Ian Davis - Test Cap 266 - Gordon District Cricket Club
Gordon District Cricket Club | December 07, 2025
Ian Davis played with Gordon from the 1973-74 season until 1976-77. After two games for Gordon he was selected for New South Wales and five first-class games later, Australia. There was a tour to New Zealand in 1973-74 and the Australian tour to England in 1977. He scored 1065 runs at 35.50 and held the First Grade opening record at Gordon with James Cattlin, Cattlin (88) and Davis (170) of 261.
I arrived at Gordon in an unusual way. In fact my time at Gordon was the most enjoyable of my Grade career where I played for six clubs, some twice. I was, as some of my friends have said, seeking to build my house from the proceeds of my cricket. Some clubs paid and others didn’t – Gordon was a freebie, as they say. The culture, players and support I received was a contributing factor why I played first-class cricket. When I was picked for New South Wales I had to collect my jumper from Bert Oldfield at his sports store in Pitt Street, Sydney. I had my photo taken with him and he talked about his time in cricket and some of the players he had played with and against. When I was selected for Australia it was the same. I collected my Australian jumpers during my lunchtime when working for the Commonwealth Bank. I heard a few of the same stories from Bert. He did say to me he was a proud Gordon player and I should be too, and I was.
In the 1972-73 season I played for the Northern District CC and was living in a unit on the corner of Fullers Road and the Pacific Highway, Chatswood with Bob Mansfield, a former Northern District player and executive with McDonalds, and Ian Cook, an Australian hockey player. It had been the home of the Australian poet Kenneth Slessor.
We had a party one night in the winter, one of the guests was Bob Radford, then Assistant Secretary of the NSWCA. He said to me when he walked through the front door and passed my bedroom, “Who sleeps in there?” to which I replied, “I do.” He said, “Why are you playing for Northern District and living in the Gordon area?” My reply was certainly not convincing as two days later I received a hand-delivered letter asking me to sign a Statutory Declaration to declare where I lived. It was goodbye to my friends at Northern District CC and hello to my new cricket friends at the Gordon DCC.
I joined the Gordon DCC the following season and the rest is history so far as my cricket was concerned. I enjoyed practice and was able to get a bit of time off to practice. Alan Davidson was helpful. He was in public relations at the Commonwealth Bank, my employer. Living in a unit below me was an enthusiastic cricketer, who could not bowl, called Terry Hooloran. Twice a week on non-practice days Terry and I would go to Chatswood Oval with a bag of balls. It was centre wicket practice, Terry bowling – or should I say throwing the balls to me – and I trying and often hitting the ball over the Trumper Pavilion. It was good practice for me at that time of my cricket development.
In my early days at Gordon some of the older players in the club said that I played like Trumper. I asked them how they knew and was told that some of the older players had been told of his style and it had just been passed on. Photos I have seen over the years suggest a similarity but as for ability Trumper was supreme and it is night and day as far as I am concerned. I had heard about Trumper from my father and had read about him. Just playing on Chatswood Oval where Trumper had played was both a thrill and an honour.
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