seem to you at times that these Newsletters engender little U of QCC feedback but please be assured they are highly appreciated !! Cheers Barry

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vALES

Patrick Peter Finnimore (No 338) Born 20th March 1936 at Brisbane Died 5th August 2018 at Brisbane Pat Finnimore was a right hand batsman and wicketkeeper, who was educated at Nudgee College. He was one of a group of young cricketers who joined the University Club in the mid 1950s and who were instrumental in improving the standard of University cricket across the grades. After leaving school Pat first played for Eastern Suburbs, appearing in that Club’s first grade team in 1952/53. He joined University Club in 1957/58 attracting attention in second grade with early innings of 70, 80, and 115 . Promoted to first grade in that season, he then played intermittently in First grade in each season until 1964, usually to keep wickets when Lew Cooper was on State duties. He made 137 runs across 18 innings at 9.8 average, with 21 dismissals. In Second grade he scored 1219 runs at 17.19 average, while captaining the Second Grade side for four years with one premiership (undefeated). In Second Grade as keeper, he collected 71 catches and 19 stumpings. Pat was by profession a Chartered Accountant, after having obtained a B Com in 1960 from Queensland University.

Ross McCowan (No 224) Born 12th March 1925 at Mackay Died 5th October 2018 at Maleny Ross McCowan was educated at CEGS and joined the University Cricket Club for season 1942/43, during which he made one undistinguished appearance as a left hand batsman in First Grade. His career was in the lower grades, principally Third Grade. In 1944 he interrupted his studies by enlisting for the Second World War, reaching the rank of Signalman in 2/3 Tank Attack Regiment, serving for a time in Borneo against the Japanese. He was discharged in 1946 and rejoined the Cricket Club, playing up to and including season 1950/51, mainly in Third Grade. Ross was a member of University’s 2nd XI against Sydney University, the Sydney team winning outright by 10 wickets. After the War Ross commenced studies in Law at the University but did not complete the course, instead going into business as a Real Estate Agent, becoming a well-known developer of land and of shopping centres. After retirement Ross lived at Maleny.

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Gerard O’Leary (No 299) Born 2nd November 1931 at Brisbane Died 30th November 2018 at Kirwan NQ Gerry O’Leary was educated at St Joseph’s Christian Brothers College Gregory Terrace, and after joining our Club he made single appearances in First in each of the seasons 1950/51 and 1951/52, making a total of 27 runs. He was an aggressive right hand batsman and medium paced change bowler. He played from seasons 1949 to 1954 mainly in Seconds Grade ,scoring upwards of 400 runs (Note: the exact number of his runs cannot be established due to omissions from our Annual Reports). Gerry played Intervarsity during this period, appearing against Sydney University Seconds twice, and against New England both in Armidale and Brisbane. He was also keen on the social cricket played by University at that time, appearing in many of the games with moderate success. Gerry graduated B DSc in 1953 and practised as a dentist in . In 1975 he gave up his dentistry to indulge in entrepreneurial activities, including an interest in artificial insemination of cows.

Bryan O’Callaghan (No 291) Born 2nd December 1926 at Gympie Died 25th December 2018 at Brisbane Bryan O’Callaghan was educated finally at Downlands College, coming to University cricket in season 1949/50. He was a right hand bat and wicketkeeper. He became Uni’s First Grade keeper (on and off) for six seasons, effecting 50 catches and making 12 stumpings. He was replaced briefly by Mo Hansen in his first season 1949/50, and by Alastair Duncan in his second season1950/51. Thereafter he remained the first grade keeper until displaced by Lew Cooper in 1955/56. His batting was solid in the lower order with 705 runs from 77 innings, a top score of 60 and an average of almost 10. Bryan was a witty person inclined to whisper to opposing batsmen his assessment of their faulty strokes. Older Club members remember fondly the verbal battles at the wicket between Uni’s Kev Duffy and Ernie Toovey of Norths Club, with Bryan commenting from behind the wicket! Bryan enlisted in the RAAF and served as an aircraftsman until his discharge in 1946. During the fifties Bryan became one of Brisbane’s best Rugby Union referees, with his most important match being the Test Match between the Wallabies and the British Lions in1959, in which Irish winger O’Reilly scored three tries. In later life Bryan became an ANZ Bank Manager at Southport and Brisbane, rising to the position of Assistant State Manager.

