THE SEMIS - B Grade v Dumaresq, 24th/31st March 1962
Armidale Waratahs (The Tahs) | April 09, 2026
Dumaresq and Waratahs had been at each other all season, Waratahs finishing just 2 points higher on the table in 2nd place. Both were a long way behind Minor Premiers Churches, the likely winners of the other semi. B Grade was played entirely as one day games, meaning lots of opportunity for batsmen in a twenty or more Saturday season.
Bruce McClenaghan (#74) had been the heavy hitter for the season, with over 600 runs and the steady Ray McIntyre (#100) had more than 400. Graeme Hooper (#101), Don Foster (#155), Stuart Stanley (#104) all topped 300 and Keith Dawson (#146) went close but of them all, Hooper was the only player to average above 30.
The big talking point of the season and of all the seasons to come, was 16 year old Foster. He took more wickets than any other bowler has ever taken, in any one season, for any club in Armidale history. His B Grade scalps numbered 123 @ 7.5 and another 9 in the Sunday comp gave him 132 for the season. Early in the New Year, he dismissed Public Service single-handedly, taking 10-22, bowling seven of them and including a hat trick. He also top scored in Waratahs innings, just for good measure.
A young Geoff Marshall (#156) had 48 victims, McClenaghan 37 and the emerging Dick Russell (#132) 28. McClenaghan, the ultimate allrounder, also took 18 catches, many of them when he was sharing the wicketkeeping duties with Stanley.
In the semi, Dumaresq’s batsmen mostly all got scores, with top order nullifying the Foster/Marshall threat. Russell got Waratahs back into the game when Dumaresq were threatening to run away at 4-152.
Waratahs were soon in trouble at 3-20 but McClenaghan, Hooper and Brian Barrett (#117), making his best score of the season, all played steady innings to repel a strong Dumaresq attack and still be there when rain bought the game to an end an hour earlier, the draw being enough for Waratahs to proceed to the FInal.
Waratahs v Dumaresq - B Grade Semi-Final, 24th/31st March 1962
