Penrith, In the Beginning
Penrith Cricket Club | May 23, 2025
Cricket was played in the Nepean District as early as the 1870s when matches were organised between towns by mutual arrangement. But for the local cricket people, the biggest moment came in the 1891/1892 season when it was proposed that an English team, managed by Lord Sheffield and captains by the redoubtable cricket master Dr W G Grace , toured Australia and would play a match against a Nepean 13 on the 16th/17th February 1892. As might be imagined, much had to be done to bring off such a historic match. Thirty persons attended a meeting chaired by Mayor Judge in the Council Chambers where Alderman TR Smith happily announced that the Englishmen has closed with his offer of one hundred pound for a two day match. So, it was game on and a selection committee of Messrs FD Woodriff, Howell, Jude, Cooper and Creswick chose the lucky local 23.
On the day, the tourists arrived by train at 11.15am and after a procession through the streets, a reception followed at the council chambers. The site for the match was within the 217acres Thornton Hall Estate, which today's terms stretches from north of Penrith Railway station to where Penrith Plaza currently sits. Thomas Smith Senior, then proprietor of the Red Cow Inn and father of Alderman TR Smith had built Thornton Hall as the family home. It still exists today. The match area was later to be used for speedway, horse racing and golf, and is the present Army Engineering Depot. The ground was especially created for the occasion from the virgin bush, the pitch was made from soil from the Bulli pass and is still there, on the army land and can be identified by a stretch of healthy clover. And, a comfortable grandstand was erected although on match day the Smiths watched from the house observatory.
Play began at 1pm with Nepean Captain W Moseley, winning the toss and batting. The result was a draw. The highest local scorer for the match Thomas Player, received a two-foot high silver trophy. The Smith family retains one of the bats used on this day.
Six summers on from this momentous occasion, in August 1898, Thomas Dixon from Mount Druitt convened a public meeting at the Commercial Hotel Penrith to form a Cricket Association. The result was the Nepean District Cricket Association. The elected office bearers were: President Andrew Thompson, Secretary Henry Judge, Treasurer Thomas Dixon. The foundation clubs were: Springwood, St Marys, Emu Plains, Mulgoa, Castlereagh, Penrith, Penrith Railways and Mt Druitt.
Today, The NDCA competes in the NSW Juniors Union Martin Shield and the Telegraph Shield and the Nepean District Cricket Association, later the Penrith Junior Cricket Association, competes in the NSW Junior Union's age representative competitions:Watson shield, Weblin shield, Harold Moore, Gee, Arch Cawsey, JH Creak and WG Foster Shields. Nepean/Penrith juniors have had much success in these competitions.
In the post World War 2 period through to the seventies, the NDCA A Grade competition was considered to be of the highest standard. Clubs from Springwood, Emu Plains , Penrith, Werrington, St Marys, Mount Druitt, Rooty Hill and Blacktown competed. Nepean representative teams regularly played in the annual "Country Week Cricket Carnival" in Sydney.
For the record, WG Grace scored 14 caught Wood, bowled W Howell.
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