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Dr John Joseph Sullivan (No 235) Born 29th August 1925 at Southport Died 23rd February 2019 at Brisbane John Sullivan came from a farming community outside Beaudesert to be educated at Nudgee College, earning the Byrnes Medal in 1940. He entered the University to study Medicine. University cricket during World War ii and for a few years thereafter was particularly weak, but Sullivan’s ability as a right hand leg spinner stood out. It was a matter for regret that due to his medical studies his First Grade appearances were so few. He played in only 9 matches from1943 to 1946, managing to take 13 wickets at 17.3 average. Despite this, his promise came to the notice of the State Selectors who chose him in one of two teams for a match from which a State team was chosen. His truncated career included two five wicket hauls in First Grade, before he retired from cricket to concentrate on obtaining his MBBS , which he did in 1948, followed later by the FRACP and FRCPA. He became a prominent pathologist in his professional careers and the founder of the well known firm of Sullivan and Nicolaides.

Lewis Dale Cooper OAM (NO 332) Born 14th May 1937 at Mackay Died 11th April 2019 at Brisbane. Lew Cooper attended the Southport School where his talent as a wicketkeeper was first recognised. He came to University Club in season 1955/56 in second grade. He was soon promoted to First Grade and remained the First grade keeper in an almost unbroken period until season 1976/77. However in seasons 1970/71 and 1971/72 he was forced to step away from cricket due to the demands of his employment, allowing Barry Maranta to take the gloves for those two seasons. Lew was, perhaps the “last of the old time stumpers” practised to its fullest degree in Queensland by and then , and characterised by taking the ball with the gloves already moving in a fast, straight motion to the bails without any hesitation. Lew was aided by keeping in Club cricket at the same times as three champion off spinners—Kev Duffy, Tom Veivers, and Bob Crane, as well as State leg spinner David Hale. The result in grade cricket was 99 stumpings as well as 361 catches. His batting was a more modest 1171 runs at 10.3 with a top score of 59. He was a natural raconteur—many would recall his oft-told (and exaggerated) story of finding himself opening University’s innings with Peter O’Neill against Colts, which team boasted the World’s fastest Test bowler, from the West Indies. Lew played 34 First Class Matches for Queensland from 19 58/59 to 1967/68 scoring 462 runs at 14 (higher than in Club cricket!) and effecting 84 catches and 18 stumpings. Lew also played for Queensland Colts in the Cup in1958/59 and for combined Australian Universities v West Indies in Canberra in 1960/61. Lew first worked as a State School teacher and later moved to the Club and Hotel industry. His service to Cricket and particularly to its administration earned him an OAM in 2011 and Life Membership of our Club in 2008. At various times Lew has been President of the Wanderers, Chairman of the Queensland Branch of the Lords Taverners, Secretary/Manager of the Queensland Cricketers Club, Joint Secretary of the QCA and BCG Trust, and President of the State Primary Schools Cricket Association. Simply reciting the various positions that Lew held does not do justice to the man, for he was always ready to help any organisation to raise funds, particularly for blind, disabled or indigenous cricketers. Throughout Lew’s many activities, Lew remained a loyal UQCC man.

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MATCH REPORT – OVER 40’S UQCC vs IPSWICH-LOGAN (27th October 2019)

They say a week is a long time in politics. The Uni Old Boys can categorically assure whoever “they” are that defending a meagre total on a road west of the Great Divide against a talented opposition seemed and felt a lot longer!

So it was with much anticipation that the UQCC Old Boys launched their 2019/20 season against a young, fit and talented (‘tis all relative I guess) Ipswich-Logan outfit littered with former Queensland Country reps. Of equal concern, the Hornets unit appeared to have been training a couple of times a week for several weeks – categorically at odds with the ethos and athleticism that typifies Over 40’s cricket, perhaps best summed up by the BBC’s late and great John Arlott:

"Compared with 'proper’ cricket, the village brand borders on the ridiculous - there's plenty of huff and puff as twenty-two odd-shaped men posture about the green like Test cricketers'''. It is perhaps more than a little harsh to compare Over 40’s to some of the more eccentric and esoteric antics seen on English village greens (as faithfully captured on Club Roar’s YouTube channel). In spite of one of the better Over 40’s sides in recent time, replete with both batting and bowling depth, I can assure readers that several “village” moments were indeed produced that defy the “on paper” ex grade cricket pedigree of the UQCC line-up. After being advised mid-week that we had been relocated from Baxter Oval (Ipswich’s premier grade ground) to the number 2 oval behind the canteen/dressing shed and immediately adjacent to the RAAF base’s Amberly control tower, it was with some surprise that we were greeted by a well- grassed (and green!) outfield.

