Historical Notes

Season 1971-72 Fulham’s final season in Adelaide & Suburban

Season highlights

Fulham’s final season in A&SCA;
Work begins on installing the new turf pitch at Lockleys Oval;
Syd Yates takes 7/39 against Western Districts;
Ian Ralph wins the B grade bowling trophy and Association trophy;

The Season in Detail

The pre-season had seen the decision by the Fulham Cricket Club to end its history of affiliation with the Adelaide & Suburban Cricket Association start to be put into effect. Work was scheduled to begin on a new turf pitch at Lockleys Oval, immediately to the west of the football ground which had been the home of the matting pitch for many years.

Keith (four an over) Tilley was the new captain of Fulham at the temporary new home ground at Underdale High School for the first game of the season. At 1/79, with Phil Bell on 45, Fulham were looking good. The lack of consistent batting depth was soon shown up as the side collapsed for 103, nowhere near enough to hold out Coromandel Ramblers, who declared 27 runs in front. Tilley’s 64, supported by veterans Bracken and Yates, helped Fulham to a good second innings effort. This lifted confidence for the game against Western Districts, again at Underdale. A superb effort by Syd Yates, who captured 7/34, set Fulham on its way and Tilley and Bell put on 75 for the first wicket to enable Tilley to declare. Yates and Ian Ralph both took three wickets in the second innings to leave Fulham a target of 104 for outright victory. Yates three wickets gave him 10 for the match, a wonderful effort for the all-rounder Life Member. Fulham were always on target in the chase, keeper Harradine’s unbeaten 49 seeing them home.

A regulation loss at Kenilworth was a letdown, Carter the pick of the bowlers in an even effort, but the batsmen failed to reach a relatively modest 150. Newcomer Don Cowie had taken 3 wickets in the first match against Ramblers and now added an innings of 58 to give an indication of bigger and better things to come from him over the next few years. He captured another 3 wickets as Barry Ford took four in holding Plympton Footballers (A) to 135. Bracken’s 39 saw Fulham home.

It seemed that whenever Fulham’s confidence grew, their next opponent was South Road. Their bogey side compiled 9/184 at Underdale, Ford and another newcomer, the promising Andris Stelbovics sharing seven wickets. Despite Cowie’s excellent 69 and Yates’ unbeaten 34, Fulham fell just short on 9/162. St Mark’s 200, with Cowie again taking 5 wickets, was also just too much for Fulham’s 175, John Freeman’s 32 the best of an even effort. A bigger loss, to Mitchell Park (A), followed, Cowie again taking wickets and also making runs. The Park’s Gordon Carey made 77 of their 8/244.

Fulham’s inconsistency was again well illustrated against the good Coromandel side at home. Bracken and Wheaton showed out in Fulham’s 7/196. Stelbovics and Carter then ran through Coro’s for only 89. Fulham’s batsmen then folded for only 100 in chasing ANZ Bank’s moderate 144. Carter and Stubberfield, in his first game for some time, each took 3 wickets.

South Road at Edwardstown. South Road 142. Fulham 120. Bracken and Tilley a 61 run partnership, more than half the score. The rest of the batsmen? At least in the past several games, Fulham had been more than competitive in these games, but this was the last South Road v Fulham clash. As so often happened, Fulham finished off the season with two wins. St Marks (H) were comfortably beaten, Bracken and Ford (a half century) making runs and spin twins Carter and Stubberfield taking the wickets. A similar story against Plympton Footballers (H) followed, this time Tilley and Andrew Hopkins making fifties and Stubberfield, Bracken and Cowie sharing the wickets.

The B’s finished seventh under captain Barry McLaughlin. Steve Primer was the leading batsman with 303 runs,while Dean Scott showed he could still play with a dashing 69 not out against Kenilworth. Ian Ralph won the bowling with 36 wickets, which was enough for him to win the Association trophy for the grade. His best was a remarkable 8/15 against Seaton Ramblers.

With only two sides in the Senior ranks, an Under 15 side was fielded and it finished second, with Keith Rainsford again assisting the fathers. The famous Fulham Whites again won the premiership, with a Matthew Rendell winning the batting, being dismissed only 5 times in twelve innings. Grant Dugan’s domination of the opposing batsman continued, with an astonishing return of 72 wickets at 4.2. Figures of 9/19, 7/13 and 7/24 were only a warm-up for the day he took 10/5! This feat was duly recorded in an ‘Advertiser’ article. The leading batsman in the ‘Black’ team was a youndster named Gary Paul. Gary later continued the tradition of the Fulham ‘A’ grade ‘keeper having to be a West Adelaide supporter.

