Greatest school cricket teams: Messenger Community News picks Thebarton Tech and Woodville High’s all-time XIs
Messenger Community News has pored over the stats to choose eight Adelaide schools’ greatest cricket teams as part of a five-day series to find the best. Up next is Thebarton Technical and Woodville High.
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First we chose eight Adelaide schools’ greatest football teams.
Now it’s cricket’s turn.
Messenger Community News sports editor Matt Turner has tried to determine the Adelaide schools that have produced the best cricketers by selecting their all-time XIs, plus a 12th man.
There are again eight best-ever school sides – and more selection headaches.
Who do you leave out? Who bats where? What is the best balance of each side?
How do you compare recent cricketers to those from the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
There were countless discussions over several months about the line-ups – firstly finding the players and then filling spots in batting order.
But with the help of the schools, SACA, grade clubs, cricket lovers, historians and statisticians – special thanks to Ken “KG” Cunningham, Denis Brien, Geoff Sando and Ray Webster – the squads have been chosen.
And Turner has again made the final call.
The eight schools settled upon were the ones he believed had the strongest teams, not just a handful of star players.
Players were picked based on their post-school cricket achievements, rather than first XI performances.
Natural talent was considered secondary to output and accomplishments, which ensured some emerging present-day players were overlooked despite the possibility of future stardom.
If a brilliant career was cut short by war, injury or other factors, that was taken into account.
Team balance was important – it was not an exercise in picking each school’s best 11 cricketers – but some sides boasted deeper batting line-ups or extra bowlers to ensure its quality was not reduced.
Choosing the teams ultimately came down to poring over hundreds of players’ statistics via Cricinfo and grade records, seeking dozens of opinions, and gut feel.
In Part One, Messenger Community News selected Scotch and St Peter’s greatest cricket XIs. In Part Two, it is the turn of Thebarton Technical High School and Woodville High.
* Statistics as of January 31, 2019. Grade statistics, provided by Geoff Sando, Ray Webster and the clubs, have only been listed for non-international players. Clubs’ top-10 run scorers and wicket-takers are mentioned.
THEBARTON TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
Thebarton Technical High School’s all-time side has an unmistakeable western suburbs flavour.
That would not surprise long-time followers of the grade competition – it was previously district-based, so you had to play for the club within the boundary you lived.
Thebarton Technical, known colloquially as Thebby Tech, was in Adelaide’s inner-west in Torrensville from 1924, before becoming Thebarton Senior College, for adult re-entry students, in 1990.
Nine members of its greatest XI have featured for West Torrens, three for Woodville and one for Port Adelaide.
Among them is an Australian captain, Barry Jarman.
The wicketkeeper skippered the national team once – to a draw in the fourth Test of the 1968 Ashes at Headingley – when Bill Lawry was injured.
Because of that, along with his outstanding record for both SA and Australia, he was named as captain of this side.
There are another two Test cricketers: all-rounder Merv Waite and leg-spinner Bruce Dooland.
Waite, a hard-hitting batsman and medium-pacer, played alongside Sir Donald Bradman in the SA team that won the Sheffield Shield in 1935/36 and debuted for Australia during the 1938 Ashes.
He holds the record for the biggest individual knock in an SA grade match – 339 for West Torrens in 1936.
Waite made that score batting at three, so he was chosen there in this team.
Dooland served as a sergeant with the Z Special Unit in Borneo during World War II, delaying his first-class debut until the age of 22.
But he still snared a staggering 1016 first-class wickets at 21.98 from 214 matches, including 748 scalps in five years at County side Nottinghamshire.
He was named at seven because he was more than handy with the bat, boasting a first-class average of 24.37 with four centuries.
Charlie Walker was a back-up wicketkeeper in two touring Ashes squads, in 1930 and 1938, without playing a Test.
He became a Royal Australian Air Force pilot and died after his plane was shot while over Soltau, Germany in 1942.
Walker only averaged 14.99 with the willow for SA but his 2805 grade runs at 25.73 earnt him a spot as a lower-order batsman.
The other two players to reach first-class ranks are Lindsay Head and Colin Harrison.
Along with being a three-time Magarey medallist, Head was also a triple A-grade premiership player at West Torrens and led the grade competition’s batting aggregate in 1956/57.