The centre strip was easy on the eye, rock hard with a nice covering of straw coloured grass. A good cricket wicket was the group consensus and with the thermometer nudging 30-odd, an even better toss to win. With skipper Elks assuming scoring duties due to a troublesome calf injury, stand-in skipper Herring (the pink version) quickly lost the toss….and Uni were sent in…

With snorts of derision echoing around the Uni dressing shed at this odd (but very welcome) turn of events, our new left-right opening combination Mark Clayton and OB’s debutant, Cam (‘Arthur’) Boyd, strode to the centre with expectations riding high. Despite a high-quality opening over from former Queensland all-rounder Michael Sippel, Uni confidence remained strong amid much discussion of a probable par score of 200-plus.

When the usually reliable Clayton mis-cued a wide half-tracker to point on the 3rd ball of the second over, optimism continued to percolate among the playing group, this rather soft seen as a mere blip on the way to a massive total. Indeed, it could be said that excitement rode even higher with the UQ middle order one wicket closer to having a bat on what was widely viewed to be a bit of a belter. (On reflection, these few moments of schadenfreude from the Uni middle order probably weren’t all that helpful).

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At 1/1, a belligerent Mick Watter took guard and planted his first delivery back over the bowlers’ head to open his account in convincing style. This set the tone for an enterprising and aggressive knock, a mid-innings knee twinge only serving to add some intensity to his ‘stand and deliver’ approach. Cam Boyd losing his castle for 7 to a hooping Sippel outswinger brought the usually indefatigable Andrew Gray to the crease with the score at 2 for 41. With Watter scoring at better than a run a ball, Gray adopted an uncharacteristically watchful approach. The introduction of left- arm orthodox spinner Darrin Mitchell slowing the tempo a little (actually alot).

When Gray was adjudged in front to what appeared to be a gently drifting (but fairly nude) delivery, so began one of the more spectacular UQ batting collapses seen for some seasons. Indeed, comparisons were quickly made to the rout suffered in 2017 at the hands of a Singaporean XI on the hallowed Padang turf as the UQ middle order trudged off in a disconsolate and dejected conga-line.

First to go, Skipper Pink Herring, also struck on the knee-roll with another drifting arm ball, was adjudged adjacent for a 3rd ball . Next in, Doug Rae, lucky to survive his first ball after being struck below the knee roll (thankfully in Over 40’s, the umpire’s finger can’t be seen to be too shifty and three dismissals in four balls was discounted). .Comfort was brief as he missed a carbon copy second delivery and was bowled through the gate “playing for turn” to close out Mitchell’s 3rd over with the impressive return of 3 for none (so brings an end to the aforementioned umpiring theory…).

This brought debutant Michael “Barry Manilow” Brown (I thought he had been christened Barry Gibb but let’s go with Manilow) to the field wielding his new 3 lb Kookaburra stick like a broadsword. A snide “well batted mate” to the departing Rae did not go unnoticed by the cricketing Gods. Ball one saw Manilow, quietly humming Copacabana under his breath, advance down the wicket with an intent to show the Hornets bowling who was boss. Unfortunately the pink was swiftly issued and Manilow made his way back to the dressing room by a yard and whistling “Can’t Smile Without You…” (two innings for the Old Boys, twice stumped – love the intent!).

Any middle order batting collapse results in chaotic scenes in the dressing room as the lower order struggle to pad up in time to avoid being timed out – this was no exception.