In the final year of A&SCA involvement, Fulham again supplied a good share of players to represent the Association. Scott Allen, Grant Dugan, Mark Winchester and a new player, Trevor Waller (a future ‘A’ grade star and West Adelaide supporting wicketkeeper) made the Under 15 team. Roger Dugan, Gary Hatwell, Simon Holt, Gary Paul, Matthew Rendell and Cameron (son of Cliff) Theiley were chosen for the Under 13 team.

Syd Yates, Don Cowie and Lee Harradine were selected in the Association senior team and the Club commended Neville Bottger and Ian Ralph for their Committee work.

The Lighter Side

The ability of the St Mark’s batsman, dismissed “st Freeman b Harradine” in the second innings of the Round 6 game had to be severely questioned. Harradine was on a roll with the ball at this stage, having taken a wicket in the last game of the previous season. His bowling average was 5. One wicket every five years.
The fathers actually won the Fathers v Sons match.
Mention the words ‘Keith Tilley’ to any player who played under his captaincy and they will respond with the words ‘four an over”. Keith was Fulham’s Les Favell, insisting that his batsmen maintained a scoring rate of four an over. Keith was also a great optimist as a captain. On one occasion, Fulham were chasing an improbable victory target of about 200 and had collapsed to be about 8/90. In response to the vice-captain’s remark that it looked like we were in deep, er, trouble, Keith’s reply was “Yes, we now need nearly seven an over”.

1954 to 1972 – The Best Team?

Selecting the best team from all the players to represent Fulham from 1954 to 1972 is a mixture of easy selections to line-ball judgements. If we split the teams into two periods, it makes it easier to narrow down the selections. After careful consideration, the 1954 to 1963 side lines up as follows (not in batting order):

Keith Webb, Keith Tucker, Keith Tilley, Alan Kemp, Les Patterson, Geoff Williams, Ray Hank, Milton Curnow, Tom Curnow, Tony Neck, Syd Yates

This is a powerful line-up, with eight all-rounders, an excellent keeper-batsman in Williams and batting depth down to eleven.

A team from 1964 to 1972:

Where the 54 to 63 team almost picked itself, 64 to 72 is much harder, with more players knocking on the door. A possible team would come from the following:

Tilley, T Curnow, M Curnow, Harradine, Stubberfield, Carter, Hicks, Ford, Ralph, Freeman, Cowie, Bell, Bracken

1972-73 Fulham’s first foray into the new world of turf cricket

Season highlights

Fulham joins the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association (ATCA) for the first time;
Three sides are fielded in Grade 8, Grade 10 and Grade 11;
The A grade finish the minor round in 4^th position. A tight semi-final with Modbury saw them bow out;
The Bs finished 7^th and the Cs in 6^th.

The Season in Detail

Ridley Grove School was the venue, Cliff Theiley’s old side, Commonwealth Bank was the opponent and Fuham’s first side in Turf Cricket lined up in the following batting order when Keith Tilley won the toss and batted;

Tony Bracken, Lee Harradine, Barry Ford (at 3?!), Don Cowie, Keith Tilley, Andris Stelbovics, John Freeman, Syd Yates, Darryl Carter, Ian Oliver, Geoff Anstis

The feeling was one of nervous anticipation, as the Club had no idea of the standard of Turf Cricket, albeit in the lowly Grade A8. At 1/10, the nerves were still there, but Harradine (44), Ford (39), Cowie (27), Tilley (38) and Stelbovics (43no) all joined in the runfest and the innings eventually closed at Richie Benaud’s favourite number, 222. There was time for only a few overs at the end of the day and the standard of the opposition became a little clearer, 3/8 at stumps. The innings closed the next week at only 40, and the outright duly came with the Bank side dismissed second time around for 144. Darryl Carter enjoyed playing on turf with 7/33 to add to his first innings 2/0.

The Bank were one of the weaker sides in the grade, SHOC were one of the stronger and Fulham found the going tougher against them in the first ‘A’ grade match at Lockleys. All out for 95, Carter and Bracken making most of the runs. Cowie, Carter again and Ford soon bundled SHOC out for only 62. Fulham’s B’s had made only 13 on the Lockleys pitch the game before and now the A’s, batting a second time, could only muster 56, Cowie the only major contributor. SHOC bowler Kavanagh took 6/14. Needing 90 to win, SHOC just got there with the loss of 8 wickets, Ford taking 4/28.

