Lest we forget lost cricketers who gave us freedom

Many millions around the world, including more than 60,000 Australians, died so we can enjoy an afternoon game of cricket.

Wayne Jones. Picture: Contributed

WAYNE'S WICKET

TOMORROW marks 100 years since the guns fell silent on the Western Front in World War 1 to begin an armistice.

Many millions around the world, including more than 60,000 Australians, died so we can enjoy an afternoon game of cricket.

Many Ipswich sportsmen were the first to sign up to help "Mother England" when the British Empire declared war on Imperial Germany after their invasion of neutral Beligum on August 4, 1914.

Ipswich's contribution was no different to the rest of the British Empire with the 9th Battalion, AIF or West Moreton battalion contributing heavy to the Allied cause.

It was one of the first units to storm the beaches at at Gallipoli, Turkey then fought against Germany on the western front.

Later in the war, he 26th Battalion was raised and contributed to the capturing "Mesphito" - the only original WW1 German tank left in the world with Ipswich Railway Museum helping to maintain it for future prosperity.

Just like now, many of the cricketers were young and fit while looking for adventure, looking to test themselves against the opposition best as they did on the sporting fields.

Sadly, many of these cricketers never returned to Ipswich.

Many families also sent all of their sons off to this war.

John Vigars Francis, owner of a firm of wholesale butchers but more importantly former president of National Cricket Union and former member of the Australasian Cricket Board, was a forerunner to the current Cricket Australia board.

Most of his sons went off to war. These included Captain Trevor Francis who won a military cross in August 1917 but was killed in March 1918 at Le Transloy.

Older brother Vince was also a victim while younger brother Eric, who played for the Wallabies, survived the Western Front carnage.

The Kent family sent all of their sons off to war.

William was killed in August 1916 but Edward won a Miltiary Cross and became one of the longest serving cricketers in Ipswich cricket history.

McCosh brothers also fought in heavy actions.

James "Jug" came back to Ipswich to be one of the leading legspinners and represent Queensland in rugby league.

Herbert, who won a Distinguish Service Medal, was one of only 2572 Australians to do so.

Probably the most famous Ipswich survivor from WW1 was Duncan Fulton Thompson. He was shot in the lung at Dernacourt in April 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.

He carried that bullet for the rest of his life, which included representing Queensland Country at cricket in 1928/29, Queensland tennis and Queensland rugby league.

He still is the last premiership-winning captain of the North Sydney Bears (1922).

Later on in life, he moved to Toowoomba and released his own line of football boots and coached and selected Queensland rugby league teams.

During the war, England staged "Test matches" at Lords to help raise money and morale for the troops at the front.

In one of these Tests, John McAndrew - who had played for Queensland - was selected in the Australian team with Test greats Bert Oldfield, Herbie Collins and Jack Gregory.

In World War 2, many cricketers heeded the call to defend the Empire again.

One of these was Len Johnson. He fought in the Pacific and ended up in New Guinea.

It was here at the end of the war in the Army "Test cricket matches" used to improve morale, he was scouted by NSW selector Wardill Bill and subsequently chosen for Queensland after returning to Australia in 1946. He went onto play for Australia in 1948 against the touring Indians.

Probably one of the most promising cricketers from Ipswich to pay the ultimate price in WW2 was George Duncan. He scored 221 and along with eight fifties in 35 knocks.

Unfortunately, he was killed while flying in the RAAF in a mission over Sardinia in August 1944.

These are but some of the many that fought for us in these horrible wars.

So when Remembrance Day is observed over the weekend, these are the some of the people who laid down their lives or fought bravely against incredible odds to ensure we can enjoy our weekend sports fixtures over a 100 years later.

Lest we forget.

GREAT WORK: Centrals batsmen Sam Joseph and Adam O'Sullivan encourage each other during a recent Harding-Madsen Shield match. Centrals and Laidley qualified for next month's semi-finals. Picture: Rob Williams

Stunning effort

THERE were some very impressive wins last weekend, none more than Ipswich Logan Hornets over South Brisbane.

After bowling out Souths for 317, the Hornets scored a massive 2/422 in reply.

Levi Thomson-Matthews led the way with an unbeaten double century, which was the highest individual score by a Hornet batsman in any grade.

After starting his innings with a tricky 17 over period on Saturday evening and doing the hard yards in the morning session on Sunday, he flourished after lunch. That was firstly with Dan Wilson (94, 231 run partnership) then with Harry Wood (99, 166 run partnership).

Thomson-Matthews hit 19 fours and four sixes in his 279 ball innings.

This week, the Hornets take on Wynnum Manly at Tingalpa.

Wynnum sit equal fourth, seven points ahead on the seventh-placed Hornets or less than a win ahead.

Meanwhile, Harding-Madsen Shield semi-finals will be played early next month but won't feature Brothers after their shock loss to South East Redbacks.

Redbacks have been battling away all season with captain Brodie Dwyer (204 at 40.5) coming to the fore with a match-winning 80 to all but guide them to victory.

Bowling allrounder Vaughan Oldham played his part (37 and 3/31) knocking over the top order while Ajeet Cheema (3/6) wrapped up the tail quickly.

After a tense finish, Andrew Stinson and Justin Noonan combined in a last-wicket stand to get the Redbacks their first win of the year.

Centrals and Laidley both advanced from Pool A. They will meet Northern Brothers Diggers and Wests respectively.

Both Ipswich clubs had comfortable wins against Toowoomba opponents.

Northsiders finished third in the pool after victory over Mets leaving the other three Toowoomba competition teams at the bottom of the pool.