the history of western suburbs district cricket club 1921-2002

-34-1968-2002 ROGER PRENTICEABBREVIATIONSAR all rounder LAFB left arm fast bowlerRHB right hand batsman RAMFB right arm medium fast bowlerLHB left hand batsman LAMFB left arm medium fast bowlerRHOB right hand opening batsman RAOS right arm off spinnerRHMOB right hand middle order batsman RALS right arm leg spinnerLHOB left hand opening batsman RAMB right arm medium bowlerLHMOB left hand middle order batsman LAMB left arm medium bowlerRHUOB right hand upper order batsman LASB left arm slow bowlerLHUOB left hand upper order batsman LAIB left arm inswing bowlerRAB right arm bowler LAFMIB left arm fast medium inswing bowlerRAFB right arm fast bowler WK wicket keeperOn field success is best judged by premierships won and players graduating to play representativecricket. During this period the club has won three club championships (1987-8, 1993-4, 1997-8), one firstgrade (1987-8, eleven overall), one second grade (1992/3, six overall), one third grade (1993-4, sevenoverall), one fourth grade (1986-7, three overall), two fifth grade (1981-2, 1997-8, two overall), two sixthgrade (1995-6, 1996-7, two overall), one U19 (1992-3, one overall), two U17/18 (1972-3, 1982-3, nineoverall), two U15/16 schoolboys (1994-5, 1995-6, three overall) and the only women’s premiership (2001-2). The One Day Knockout competition was won in 1988-9. The term three peat is used to indicate thethree premierships in a row in sixth, sixth and fifth grades won by predominantly the same grup of playersin 1995-8.During this period, three current players played test cricket for Australia, Gary Cosier (two seasons),Craig McDermott (two seasons) and Carl Rackemann (10 seasons). Because of Test and statecommitments these players played relatively little cricket for the club. Ray Phillips toured England in1985 with the Australian team as understudy wicket keeper and played seven seasons with the club aftermoving from NSW.During the period an additional ten players played for the state whilst playing for WSDCC. They wereTim Caban, Darren Kingdon, John Loxton, Michael Maranta, John Maguire, David Rathie, GregRowell, Chris Smart, Sam Trimble, Dirk Tazelaar whilst Jim Hunter and Brett Stephenson were 12 thmen for Queensland. The 2001-2 womens team contained six current State players.Compared with the overall history of the club the on field successes have been relatively sparse.However a highlight has been the three club championships and in particular the lower gradeperformances from 1985-6 onwards when the club has only been lower than fourth in the clubchampionship on five occasions. The first grade premiership in 1987-8 was a major highlight which wasthe culmination of a dramatic overall improvement in all grades’ performances over the preceding threeseasons. The arrival of John Bell as coach, captain, recruiter and motivator was not a coincidence withthe success in this period. Another highlight was winning the one day final in 1988-9. The club’s firstgrade team won the minor premiership in 1975-6 and were beaten finalists under the enthusiasticleadership of John Loxton and again the club was beaten finalist in 1980-1 in a match in which ChrisSmart scored a century and 98 which was the springboard to his first class career. In 1993-4 afterfinishing the fixtures in second place, the Jon Dooley led team was a beaten semi-finalist to a Universityteam which contained six state representatives. In 2001-2 Greg Rowell also took his team to the grandfinal.One way to examine the best individual players of the era is to choose the best team based on clubperformances. Rather than choose the best team, two teams have been chosen. Cosier and Maguirehave been excluded because of the relatively small amount of cricket played for WSDCC and for similarreasons Rackemann has been chosen in the second team. The teams are:S C TrimbleJ M WalkerJ F C LoxtonA J BaileyC B SmartJ A HunterD S RathieR D LuptonD A TuckwellP J CameronM G MarantaB R StephensenJ C Bell (C)M D ThompsonG J RowellR B PhillipsC E WestawayJ B Dooley (C)D TazelaarJ E BourkeP W DonaldsonC G Rackemannth12 T K Cabanth12 N BelousIn this era it can be argued that the best non chosen fieldsman should be the 12 men. If that were thethcase, the first team’s fieldsman would be S J Paulsen and the second team’s A J Taylor.Sam Trimble was a stalwart for WSDCC and whilst his best years were prior to 1968-9, he still was amagnificent player for the next six seasons. His best shot was the cut shot in which he relished anythingslightly short outside the off stump by even the fastest bowlers. He easily tops the club averages forplayers who have scored more than 1500 runs and gave his utmost for his club when state commitmentspermitted. Sam is the tenth highest run scorer in interstate cricket history with 8647 runs at 39.85. Allexcept Cox have played test cricket. Arguably Sam Trimble is the best batsman in Australia’s 126 yearhistory not to have played test cricket. He toured the West Indies in 1965, topping the tour averages but