Another Bank team, this time Bank of Adelaide, were next (A) and fared little better, managing only 84, with the wickets shared. Tilley and Stelbovics had a great time, adding 140 for the second wicket, before Tilley declared upon his dismissal for 72, Andris remaining unbeaten on 70. Again the wickets were shared in the second innings, which left Fulham 56 to win. Harradine’s 30 not out saw them home by nine wickets.

Back to Lockleys and Tilley’s 30 (run out, strangely enough) was the backbone of a total of only 112, but Ford, Cowie and Bracken all took 3 wickets, restricting East Torrens to only 61. Cowie’s 37 not out topped off twenties by Tilley, Primer and Harradine, leaving the opposition 193 to win outright when Keith declared. Repeat the first innings, all out 64, Carter 4 wickets, Cowie and Bracken 3 each. This match saw the ‘A’ grade debut of Mike Blackwell. Outright win again. This turf competition was pretty enjoyable.

It happened that Fulham’s first year in Turf cricket was also the first year for two other sides whose progress would parallel that of Fulham’s. The first of these was Hope Valley, the next opponents, at Northfield High School, Fulham with a depleted side due to the unavailability of several players. Barry Ford (5/37) and Don Cowie (4/23) made the use of any other bowlers unnecessary as they dismissed the Valleys for 67. In a taste of the rivalry to come, the Valley opening bowlers copied Ford and Cowie, giving Hope Valley a lead of 11runs!

Apart from 2 overs by Ian Oliver, Ford and Cowie obliged again as Hope Valley managed only 87. Fulham needed 99 to win. This time six bowlers were tried as Don Cowie’s 32 backed up opener Lee Harradine’s unbeaten 42. Another outright.

Edwardstown were easy. Ford took 6/32 to knock them over for 77 and Tilley (48) and the punishing Steve Primer (74no) gave Fulham a lead of 64 when Tilley again declared with only three wickets down. Darryl Carter took 5 wickets as Edwardstown showed more resistance in the second innings, leaving Fulham 71 to win. Six wickets were lost in getting the runs and the Club once again had Tilley’s innings (this time 40no) to thank for yet another outright win.

It was hard to score many against Fulham in the first innings at this stage and Pulteney Old Scholars could only manage 76, the wickets again being shared. After early hiccups at 4/25, Carter and Ford steadied the ship and Stelbovics savaged the bowling for 65, Fulham eventually leading by 93. Three POS batsmen were stumped off three different bowlers as they added a respectable 9/154 to avoid the outright.

Tony Ey had not yet arrived at Fulham when the Club ventured to Flinders Park for the two sides first meeting. It wasn’t a happy one for Fulham, the Parks making 121, Cowie taking 5/25. Fulham found the opening bowlers too good as they crumbled for 83. Daryl Carter, having a great season, destroyed the opposition’s second innings, taking 6/16 and Fulham required 129 to win. The target was never likely and stumps were drawn just in time, with Fulham 8/69.

Tilley and Phil Bell both fell just short of half-centuries as the innings against Woodville South (H) saw the telatively luxurious score of 9/205 posted. Don Cowie underlined his brilliance, capturing 7/16 from nearly 12 eight-ball overs as Woodville managed only 90 in a tedious reply.

The second of the two teams making their Turf debut was Modbury (H). Don Cowie wasn’t just brilliant with the ball as he dominated Fulham’s innings of 162, contributing exactly half, with 81. He then took 3 wickets, but took a back seat to the also brilliant Barry Ford’s 6/22 as Modbury disappeared for 49, the last five wickets contributing 36. What appeared a comfortable outright win was thwarted, in a taste of things to come, by 70 from top class batsman Claessen. Cowie took 4/25.

At 5/50 against Grenfell Mail, Fulham were nervous. They needn’t have worried, as this would have been enough for an innings win! Runs from Tilley and Primer took the score to 134. Grenfell Mail’s Parsons scored 9 in the reply, 50% of the total of 18. Cowie took 2 wickets, Ford was more expensive. He took two wickets in two balls in his first over, was hit around after that and took three wickets in five balls in his 6th and last over, finishing with 7/10. The opposition were much more respectable in their second innings, hitting Ford out of the attack, but succumbing to Ian Ralph’s 3/7. The total – 24. Wouldn’t you like a few fielding days like that boys.

