Steve Day - honest and integrity
Gordon District Cricket Club | February 26, 2023
Steve Day holds a special place in the history of the Gordon Cricket Club as he was the captain of the 1989/90 first grade premiership winning team that broke a drought of 42 years.
He made his first grade debut at the age of 19 for Northern districts and arrived at Gordon in 1985.
An astute and inspiring leader in both business and cricket Steve has captained a number of players who have gone on to become some of the all-time great Australian players.
In a grade career spanning 1978 to 1993 Steve scored 5,719 runs. He scored 2 centuries and 15 half centuries for Gordon and still holds the record 6th wicket partnership as you’ll find out more about when he hit his highest score of 133 not out.
What year you were born?
1963
Can you remember you first game of cricket?
I was about 8, and playing for Carlingford juniors and my clear recollection is of batting and having one of the first balls I faced landing on the edge of the pitch where the concrete met the grass of the outfield, and the ball kicking bizarrely back onto my stumps to bowl me; I guess an early lesson in taking the rough with the smooth!
Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?
Well my dad brought us down from Bundaberg, Queensland when I was 7 and we settled into Carlingford, Sydney. I went to St Pat’s Dundas for a while and played some cricket in Dundas Valley with guys including Chris Madden. Later on I played for my next school Oakhill at Castle Hill, but all the while played local men’s cricket and luckily I got picked up by the guys from Northern Districts early on and played Cawsey and Moore and Green Shield for Northern District (NDs) which was a great time in life. So I started playing for this very strong ND’s club that in those days had very experienced older guys in the lower grades that you could learn a lot off.
I was lucky at those early stages to get the job of captaining a fair few teams and went on to Captain the Green Shield team, The NSW Schoolboys against Sir Alec Stewarts’ Surrey, the ND’s premiership 2nd grade team and the NSW Under 19’s.
I was lucky to get a call in 1985 from my good mate Phil Emery (Fatty) when I was off playing in the Bolton League in England. It turned out Gordon CC were starting a rebuilding exercise and had secured Mark O’Neil (Sparky) and Andrew Knight and given my struggles at ND’s I made the leap down the train line and it turned out to be a great move.
Everything started to change with training, attitude, selections and luck and we started to become semi contenders. I started to captain the first grade team in 1987 and we got a real roll on when the combination of a few quality players like Fatty, Sparky and Richard Stobo were joined by some awesome young talent in Adam Gilchrist, Kevin Roberts, Warwick Adlam and John Davison. We went on to win the first 1st Grade competition for Gordon in 42 years in 1889/90. I had a serious work career going at Lend Lease at the time and Michael Cant took over as Captain and we won back to back in 1990/91 against Mosman and made a couple of semi’s in subsequent years making for a real golden era at the club.
In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in grade cricket?
5th grade to start at age16
At what age did you make your first grade debut in grade cricket and can you remember how you performed in debut?
ND’s had this awesome first grade side that did very well at the time with Ross Turner, Mark Clews, Steve Whitfield, Peter Taylor, Neil Howlett and the list goes on; so guys like Mark Taylor, Randall Green, Brad Patterson and others were all scrapping hard to get a guernsey and mine finally came in 1983 when I was 19 against Gordon and I made a reasonable 37 at Chatswood Oval (those would be my last decent first grade runs at ND’s unfortunately).
If you can share with our audience, how would you describe yourself as a cricketer?
A top order batsman that liked to play too many shots sometimes, a bit of a happy hooker, a bad slogger, and probably not a good enough cut shot to make higher levels.
What was your highest score in senior cricket?
133 not out against Sutherland 1st grade in 1989; a 17 year old Kevin Roberts joined me at 5 for not many and we put on an unbroken 273 runs for the 6th wicket which is still the club record.
What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?
There was an unlucky Sutherland batsman in a one day game, the medium nudes didn’t get much of a run other than in the nets.
Who have been the best three fast bowlers you have played against?
I once played and missed at 3 in a row from Wayne Holdsworth. I swore they were pitching on the stumps, he was rapid and moved it on his day.
I’d like to pair Geoff Lawson and Mike Whitney for pure competitive skill.
The scariest was easily the mighty Wayne Daniels of the West Indies and we were unlucky to get him at Mosman Oval one day. One of my compulsive hooks top edged to the pickets and he came down the pitch with some wise words that suggested I should put that shot away, the next one was quick!
Who has been the best three spinners you have played against?
I hated left arm orthodox, so definitely Steve Whitfield and Kenny Hall.
Also David Hourn was a special type of bowler.
Who has been the best 3 batsman you’ve played against?
I was very lucky to play in an era of great NSW and other players, and I played with and against and captained sides with Mark Taylor, and Steve and Mark Waugh. They became all-time greats and each had their own unique skill in their batting positions.
Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
We had one of the classiest batsmen at Gordon that you could ever watch in any era in Mark O’Neil. He had beautiful balance and time to play his shots and played fast bowling very well. He scored 200 not out in first grade against Fairfield, pretty to watch!
Mark O'Neill
Was there any batsman in particular that stirred the emotions and competitive spirit where you really wanted their wicket?
We seemed to struggle a lot with Rod Bower, he generally came out on top.
Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
I’ve played with and fielded at slip besides Tim Ebbeck, Phil Emery and Adam Gilchrist, all great keepers and all top blokes as keepers tend to be. Phil’s longevity and career record for NSW was outstanding.
Phil Emery
Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?
We had one of the most competitive and skilful fast bowlers at Gordon in Richard Stobo. He’d make the most of all sorts of conditions and bowl all day and was rewarded with hundreds of wickets and selections for NSW.
The other would have to be Adam Gilchrist. He joined our team as a 17 year old from Lismore and to witness how he transformed the game worldwide and become such an icon was a treat, and all the time with the same great nature and spirit from his early years.
Who was the best captain you had the good fortune to play with?
Ross Turner from ND’s really showed you how to try and deal with each individual in the team and get the best out of them without raising his tempo or voice at all.
Ross Turner
Who has been your funniest team mate?
Funniest for being the funniest and most miserable in the same sentence is easily Mark O’Neil, spend a wash out day playing “spoof” and drinking the bar with Sparky at the El Rancho.
Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?
Brad McNamara to Michael Cant when Canty smacked the accidental dropped delivery sitting on the square to the fence – “that’ll be the only cover drive you ever hit for 4”!
What was your most embarrassing dismissal in senior cricket?
I got run out by the bowler once when Captaining NSW 19’s against Pakistan 19’s, I thought the off drive was past him!
Who was your childhood hero?
Greg Chappell, all the shots and with such elegance.
Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?
Danial Riccardo, Shane Lowry and John Newcombe – all seemed to really love what they were doing and would be great to have a dozen beers and get a few stories from.
Who’s your favourite cricket commentator?
Michael Holding, that voice!
What was your favourite ground to play at?
Luckily cricket and business came together in the best way recently and I got to play 2 years in a row at JP Morgan’s’ cricket day at Lords in London in 2017 & 2018. Spending the whole day and night in the dressing rooms and Long Room with star players on your side like Brian Lara, Graeme Smith, Wasim Akram and Dale Steyn, throwdowns from Dizzy Gillespie, and 6 games undefeated and not dismissed including a six at Lords and drinking from the winners cup handed by Mark Nicholas – hard to beat.
Steve Day batting at Lords
What there a particular team you especially looked forward to playing against?
Probably ND’s, being an ex-player they were always going to go after me with the ball and a bit of verbal, always a good contest.
What do you enjoy most about playing cricket?
Being part of a team that is aiming at achieving a common goal, going after it and sharing in the spoils.
What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?
Winning the 1st grade comp in 89/90 was such a big lift for the club after such a long drought.
What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?
The 90/91 1st grade grand final win against Mosman. Day 1 was washed out. We were 7/80 at lunch on day 2, an 18-year Adam Gilchrist made 50, and we scrambled to about 180. It was the most intense run chase by Mosman, who were always just ahead but never fully in control. There was a run out (by Gilly, Phil’s keeping of course) and great bowling by Richard Stobo, Warwick Adlam and Mark O’Neill to win by 18 runs. Big night that one!
Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?
Phil Emery, Richard Stobo and Michael Cant plus Mark O’Neil; Fatty, Stobes, Canty and Sparky – plenty to laugh about there and loads of story telling.
Steve Day - captain of Gordon 1989/90 premiership winning team
What are your hobbies?
Love the golf these days, still brings out the competitive thing some days and keeping a single figure handicap is the challenge.
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
Always maintain your honesty and integrity whether in sport or business, it will get you through in the long run and you can look at yourself in the mirror.
What is your current occupation?
I’ve always worked in the property industry in one way or other. I’ve started a few property fund managers that became listed on the ASX over the years. The last one got bought by someone else, so they put me on gardening leave for a while.
Are you still involved in cricket and if so, in what capacity?
Not much, I had twin girls 23 years ago and got very involved in whatever they did. I’ve maintained support for Gordon in different ways and currently helping a little bit with their sponsors/fundraising activities.
If you were running Cricket NSW what would be your 2 priorities to ensure cricket in the state remained strong and successful on and off the field?
I’m not in a position to be able to advise them given my time away from the field and club committees. I’d just suggest they are really smart about the team they assemble to run Cricket NSW and govern it at Board level. These days we need to not just enjoy the game but understand it also creates entertainment content and we live in a digital world, things keep changing!
