Richard Stobo - Memories of that Grand Old Stand - Part 2
Gordon District Cricket Club | June 24, 2025
[This story continues from Part 1] - click to read
Sutherland had been sent into bat on a wicket with a bit of life early on, but their strong top order, which included NSW and Test player John Dyson and future NSW and Queensland player Rod Davison, saw them reach 2-70-odd without too many problems.
Bowling from the southern end before lunch, I decided to test Rod out with a bouncer. A compact left-hander and prolific run-scorer, Rod moved inside it and played a hook shot but caught the ball a little high on the bat. It sailed high towards the pavilion but Jamie Bray, fielding at fine leg, sprinted hard to his right along the boundary, dived, and held an extraordinary catch only inches from the ground, and perilously close to the gutter – no ropes in those days. It was skillful, brave and magnificent.
And it turned the game on its head. Instead of a probable boundary, we had picked up an unlikely and important wicket. Such are the vagaries of this great game. And so began the most wonderful over of my cricket career: dot, wicket, wicket, wicket, dot, wicket.
There was pandemonium, on and off the field. Sutherland – unquestionably a very good team – fell in a heap. We were batting soon after lunch and finished the day leading by nearly 200, with plenty of wickets in hand.
And timing is everything. With Geoff Lawson recalled to the Test side the following week to play the West Indies in Perth, I was selected in the NSW side to play Western Australia; but for Jamie’s catch in the shadows of the Trumper Pavilion, who knows?
The Trumper Pavilion certainly saw some wonderful moments in the history of our great club but probably none more so than Mark O’Neill (200*) and Phil Emery (127*) putting on the First Grade and club partnership record of 326* against Fairfield during the 1986-87 season. It remains Sydney Grade cricket’s highest third-wicket partnership in more than 130 years of competition, and the 13th highest for any wicket.
Finally, to sing the Gordon team song in the Gordon changing room after a win at Chatswood was a special experience. We would usually then join the other team for a beer under the stand, before eventually heading across the road to the old Gordon Rugby Club, and whatever thereafter. We were young, way back then.
And before every home match, Wacka – by then Club President – would hang the 1974-75 Club Championship flag on the upper railings of the pavilion. It was great to see, but a few of us younger players made a quiet pact to win a premiership so that we could hang a flag of our own.
As it was, we didn’t have too many wins in those early years but by the 1985-86 season it was clear we had the makings of a good team. Within a few seasons, we had won the Minor Premiership, had two premierships in the bag, and became a fixture in the top four in the table. Good days.
I retired from Grade cricket at the end of the 1993-94 season at the relatively young age of 28, and thought my days playing for Gordon had ended. However, I returned to play Fourth Grade in 2003-2004 and had a few more very happy seasons bowling at Chatswood into my 40s. I captured my 500th Grade wicket (bowling from the southern end!), and that ball sits proudly on my bookcase at home.
My last game at Chatswood was a win, and my final delivery a wicket, which meant I was able to enjoy a beer and sing the Gordon song one last time underneath the grand old Trumper Pavilion.
A Gordon.
Get fah, ya bah.
Author: Richard Stobo
© The Cricket Press Pty Ltd and RL Cardwell.
Images in Part 1 and Part 2 RM Stobo
Images in Part 1 and Part 2 © RL Cardwell
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