And so to the finals. Fulham had swept nearly all before them during the season, but faced a strong Modbury side in the Semi-final at Lockleys. As so often had happened in their history, the batting failed, despite Tilley’s 27 (six fours). At 8/74, Ford and Harradine (batting at nine) added almost 50, Lee left not out on 31 of 124. the Modbury batsmen fared no better, except for Claessen, and struggled to 9/113. The last pair put on 43, Claessen last out for 88 and Modbury led by 32. In a chase for quick runs, Tilley unsurprisingly decided to open and scored a rapid 43. No one else could match him and the total of 104 left Modbury 73 to win. Tilley used only Ford and Cowie and Modbury again slumped to 5/33, but Claessen saw them home, although with the loss of seven wickets.

After such a successful year, a dreaded Semi-final loss saw the season come to what seemed a premature close. They had won seven matches outright. Promotion to A7 was assured and the team knew they were well up to the standard, if not the standard setters. They were right.

Once again, Tilley had had a splendid season, scoring 461 runs to finish well clear of Cowie’s 290, Harradine’s 287 and Stelbovics’ 272. The bowlers were rampant, Ford’s great return of 52 wickets in a season remarkably being only just good enough to win the bowling from Cowie’s 51 wickets and Carter’s 49 wickets.

The B grade finished the season in 7^th position in Grade 10. D Carr won the batting trophy with 312 runs while the ever reliable I J Ralph took the bowling award with 45 wickets. Carr’s century (100 not out) and T Millar’s hat trick should also be acknowledged.

The C grade finished in 6^th position in Grade 11. A youthful Paul Twible won the batting award with 313 runs

The Lighter Side

There were two interesting innings by number lower order batsmen for the Club during the year. Against Woodville South, Mike Blackwell was not out 19, a watchful innings at an important time. Naturally, his score consisted mainly of singles. 13 of them, plus a six. He must have fancied that particular ball.

Soon after, club legend Dean Scott made a rare, but welcome appearance batting at eleven for the A’s. Result, 24, also including a six.

Season 1973-74 New Kids On The Block Make Their Presence Felt & It’s Premiership Time

Season highlights

Tony Ey & Rob Ashby share a 100 opening stand in their first game for the Club;
Steve Primer wins the Association Grade 7 batting aggregate scoring 505 runs;
Don Cowie wins the Club bowling with 32 wickets (including 8 in an innings);
Spin Twins Daryl Carter & Geoff Anstis prove as formidable as Mallet & Jenner;
Keith Tilley is the only centurion, making 100n.o. against Elizabeth;
Andris Stelbovics takes a hat trick at Teachers College( final figures 3/0);
Phil Williams returns the startling figures of 4/0 from 9.2 overs in the same game;
6 bowlers take more than 20 wickets for the season led by Don Cowie with 32;
Lee Harradine & Keith Tilley both aggregate over 300 runs for the season;

