Twenty - Weston Creek Cricket Club

Twenty Seasons OnTim Overland (Shirl) was certainly a great character and afine fast bowler. He had a distinguished career with theCreek both on and off the field. However, the performance Iwill remember the most was his bowling in the fourth gradegrand final against a very strong team from Easts C.C. in the19864987 season - a match winning performance. Defendinga very modest first innings score he bowled unchanged for 37overs and finished with 7/70 with 10 maidens. Onememorable wicket was a M.Haywood (now in the New SouthWales side) LBW - 0 - without playing a shot possibly theturning point in the game. This game indeed has specialmemories as the team played with enormous spirit throughoutthe year and a premiership win was a fitting result.I played with Dick Cotton at Woden Cricket Club for anumber of years prior to joining up with him again at theCreek. He was one bowler who really could make the balltalk. In the early 80's when the NSW Cricket Team travelledto Canberra to play Pakistan, Dick was used as a net bowlerat the turf wicket at Dcakin Oval and proceeded to clean up acouple of well known batsmen with his big in-dippers. His58 wickets at a cost of 8.00 ensured Woden won the secondgrade premiership in 1978-79 prior to joining the Creek. Healways performed with distinction and was a great student ofthe game. What Dick didn't have in his kit bag wasn't worthknowing about. He is the only captain I know who wouldvolunteer to field at short leg and always managed to pull insome screamers. In those days, apart from taxes and highballs at Ballymore, there were only two other certainties inlife - Dick Cotton rolling up to practice with a ball thatlooked very new and always consuming a bar of chocolate forlunch on match days.What can one say about Laurie O'Mara? He was the onlyfieldsman I played with who consistently needed a leg rope tokeep him in position. It was generally a matter of setting a69