Harrison, a leg-spinner, is Woodville’s all-time leading wicket-taker with 547 scalps.
His brother, the Peckers’ third-ranked run scorer Gordon Harrison, was chosen to open the batting with another prolific player who did not reach first-class ranks, West Torrens’ Alan Smith.
Fellow Eagles batsman Jack Carr, West Torrens paceman Dean Smith and Port quick Marx Kretschmer also never played at Shield level but were chosen because of their standout grade careers.
Carr and Smith are Bradman medallists, and Kretschmer has taken the eighth-most wickets at the Magpies.
Kretschmer just pipped Harrold Sincock, who would have been the third leggie in the XI, so he could take the new ball with Smith.
Wicketkeeper Cyril Parry, who played 25 first-class games for SA and Tasmania, would have been picked for many other schools but this side had two glovemen ahead of him.
Dual Magarey medallist Bob Hank made 932 runs for West Torrens and once skittled Bradman in a semi-final but narrowly missed selection.
1. Alan Smith (West Torrens)
Grade: 4457 runs at 22.8; 2 wickets at 73
2. Gordon Harrison (West Torrens, Woodville)
Grade: 6688 runs at 28.33; 4 wickets at 20 (third-most runs at Woodville – 6318)
3. Merv Waite (West Torrens, Glenelg, East Torrens-Glenelg)
2 Tests: 11 runs at 3.66; 1 wicket at 190
103 FC: 3888 runs at 27.77; 192 wickets at 31.61
4. Lindsay Head (West Torrens)
9 FC: 425 runs at 28.33; 2 wickets at 72.5
Grade: 2065 runs at 28.3; 27 wickets at 30.59
5. Jack Carr (West Torrens)
Grade: 4807 runs at 26.41; 120 wickets at 16.61
Bradman medallist
6. Barry Jarman (Woodville, Kensington) (c)
19 Tests: 400 runs at 14.81; 50 catches, 4 stumpings
191 FC: 5615 runs at 22.73; 431 catches, 129 stumpings
Australian captain for one match
7. Bruce Dooland (West Torrens)
3 Tests: 76 runs at 19; 9 wickets at 46.55
214 FC: 7141 runs at 24.37; 1016 wickets 21.98
8. Charlie Walker (Colts, West Torrens, Prospect)
109 FC: 1754 runs at 14.99
SA captain for two matches
Grade: 2805 runs at 25.73; 2 wickets at 23
9. Dean Smith (West Torrens)
Grade: 2352 runs at 16.04; 271 wickets at 19.11
Bradman medallist
10. Colin Harrison (West Torrens, Woodville)
4 FC: 34 runs at 8.5; 9 wickets at 37.22
Grade: 3920 runs at 18.23; 575 wickets at 19.67 (10th-most runs at Woodville – 3798; club wickets record at Woodville – 547)
11. Marx Kretschmer (Port Adelaide)
Grade: 1050 runs at 14.38; 258 wickets at 18.99 (eighth-most wickets at Port Adelaide)
12th man: Harrold Sincock (West Torrens, Colts)
2 FC: 66 runs at 16.5; 4 wickets at 31.5
Grade: 2058 runs at 21.66; 242 wickets at 22
WOODVILLE HIGH
Few schools would have three Australian opening bowlers among their past students.
Woodville High does.
Eric Freeman and Neil Hawke went there before leading SA and Australia’s attacks during the 1960s, while Tim Wall attended Woodville then became a paceman in the Bodyline series and one of three cricketers to take all 10 wickets in a Sheffield Shield innings.
The former Port Adelaide trio spearheads one of the strongest bowling line-ups of any Adelaide school.
If batsmen survive Freeman, Hawke and Wall’s spells, there is a fair chance another ex-Magpie, Norm Williams, will get the breakthrough.
Williams, a leg-spinner, is the SA grade competition’s all-time leading wicket-taker with 894 scalps during his career from 1918-41.
The highlights of his 34 state games include 122 wickets at 39.16, three 10-wicket match hauls and helping spin SA to Shield glory with fellow leggie Clarrie Grimmett in 1926/27.
With Woodville High’s bowling stocks deeper than their batting and Freeman able to come in at six, the call was made to choose an extra paceman rather than another batsman.