The Season in Detail

The Club’s second year in the ATCA at Lockleys Oval was filled with promise right from the first game. The selection of Ey & Ashby to open the batting (untried) set the old timers talking, but by the end of the game the selectors had grins wider than Spencers Gulf. The 100 opening stand found Ey much more the aggressor scoring 53. Earlier on the first Saturday Paul Twible destroyed the Henley batting by taking 6/11 from 8.6 overs and they were bowled out for 27. Tilley declared the innings closed at 2/122 & by the close Henley were 3/43 the second time around. Rain the following Saturday prevented the certain outright victory.
A one day game at Kensington was again headed in Fulham’s favour when Twible 5/19 & Stelbovics 4/24 bowled out the home side for 61 on a fast hard pitch. However Fulham succumbed to some fine fast bowling by a District interloper and were bowled out for 56, losing 5/8 after Steve Primer was dismissed for 23. Game 3 was against KOCA at Lockleys and although Don Cowie 5/63 & Andris Stelbovics 3/19 bowled very well on a typical Lockleys flat track the opposition scored 191. Steve Primer again led the way with the bat, but was left stranded on 79 as Fulham were bowled out for 178. Mike Blackwell with 24 was the only support, and he also took 3/32 as KOCA threw the bat in the 2nd dig for 3/67 by games end.
Game 4 was also at Lockleys against Adelaide, who batted first (undoubtedly sent in by Tilley) & totalled 145. Cowie 3 wickets & Stelbovics, Carter & Anstis 2 each shared the spoils. It was the Tilley (70n.o.) & Cowie (43) show as Fulham recovered from 4/25 to declare at 5/148 & set about trying to secure more bonus points. Twible 5/19 & 2 wickets each to Stelbovics & Anstis saw Adelaide total only 67 in the second. The 66 required for victory were comfortably polished off thanks to the quick scoring of Primer (37no) & Ey (23no) in an 8 wicket win.
The fifth game was against Modbury at their local High School on a rolled grass excuse for a wicket. Thankfully class always shows no matter what the conditions and a wonderful 56 from Steve Primer with support from Scot Allen (22) & Don Cowie (21) saw Fulham to 156. Cowie soon took advantage of the variable pitch conditions and bowled superbly to finish with 8/18 from 7.1 overs including one of the great ‘caught & bowled’s to send Modbury packing for 39. The second Saturday Phil Williams showed what an asset he could be in taking 6/39 in Modbury’s 2nd innings total of 120. The ever-consistent Stelbovics chimed in with 3 more wickets. The 4 runs for outright victory were only achieved after the loss of 2 wickets.
The last game before Christmas against Elizabeth saw Keith Tilley rescue the side from a precarious 5/38 with an unbeaten 100 in a total of 223. He was superbly supported by a knock of 38 from Daryl Carter in a partnership of 107. Ian Ralph sent down 9 overs unchanged in collecting 6/23 as Elizabeth were bowled out for 53. Andris Stelbovics had taken the last wicket of the 1st innings, and proceeded to achieve an unusual hat-trick by taking wickets with his first two balls of the 2nd innings. At 2 overs 2 Maidens 3/0 Tilley whipped him out of the attack and Daryl Carter completed a fine double by returning the figures of 5/23, as Elizabeth succumbed for 70 the second time around.
No rest for the wicked in the early 70’s as game 6 was played at Hope Valley on 29/12 &5/1. Three wickets to Ian Ralph & 2 to Keith Tilley restricted the home side to 126 on the first day. At 6/32 on the 2nd day it looked dismal for Fulham, but 20’s from Carter, Harradine & Ralph rescued the side and a final score of 115 frightened the life out of the premiership favourites. Game 7 was at Teachers College and upon being invited to bat Fulham reached 6/233dec, with excellent contributions from Harradine(42), Primer (40),Allen (34) & Ashby (27).By stumps the College were in deep trouble at 7/24 after being 4/0, to be all out the following week for 25. In a remarkable bowling feat Phil Williams returned the following figures 9.2 overs 9.2 maidens 4/0. Ian Ralph’s 4/15 looked positively excessive by comparison. A beer at the British was more on everybody’s mind than cricket as the Colleges 2nd innings began and it was not long in coming as Geoff Anstis 5/21 & Daryl Carter 3/19 made a mess of the College bats. Lee Harradine recalls the College no.9 attempting to belt Carter over the top finishing a good foot down the track. When given out stumped he turned to Lee to enquire of the nature of his dismissal.