Meet the Uni middle order – four ducks or foreskins? You decide…

S.M. Partridge, wielding B Lara’s ex willow (was he presented with it or did he souvenir it?) restored some faith with a couple of lusty blows before holing out for 5. Things returning to normal as Dr Rosbrook was also bowled for a globe by Mitchell - batsmen 4 through 9 contributing a grand total of 7 runs with Mick Watter the only resistance, ultimately retiring for a well-made 50. Numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

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Mercifully, Tom Reddacliff and Mark Irwin fired in a last-minute cameo, adding 24 for the 9th wicket before the innings came to a close at 102. Mark ‘Steve’ Irwin quickly turned into ‘Bindi’ when he holed out to mid on leaving Watter stranded at the non strikers for 55 not.- another hundred nipped in the bud! In an excellent display of control, Mitchell returned the impressive figures of 5 for 12 off 7 overs. A slightly less exuberant Uni side took the field with a few longing glances cast skywards towards the south-western horizon where scattered clouds were starting to build. But as we all know, hope is not a strategy. If we thought Sippel could bowl we quickly learned he was a batting allrounder. He wasted no time in making his intentions known, clipping a brace of fours off his toes through mid-wicket and getting the Hornets off to a flyer. Things did not improve for the Uni attack, Ipswich scoring with ease and punishing anything not on a length on what ultimately proved to be a pretty flat track. Clayto had an afternoon he would like to forget (but probably won’t) on the deep mid- wicket fence retrieving pull shots from near Gatton.. Last seen calling an Uber as he headed off yet again towards the RAAF base…….

Tom Reddacliff was finally rewarded with a pole in the 7th over, well caught by keeper Gray, however the Hornets made like their namesake at the adjoining base and made fast work of the small University total with the match coming to a close in the 15th over.

Mark Clayton on the chase at deep square

Special call out to Michael ‘Barry’ Brown for a memorable debut, spilling an early Sippel cut shot in the gully (right in the breadbasket), didn’t bowl, and a golden duck (never fear Manilow, scored a pair on debut and went onto to hold the runs scoring record for England – perhaps you should grow a mo?).

Thanks Browny, don’t call us…we’ll call you ☺.

UNIVERSITY OF QLD 102 (Watter 55*, Irwin 16, Reddacliff 12, Mitchell 5/12) defeated by IPSWICH-LOGAN 1/106 (Sippel 51 ret, Hillier 15*, Reddacliff 1/24)

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Match Report – Uni v Souths Sunday 1st December – UQCC Number 2.

Round 2 of the over 40s competition saw Uni take on Souths at Uni #2 on a very tropical Sunday afternoon at St Lucia. Souths came into the fixture cock-a-hoop after a decisive round 1 victory over Western Suburbs. Uni on the other hand were looking to atone after a sub-par opening round loss to Ipswich. The sting from the Hornets continued to itch as the boys arrived and compared previous night’s preparations.

Uni were required to make two changes to the selected side with Shades pulling out due to a pec injury sustained through an unconfirmed report of jumping off a wardrobe.

(This may, or may not be, a photo of Andrew Gray’s pectoral muscle….)

The debutant Murray Procter also withdrew with a sore little toe! Some were concerned our performance in the initial fixture may have been the real reason... Of course, only as Uni can do, their replacements in the side were two ex-international cricketers, John “Hollywood” Ravenhill and the evergreen Ian “I can’t remember the last time he dropped one” Greig.

Given it was the very first day of summer, the weather forecast was for violent storms and hail. With the mercury approaching 33 degrees and the track looking slow, it was hoped that our skipper had recovered sufficiently from his old man’s calf injury to win the toss and bat. Short lived optimism turned quickly to disappointment as the opposing, eternally smiling skipper called ‘heads’ correctly (with a borrowed coin – no one carries change anymore!) Uni were headed into the field with little prospect of a bat - as per the ‘Grade Cricketer’ one of the worst scenarios you could encounter.

With Tommy Reddacliff holidaying with his bride, the new ball was offered to the menacing duo of Bindi Irwin and Doctor Dirt. The Doctor was unlucky with an early chance being grassed by the man that no one could remember dropping a catch. The only impediment to Bindi claiming a wicket was to accept the offer of the new ball (did you really want to bowl first change?) and to negotiate his path past Murray the umpire, who had plainly already consumed his and his extended family’s Christmas dinner. Bindi was beating the bat regularly and broke through trapping the South’s opener plumb in front, 1-13.

