Five Summers Five Flags - University of New South Wales Cricket ...

Greig Robinson – One of the great clubmen of UNSW cricket, Robbo announced his arrival in
second grade with a hat-trick against Waverley. Finished the season with brilliant bowling stats of
24 wickets at 12.1, a record which stands to this day. The yin to Dick Pym’s yang, Robbo was a
clever bowler whose subtlety of swing and cut was too much for many an aspiring young batsman.
Claimed to be a stylish bat but was told by Terry: ‘You bat 11 because everyone else bats better
than you so your job is to stay there while they score more runs.’
Mick Watt – Fiery was a determined opening bat who almost gleefully bore the brunt of many a
deranged fast bowler’s short-pitched bowling. Was the ‘steel’ at the top of the order. Enigmatic,
phlegmatic but in an understated way had the fire in the gut to go with the hair colour. Did take a
wicket. A hard man.
Jock Martel - exciting opening batsmen (No 3’s often called it nerve-wracking) Jocko believed in
the West Indian philosophy that there is a lot of room above the fieldsmen. One of the true stalwarts
of the club on and off the field in the early grade years (along with his wife Denise). Would
definitely make the final in any cricketing theories competition. Averaged a record 44.1 before
being promoted.
David Pratt – powerful right-hand bat. Pratty in one word: intensity. Was a selection in the first
XI of the great club psychos. The Errol Flynn in Pratty meant his life was complex in a way that
few of the other free (and single) spirits in the team could understand and meant he had many
pressures to keep him on the edge. An outstanding fielder.
Nigel Perger - Big Nige had the build of Adonis, the looks of a film star and bowled quick. A
more than useful bat and good fielder. He showed the talent he had when he took a 5 for in first
grade. Enthusiastic performer on the social side of things.
Steve van der Sluys – huge in-dipper bowler who’d had some excellent seasons in first grade.
Steve played early in the season taking 14 wickets.
Also played during the season: Peter Burnett, Asoka Wijeratne, Paul Emery, John Sands,
Graham McBarron, Peter Jourdain.
THE INVISIBLE NO.4
Dave Pratt was very intense about his cricket. He was not having a good trot with the bat in the seconds
heading for the 77-78 finals and had some relationship complications to further heighten his
intensity.
A rough umpiring decision caused Pratty to give the umpire a huge spray. After this, Terry told him
to keep out of sight in the changerooms.
Terry ran into the umps late in the tea break when they asked him for details about our No. 4 batsman.
With unblinking eye contact, Terry answered: ‘We don't have one.’
The umpires were dumbfounded and repeated the question. Again Terry confidently replied: ‘No, we
didn't bat anyone at No.4 today - we went straight from No.3 to 5.’
By now the umpires were totally confused and tea had finished.
At the end of the day Terry approached the umpires and said he'd been wrong and had learnt that we
had had a No.4 after all. He gave them the spiel about Pratty's cricket and life problems; then gave
the secret signal and a contrite Pratty was wheeled out to apologise.
End result: umpires still struggling, apology accepted, Pratty not reported.
Greig Robinson
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