Woodville’s John Beagley edged fellow Pecker Gordon Brooks and Port’s Frank Collins for that spot.
Picking a wicketkeeper was also difficult because it was tough to separate the Magpies’ Trevor Robertson and West Torrens’ Rex Blundell.
Robertson won four CW Walker grade cricket wicketkeeping trophies to Blundell’s three, while Blundell made almost 2000 more runs at club level.
Opinions were sought from several opponents and teammates of both, and the majority gave the edge to Blundell – by a whisker.
Robertson was named as 12th man.
The first four batting spots are occupied by players with a total of 25 Shield games between them – Port’s Tony Handrickan (eight), Woodville’s Bob Simunsen (four), West Torrens’s Alan Shepherd (12) and Magpie Ray Holman (one).
Their exemplary grade records helped book their spots.
Handrickan and Simunsen rank among their club’s top eight all-time run scorers, while Shepherd hit 12 tons and 11 fifties in just nine summers.
Holman, whose grade average was an impressive 42.9, might have played more state cricket if not for World War II, which cost him four seasons with Port.
The team’s number five, David Kelly, has featured in the most games (19) of any of the side’s batsmen and is also Woodville’s all-time leading run scorer.
Along with Brooks and Collins, 1920s and 30s all-rounder Dudley Jamieson, Tasmanian batsman Ron Ward, Port off-spinner Maurice Roberts, Peckers fast-medium Dean Sayers and paceman turned baseballer David Mundy were also strongly considered.
1. Tony Handrickan (Port Adelaide)
8 FC: 448 runs at 29.86
2 OD: 0 runs
Grade: 4693 runs at 29.89; 2 wickets at 51.5 (fifth-most runs at Port Adelaide)
2. Bob Simunsen (Woodville)
4 FC: 103 runs at 20.6
1 OD: 12 runs at 12
Grade: 4476 runs at 25.43; 50 wickets at 30.1 (seventh-most runs at Woodville)
3. Alan Shepherd (West Torrens)
12 FC: 383 runs at 18.23
Grade: 3615 runs at 40.16; 37 wickets at 31.59
4. Ray Holman (Port Adelaide)
1 FC: 4 runs at 2
Grade: 3733 runs at 42.9; 71 wickets at 25.18
5. David Kelly (Woodville)
19 FC: 824 runs at 27.46
4 OD: 52 runs at 26
Grade: 7010 runsat 29.55; 2 wickets at 69 (club runs record at Woodville)
6. Eric Freeman (Port Adelaide)
11 Tests: 345 runs at 19.16; 34 wickets at 33.17
83 FC: 2244 runs at 19.17; 241 wickets at 27.75
8 OD: 57 runs at 9.5; 8 wickets at 28.25
7. Rex Blundell (West Torrens, Senior Colts) +
24 FC: 552 at 15.33; 64 catches, 13 stumpings
3 OD: 42 runs, no average; 0 catches, 0 stumpings
Grade:4489 at 20.59; 5 wickets at 23.2
8. Neil Hawke (Port Adelaide, Senior Colts) (c)
27 Tests: 365 runs at 16.59; 91 wickets at 29.41
145 FC: 3383 runs at 23.99; 458 wickets at 26.39
1 OD: 0 runs, 0 wickets
9. Norm Williams (Port Adelaide)
34 FC: 850 runs at 15.45; 122 wickets at 39.16
Grade: 2559 runs at 16.5; 894 wickets at 18.86 (Port Adelaide and SACA wickets record)
10. Tim Wall (Port Adelaide, Colts, North Adelaide/Prospect)
18 Tests: 121 runs at 6.36; 56 wickets at 35.89
108 FC: 1071 runs at 10.5; 330 wickets at 29.93
11. John Beagley (Woodville, West Torrens)
18 FC: 129 runs at 5.86; 51 wickets at 37.03
Grade: 330 runs at 9.7; 164 wickets at 15.06
12th man: Trevor Robertson (Teacher’s College, Port Adelaide, Glenelg) +
32 FC: 873 runs at 20.3; 82 catches, 12 stumpings
Grade: 2761 runs at 16.24
REVEALED TOMORROW: Adelaide High and Norwood High/Norwood Morialta
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