It’s New South Wales Premier Cricket Finals time again, so here is the latest installment of the Sydney 1st Grade Finals Trivia.

Enjoy!! Please leave your comments below.

Sydney 1st Grade Finals Trivia 2018-19

To date there have been 179 known scorers who have scored International cricket in Australia or have been an Australian Scorer overseas. This includes Men’s and Women’s Tests, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.

Of the 179 scorers, 10 have come from the Australian Capital Territory, 44 from New South Wales, 3 from the Northern Territory, 27 from Queensland, 25 from South Australia, 16 from Tasmania, 41 from Victoria, and 12 from Western Australia. 2 scorers have scored International matches while representing both the ACT and New South Wales.

There have been 2586 Scorer Appointments since the first Test Match in 1877. 830 in Men’s Test Matches, 1232 in Male One Day Internationals, 66 in Male T20 Internationals, 70 in Women’s Test Matches, 294 in Women’s One Day Internationals, and 94 in Women’s T20 Internationals.

Of these 2586, there are just 64 missing appointments – 5 in Male Test Matches, 2 in Male One Day Internationals, 8 in Women’s Test Matches, 46 in Women’s One Day Internationals, and 3 in Women’s T20 Internationals. All of the scorer appointments have been found for the Men’s Internationals.

107 scorers have scored Men’s Test Matches, 80 have scored Men’s One Day Internationals, 27 have scored Men’s T20 Internationals, 26 have scored Women’s Test Matches, 46 have scored Women’s One Day Internationals and 37 have scored Women’s T20 Internationals.

Mike Walsh has scored the most internationals with 316, Bill Ferguson is next with 208, then David Sherwood with 113, Tom Lowrey with 107, Judy Harris 99, Rita Artis 92, Kevin O’Neill 91, Ernie Cosgrove and Mike Ringham with 84, then Charlie Bull and Erica Sainsbury round out the top ten with 73.

Of the 179 scorers, 83 have scored 3 matches or less while only 53 have scored 10 matches or more. 10 scorers have scored matches overseas for Australia, the first being Nin Batchelor in 1890 and Merilyn Fowler was the last in 2009.

Below is a list of missing appointments. Those in bold have unconfirmed appointments based on other appointments in that season. Some matches are missing one appointment, some are missing both. Any help tracking down these appointments would be greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow Phil Coe will return to the 1st Grade side of North Canberra-Gungahlin after almost a 14 year hiatus. In doing this he becomes the player with the third highest number of days between 1st Grade matches in ACT 1st Grade history.

The highest is Marcus Cosgrave who played for Western District-UC and had 6230 days between 1990 and 2007. Marcus played 14 matches for Wests in 1st Grade between 1985/86 and 1989/90 and then two matches on his return in 2006/07.

Next is Harry Oldfield who played for Queanbeyan and he missed 5362 days between 1934 and 1948. A mitigating circumstance for Harry was that there was no competition cricket in the ACT between 1940/41 and 1946/47. Harry played for Queanbeyan between 1930/31 and 1933/34 and then between 1948/49 and 1952/53, playing 36 matches in total and also representing the FCT (as it was then known) in 1931/32.

Phil Coe is next on the list with 5095 days. A wicket-keeper, Phil has so far played 60 matches between 1998/99 and 2004/05 but has been a stalwart of the lower grades since then.

Paul Nemes missed 4655 days between 2000/01 and 2013/14 when he played a single match. Phil played his final match for Tuggeranong Valley after playing 148 1st Grade matches in total, three of which were for Queanbeyan. His previous match was for Queanbeyan while his previous match for Tuggeranong Valley was in 1998/99. For days between Tuggeranong 1st Grade matches it is 5390.

Robbie van Aalst missed 4307 days between matches for Western District-UC. He missed 1st Grade matches between 2004/05 and 2016/17, playing 24 matches in his 1st Grade career, 18 between 2002/03 and 2004/05 and 6 from 2016/17 to 2017/18.

Paul Stephens missed 4053 days between 1994/95 and 2005/06 for Norths. He played 65 matches between 1985/86 and 1994/95 for Northern Suburbs and Canberra North Daramalan and played a further two matches for North Canberra-Gungahlin in 2005/06.

The final player with more than 4000 days between matches is Alan Lea. Alan Lea missed 4039 days between 1937/38 and 1948/49. He played 87 1st Grade matches in total for Westridge (1926/27), Canberra (1927/28) and Kingston (1928/29-1937/38 and 1948/49-1949/50). He also played for the FCT between 1928/29 and 1931/32.