The next game against Royal Park at Lockleys turned out to be almost a repeat of the College game. Fulham declared at 4/199 after excellent contributions from Primer (53), Allen (51), & Ey (40), and then proceeded to dismiss the Park twice for 83 & 49. Emmett took 4/34 in the first dig, whilst the spin twins Carter(4/14) & Anstis(4/18) again reminded everybody of their inestimable value as a combo. Game 9 at Lockleys again saw Fulham in the runs declaring at 4/216. Lee Harradine led the way with a typically cut & hook 94 whilst Steve Primer was at his elegant best in accumulating 76. Scotty Allen compiled an aggressive 34 to complete the picture. The Salisbury openers put on a comfortable 53 before Anstis struck with of all things an LBW, and this set the tone for a l…..ong 2nd day for the home side, as 30 & 40 run partnerships saw them pass the DECLARED total with 7 wickets down. A bye and one home game to go with a catchable points tally meant perspiring anxiety going into the last minor round game.
SPOC accumulated 152 off 35 overs to set Fulham a decent chase to gain a spot in the final four. Ian Ralph & Geoff Anstis took 3 wickets each to reduce SPOC from 2/103 to its final total. At 2/71 the next Saturday including a fine 30 from Haydn Turner, Fulham looked the goods, but at 9/117 the barrel had changed direction. Phil Williams slammed 23 but it was not good enough, all out 146. How many times have Fulham failed to successfully chase fewer than 200 over the years. $5 a time would see the Club with thousands in the Bank. The nervous wait for results in the Sunday Mail ensued.
A Semi-Final at home (what again?) against Modbury. Why? Played them away in the minor round! Who dreamt up these rules? Who won the toss? Probably not Fulham as we batted first and at 4/42 things were decidedly shaky. But ah! Steve Primer 57 of the best, and with Lee Harradine chiming in with 22, and Andris Stelbovics 21, 4/100 was most acceptable. BUT 9/134 totally unacceptable. But then all out 206 , great stuff. Paul Twible (43no) & Geoff Anstis (30) were the toast of Fulham after that last wicket partnership. By stumps 24 overs had been bowled at Modbury, and at 6/76 they were the ones staring defeat in the eye. It took a further 15 overs on Sunday to wrap up the Modbury innings for 134, with the ever consistent Ian Ralph bagging 3 wickets & Twible, Cowie, & Anstis 2 each. Second time around Fulham were bowled out for 145, Harradine continuing his good form with 37 & Tilley being RUN OUT for 26.
Grand Final at HOME to Hope Valley. Well rules are rules. Before the day however selection drama, who to pick to open the batting, Ey, Allen, Ashby, Turner? God knows what method the selectors used but the A’s got the nod so Allen & Ashby it was with Ey the drinks man. Fulham batted first but Primer (34) was the only upper order highlight and at 9/88 it was all gloom. But that last wicket again provided a much needed boost to the tune of 27 runs. Don Cowie (32) & Ian Ralph (0no), that’s right folks 0, doing the job. Ian Ralph continued his great form with the ball in taking 5/27 & figuring in a run out. Further the only time Rob Ashby ever through a ball from the boundary on the full to the ‘keeper resulted in another run out (thanks to a blind umpire). Thus Hope Valley succumbed to be all out for 102. By stumps Fulham were 1/13 with Harradine & Ashby the not out batsmen the second time around, with the match far from over. Approximately 30 overs and 2 hours into Sunday’s play and Harradine & Ashby were still at the crease, having worked out brilliantly which bowler each should be shielded from. Ashby was 1st out for 31 with the score on 66, Harradine however continued on to notch up a well deserved 50 to be out with score at 6/109. The rest of the batting was brittle and the side was bowled out for 128, thus the lead was 141 with 30 overs to be bowled. Approaching 6 o’clock and 27.5 overs later it was caught Harradine bowled Ralph, Hope Valley all out for Nelson (111), and Fulham were Grade A7 PREMIERS. Anstis 3/8 & 2 wickets each to Ralph, Twible & Carter told the story bowling wise. Sunday night celebrations & on presentation night at the Newmarket Hotel on West Terrace were remarkable for a number of firsts, which each player can probably still recount.
The B’s were in grade 10 and acquitted themselves well. The Association year book records that they finished 6th with 50 points. Grant Dugan was the only player mentioned in the handbook as having taken a very respectable 35 wickets @ 8.02, which included 10/39 in one game. Additionally a very young Bruce Gepp showed that the rumours of his genuine pace & ability were well placed by taking 7/8 & 6/13 in one game.
The C’s competed in grade 12 on hard wicket and finished a very creditable 2nd at the end of the minor round. Again no batting was mentioned in the yearbook, but Gepp & Roger Dugan had excellent seasons taking 34 & 32 wickets respectively. Their bowling averages of 6.5 & 9.2 were just a tad acceptable also. Given Bruce’s foray into the B’s, his efforts were all the more meritorious. Further to this both Bruce & Roger took 7 wickets or more in an innings, being 8/22 & 7/19 respectively. It’s no wonder Roger went on to a successful career with West Torrens & South Australia, & Bruce beacme one of the leading wicket takers for Fulham. The semi-final was unfortunately forgettable, the side being beaten outright by Brighton – 151 to 54 & 89. For Fulham, Gard made 34 & Roger Dugan took 5/38.
No junior grade was nominated.