Enter Cam ‘Arthur” Boyd into the attack from the southern end bowling into a nice right to left breeze. It didn’t take long for Arthur’s artistic talents to come to the fore, one ball in fact, a cracking delivery that seamed away and caught the glove of the in-form Andrew Watson, caught neatly by the player who we now remembered can drop a catch. Souths 2-18.

The wickets kept tumbling and it wasn’t long before Souths were in deep trouble at 7-46 after 20 overs. The bowling attack was splendid - Bindi picking up his second wicket with a sharp chance held by Boyd at backward point. Much like his namesake in art, Arthur was in everything. Two catches, a and a wicket bought back memories of the great Derek Randall, you just couldn’t keep him out of the game (if only he remembered to bring the slab for the first game and the water for the second!)!

Red Herring bowled a nice spell from the northern end picking up 3 wickets in the middle order. He could have claimed another if brother

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Pink could have managed to elevate himself off the ground just far enough to pluck one from the heavens, alas, we would have had trouble slipping a phone book under Pink’s feet and the chance went begging.

The wily Ian Greig came into the attack. Like his off-spinning team mate BP, he myxomatosed the rabbits with two LBWs coming from nude balls disguised as off spinners - beautifully executed bowling to Arjuna and his fellow tail ender.

With extras being South’s top scorer at 14 our opposition were rolled for a meagre 74 in the 31st over. A very good all-round bowling and fielding performance – the question had to be asked, would Tommy Reddacliff be selected in the next match???

Lunch was taken as the heavens opened. It had all the trademarks of a wash out providing Souths with a very lucky escape. The covers were on although no one from the experienced brigade had too much faith about their ability to keep water off the pitch – Uni covers are normally as reliable as Queensland Rail.

The usual delightful Uni fare was offered for lunch. The chicken and curried egg sandwiches were ravaged by the hungry hoards although you had to get in quick to beat Murray. It was also noted that one Douglas Arthur Rae was also taking on sustenance in anticipation of a rapid run chase.

As Doug carved his way through lunch, he was devising a cunning plan to put a dent in his opening partners day out. It was as simple as farming the strike for everything that it was worth and poor old Arthur Boyd would have to work for every run off minimal balls.

The Uni openers made light work of the Souths attack and before you knew it Uni were 0-41 in the sixth over. Of the 33 deliveries bowled, Doug had farmed 28 of those. Cam was left to belt a solid 18 from his 5 pills, including four boundaries. Pure frustration led to a straight one finding its way through Cam’s defence and his day ended LBW with Uni at 1-42 at the end of the 6th over.

Mick Watter came to the crease at first drop fresh from a half century the previous game and a feature article in the UQCC Club Newsletter. He looked every bit as solid until he chopped one onto his stumps, Uni 2-44. A ripple of nervousness crept through the Uni camp as it was at this point in the previous game that we lost 4-0 in seven balls!

Enter Pink Herring, his tactic as always, hit hard and often. Looking comfortable on five, Pink pushed one to cover and took off for a sharp, even a ambitious, single and some brilliant work by the Souths cover fieldsman saw Pink short of his ground at the non-strikers end after a direct hit - Pink one year too old, cover fieldsman one year younger than anticipated - Uni 3-53. Douglas Rae, still delighting in his well-executed plan to dampen Cam’s day, took full advantage of his elevation to opener. He played some cracking shots all-round the wicket, such stroke making not seen from the Rae bat since TGS days. “What’s happened to Doug?” “Where has this come from?” “I wonder if he’s feeling ok?” was heard echoing around the very large Uni No. 2 oval. Doug finished the day 35 not out, skipper Elks 9 not out and Uni easily passing the required total of 74 in the 14th over.

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Doug was completely cooked following his long stay at the crease and was in desperate need of a gasper in the sheds after the game. Thankfully, I saw him this morning following his recovery session yesterday afternoon and he was in good spirits and ready to go again – you know what they say, roots and runs! A convincing victory for the Uni boys, putting their season back on the tracks.

Man of the match, despite Doug’s best efforts, goes to Arthur Boyd for a stellar performance in the field and some lusty hitting with the willow.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

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