Most Days between ACT 1st Grade Matches

6230 Marcus Cosgrave (1990-2007)

5362 Harry Oldfield (1934-1948)

5095 Phil Coe (2004-2018)*

4655 Phil Nemes (2001-2013)

4307 Robbie van Aalst (2005-2017)

4053 Paul Stephens (1995-2006)

4039 Alan Lea (1938-1949)

The 2018/19 ACT 1st Grade Statistical Guide has been released.

Please feel free to leave any comments and/or suggestions.

ACT 1st Grade Statistical Guide 2018-19

Born in 1810, Charles Hipwell was the earliest known born of all Australian Test Match scorers. He was born in Bermondsey in London. Bermondsey is located downstream from Tower Bridge. Like Hugh Kennon, he ran a public house in London, the Running Horse which is still in existence in Mayfair. He lived in Woolwich in Kent and emigrated to Melbourne in the early 1850s. In 1856, he started scoring for the Melbourne Cricket Club which he continued for the next 24 years. He scored most of the major matches in Melbourne during that time, including matches between Victoria and the touring English side in 1863/64 and the match between the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Aboriginal side in 1866. He also travelled as the scorer for the Victorian side to Sydney and Tasmania. Despite being the scorer for the Melbourne Cricket Club, he was not selected to be the scorer for the first two Tests held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. His one and only Test Match was the 1879 Test Match which he scored with William Plummer. In 1867, he was elected as a councillor for the Borough of Prahan and was elected as the Mayor from 1873 to 1874. Hipwell worked at the Carlton Brewery during his time in Melbourne and on the occasion of his golden wedding anniversary was presented with gifts from his workplace where he was “referred to as an old and well respected resident in Prahan.” In 1886, Charles Hipwell passed away at his residence in Prahan at the age of 75. He left a wife, Mary Ann who died 11 years later and three daughters.

Born in Brighton on the coast of England in the County of Sussex in 1837, William Andrew Knight Plummer was also the scorer in first three Test Matches in Australia in 1877 and 1879. He emigrated with his William Plummer was associated with the East Melbourne Cricket Club being on the committee as early as 1861 serving roles such as Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The earliest record of him scoring was in 1865, when he was noted as the scorer for a match between East Melbourne and Ballarat. In 1864, he was elected as a committee member at the inaugural meeting of the Victoria Cricketers’ Association and in 1867 he was elected as Treasurer of the Melbourne Cricket Club. In 1868, he married Eliza Passmore and they had five children over the next 11 years. By 1874, he was associated with the South Melbourne Cricket Club as their umpire.

He worked for the General Post Office as a clerk in the money order branch until 1874 when he was dismissed from office due to a deficiency in his accounts. The matter reached as high as the Victorian Legislative Assembly but by 1876 he was being declared insolvent. His luck changed when he was selected to be a temporary Town Clerk for the Borough of Essendon and Flemington. Throughout the late 1870s and early 1880s, he was elected, most unopposed as the Auditor for the Borough, until 1885 when he was challenged by Charles Arvier who had also scored a Test Match in 1882. Plummer won the vote in 1885 with almost 75% of the vote. Plummer passed away in 1887 at the young age of just 49. He was a long term scorer for the Victorian colonial side, scoring for them from the late 1860s till at least 1880.

Scored the 1st Test match at the MCG with William Plummer. Born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England in 1839. His father was born on the Isle of Man. The second eldest of 13 children, the family emigrated to Melbourne when he was 2. He was a barman at the Black Eagle Hotel in the early 1860s and took over the licence for running the hotel in 1865 from his father, William. He was also manager of the Setting Sun Gold Mining Company. He was the scorer in the first two Test matches but have not found a club he was associated with. He died in 1901 at the age of 61 leaving an estate worth 2,170 pounds.

Following on from my post on 1st Grade Rugby League and Sydney 1st Grade Cricketers. I have a list of 1st Grade cricketers who also represented the Australian Rugby Union side.

• Patrick Carew
• Otto Nothling
• Johnny Taylor
• Neville Emery
• Jack Maddocks
• Saxon White
• Alec Ross
• Percival Penman
• Arthur Mayne
• Alan Walker
• John Solomon
• David Knox
• Eric Tweedale
• Ron Biilmann
• Ward Prentice
• Stephen James

If anyone has any additions or those who have played for their state in Rugby Union and Sydney 1st Grade cricket please let me know.