Season 1974-75 The New Boys Gepp, Munro & Fletcher Inspire Another Grand Final

Season Highlights

Scotty Allen hits 109 against Kilburn & heads the batting aggregate with 473 runs;
John Fletcher takes 5/9(Glenelg) & 5/20(Old Collegians) to tie the aggregate wickets with 42;
Paul Twible takes 5/14(Adelaide) and plenty more to tie Fletcher over the season;
The A’s win 8 in a row in their run to the Grand Final;
Rob Ashby plays in two Grand Finals in the season (A’s & B’s) but both are lost;
Tilley is left stranded on 99 as the overs run out in a one dayer;

The Season in Detail

The first game was a replay of the prior Grand Final against Hope Valley at Hope Valley and despite 5/39 from Daryl Carter the home side reached 171. The following week Fulham introduced a new opener to accompany Scotty Allen by the name of Andrew Hopkins and a stylish 32 runs later out of an opening stand of 46 and there was an optimistic mood in the camp. However with Allen’s dismissal for 37 with the score on 82, the now famous Fulham middle order collapse ensued. This time there was no support from the tail, so all out 100 was the sorry tale. (8/18 is a collapse of Pom proportions). Fletcher & Ralph 2 wickets each in a 2nd innings of 7/108 by Hope Valley was a sign of the consistency to come.
Due to rain a one dayer at Lockleys against a poor Marine & Harbors was easily won by Fulham. Paul Twible 3/14 & another 2 wickets each to Ralph & Feltcher saw the opposition out for only 64. Allen, Gross & Harradine all scored 20’s as Fulham cantered to 2/87 when play was called off. The 3rd game against Kilburn was a Fulham run fest at Blair Athol. Scotty Allen’s wonderful 109 was the highlight with great support form Tilley(54) & Brian Munro(29no) in his first game for the club. 6/250dec. was always far too many for Kilburn, with Twible 3/11 off nine, and 2 wickets each to (you guessed it) Ralph & Fletcher & also to Munro, 115 was all they could muster. Second time around the leggies of Munro (6/69 off 15 overs) & 3 MORE to Ralph saw Kilburn out for 139. Oh so close to the deserved outright.
Chasing mediocre tallies has never been a Fulham strength, and so it was AGAIN against Woodville Rechs. in a one day game. 3/35 to Paul Twible & 2 to the young (the very young) Bruce Gepp saw Rechs. restricted to 6/140 at Lockleys. An opening stand of 56 form Harradine & Hopkins (a classy innings of 40 ) was a great start, BUT after Tilley got out (caught in front of square leg AGAIN) with the score at 3/82, this time it was the loss of 8/17, all out 99.
The outright win against Old Collegians at Tregenza was the start of a remarkable run for the side of 8 wins, 6 of which were outrights including the semi-final. After an early struggle (3/22), Munro (56) & Gross (35) put on 84, before the next collapse (7/39) saw the side out for 145. Twible, Gepp & that man Ralph again each got 3 wickets as Collegians were rolled for 64. Scotty Allen (42) and 20’s to Gross, Hopkins, & Munro enabled Fulham to declare at 5/124. 205 was always too many for Collegians as yes Ralph & Fletcher 3 wickets each again, & Munro 2 saw them out for 139.The 6th & last game before Xmas was against Glenelg at Lockleys and it was almost an outright again. The first Saturday saw Tilley (76no),Ey (37),Nick Dyki (32 in his first A Grade game) slay the attack to finish with 5/221declared off 44 overs. After being 4/14, Glenelg did well to recover to 126. John Fletcher tore through the middle order & tail to finish with 5/9 off 3.6 overs. A masterful 50 from Andrew Hopkins allowed Fulham to declare at 2/97 from SEVEN OVERS. The bowlers sent down 30 overs but at 7/82 Glenelg held out. Twible & Munro got 2 wickets each.
The new year started with a bout of Fulham’s own fireworks as they compiled 6/299 off 35 overs at Scotch College against Sturt. Tilley reached 99 with a 2 off the last ball of the innings with 68 in boundaries. Great support from Scotty Allen (77), Steve Primer (46), & Paul Twible (45no), assured the continuance of the frenetic pace. Sturt were never in the hunt thanks to Ian Ralph 4/30 & 2 wickets each to Phil Williams & John Fletcher. The Gilles Plains High School wicket contributed to the 40 wickets for 338 runs over the 2 days of game 8. Batting first, 20’s to Munro, Twible, & Fletcher saw Fulham muster only 118. However 3 wicket each to Twible & Fletcher & 2 to Phil Williams saw Adelaide out for only 65 in reply. This was definitely Paul Twible’s match. With Fulham reeling at 7/50 he carved out a hard hitting 35 not out and whammo! The lead is 154. (ie Fulham all out 101). Adelaide failed to match its 1st innings total by 1 run, being bowled out for 64 in the 2nd. In the bowling department, (you guessed it) Twible 5/14 from 8 overs, backed up by 2 wickets each from Williams & Munro.
