THE FINALS - A Grade v Uralla, 28th March/11th April 1953
Armidale Waratahs (The Tahs) | April 15, 2026
Back row (L to R): Bob Howe, Don Paul, G Ferris, Vic Snell, Beau Richardson, Milton Milligan, Ross Ridley
Front row: Joe Leahy, Frank Moore, Fred Skillicorn (Capt), Laurie Cooper, Hugh Ferris, Tony Horradam
Absent: Alan Gray, K Godley
THE FINALS - A Grade v Uralla, 28th March/11th April 1953
The greatest Final ever and Waratahs first Premiership in only their third season and even then as a one team club.
Waratahs beat Easts 2 outright in the same game in which they scored their worst A/1st grade total in the sixty year history of the club.
To reach the semi-finals they had to beat Uralla, who in the 1950’s were one of the strongest teams in A Grade. This they did by just two runs thanks to 94 by Ross Ridley (#8), adding 113 with opening batting and bowling allrounder Laurie Cooper (#2) for the 3rd wicket and 5-49 by spinner Don Paul (#37). Then had to face the Minor Premiers, Easts 1 in the semi-final, who had beaten them only weeks earlier, but they won fairly comfortably, thanks again to Ridley, Paul, skipper Fred Skillicorn (#31) and this time Cooper with the ball.
The Final went all wrong even before the toss, when the late withdrawal of Cooper (228 runs@ 29 and 20 wickets@17) and a mix up over the team sheets meant they would play the match one player short. Waratahs made 163 batting first in the sunshine at the Sportsground, despite this and three run outs, one of them Ridley who was again their mainstay and was out just after smashing Easts for three consecutive sixes. They made several recoveries but their total was never enough against a strong batting line up and this was emphasised as Easts strolled to 0-57 by stumps … after Waratahs had dropped four catches, three by G Ferris (#25) who had the misfortune of fielding whilst looking into the late afternoon sun and a high difficult chance to Ridley behind the stumps … which broke his finger!
There was no play on the next Saturday as the Armidale Show was on and the third Saturday arrived after four days of rain which eased during Friday night. Easts were unperturbed, needing little over a hundred to win and with all their wickets intact and no Cooper to contend with. The wicket, still sodden, was doing all sorts of up and down tricks and the shrewd Skillicorn was clever enough to remove himself after completing his unfinished over, keep the ever accurate Vic Snell on at the other end and introduce Paul. Miller was caught at slip first ball and a few overs later, Vic Snell removed John Ridley - Ferris redeeming himself - and Doug Burgess. From there, a series of shooters from Paul bowled Rixon, Neilson, Billy Matthews and Lickiss, whipping Easts out after adding only 38 for the loss of all ten wickets.
With the sun blaring down, Easts had it all to play for but even though Waratahs 12th man Hugh Ferris was in for Ridley, they were still batting one short. The wicket was drying but was in the sticky phase and deliveries were jumping off a length, torpedoing or sometimes just stopping in the wet patches. These were the days of uncovered pitches, games that ended only at stumps and captains who played on. Waratahs made their lowest ever score in the top grade, just 21 and according to Milton Milligan, who helped reconstruct this narrative in 2010, they were lucky to make that! The Ferris boys were equal top score with 6.
Easts needed only 90 but didn’t make it halfway, rolled for 43 and again no one making double figures. Don Paul, the most dangerous bowler in the competition in these conditions, cleaned up again, as Easts couldn’t help but pop up catches all around the wicket in impossible circumstances. 30 wickets had fallen for 102 runs in the one afternoon. Don Paul had the match figures of 13-44, a record that would stand for more than twenty years at Waratahs.
In an ironic twist, The Antill Cup, at the time awarded for the A Grade Minor Premier in days before Finals were played, rightly had Easts-1 engraved on. The Richardson Cup, the trophy given for the A Grade Premiers had Waratahs rightly engraved on it. However, many years later an engraving error saw the Antill Cup being engraved for the Premiers of the day, instead of the Richardson Cup and that mistaken tradition continues to the present day. As a result, Waratahs claim of the Premiership is contested because the trophy is now the only record the ADCA has of its Premiership winners.
The Armidale Express tells the real story of Waratahs first Premiership, as did the memories of those who were there - Milton Milligan (#34) and Alan Gray (#26) - and one that would take years of heartbreaking Finals losses before a second A Grade Premiership in 1971-72.
Waratahs v Easts-2 - A Grade Final, 28th March/11th April 1953