Game 9 & the Postal Institute posted a 1st innings total of 119. Three wickets each to Twible (again) & Fletcher were the main contributing factors to the mediocre score. The 1st wicket fell at 29, and then (no not the mandatory collapse), Scotty Allen (49no) & Steve Primer (46), enabled Fulham to declare at 2/120. Postal took up the challenge and moved quickly to 4/133 before declaring. Munro was the only multiple wicket taker with 2. The target of 133 proved easy meat as first Tilley (26), followed by Primer (30no) & Twible (that name again) 23, savaged the attack to haul in the target off only 14.6 overs. Woodville at Lockleys could only manage 84 with 10 men, thanks to Twible 3/31 & 2 wickets apiece to Ralph & Munro. The run outs of Hopkins & Allen saw Fulham plummet to 3/17, however captain Tilley soon steadied the ship with 36 which enabled him to declare at 4/91. In 4 overs before close on the first day Woodville lost 2/5, and thanks to Twible 3 wickets & Fletcher, Munro, & Ralph 2 each, they were all out for 68. Hopkins & Allen both got 20’s as Fulham cruised to a 9 wicket 3rd straight outright win.
The final minor round game was again a cakewalk as PAOC could only muster 58 & 100 in its innings. Bruce Gepp’s 7 wickets for the match again showed his great promise & pace, whilst Ian Ralph showed there is no substitute for guile with 5 match wickets. Scott Allen (32),Steve Primer (27 retired) & Brian Munro were the run scorers over the 2 innings in a soft warm up for the finals.
The semi-final was a non-event although only John Fletcher (65) & Steve Primer (58) passed 20 with the bat as Fulham accumulated 188 batting first. It has to be said that witnessing these two elegant batsmen together was a real treat, only spoiled by Fletch’s decidedly cumbersome running between the wickets which got slower as the partnership wore on (ie 7 of the last 9 scoring shots were singles). 24 overs later Collegians were all out for 49. Fletcher again to the fore on the 2nd day totally dismantling the middle & lower order with 5/20; mind you Paul Twible had opened the door slightly with 4/11 off 11 overs. John Fletcher & Ian Ralph took 3 wickets each as Collegians were asked to follow on, and for some odd reason declared at 9/66. (Perhaps they thought it avoided the outright).
The Grand Final was a repeat of the previous year, except that the rules had been changed yet again, and Hope Valley having finished minor premiers got the home ground advantage. The toss was & still is shrouded in mystery. Who won it & what decision did he make? The wicket was decidedly damp, so the winner would surely have bowled & yet!!!! Anyhow Ashby got a recall for only his 3rd game for the year in the A’s (the selectors obviously had visions of a prior year repeat), but at least this time Tony Ey got a start. After 15.6 overs and with only Steve Primer getting to double figures Fulham had been rolled for 38. Hope Valley lost its 2nd wicket at 38 and proceeded to make 169. With the ball Gepp, Fletcher & Munro got 2 each. By stumps Fulham had got to 2/35 in the second with rain forecast for the following day. And so it turned out; drizzle by mid morning, steady rain by 2 o’clock. Match abandoned due to rain reads the scorebook. And about that TOSS???
Runners-up, promotion guaranteed, Ralph 38 wickets, Munro 28 & Gepp 17(promising lad that) supported Twible & Fletcher (see above) in the bowling stakes; whilst Tilley (370), Munro (318), & Primer (257) are best with the bat. A splendid year.
Grade 10 for the B grade and what a good year it proved to be. Runners up at the end of the minor round with 78 points (just 2 behind Hope Valley) under the captaincy of Bill Gardner-F. Nick Dyki & Trevor Waller headed the batting with 342 & 314 respectively. The bowlers also did their bit with Andris Stelbovics 42 wickets @ 6.6 leading the way, and Brucey Gepp (34) & Barry McLoughlin (34) in splendid support. Gepp’s average was a startling 5.8. Barry McLoughlin did a rarity by taking 10 wickets or more in a match TWICE.(6/31 & 4/21 and 7/25 & 3/27. Not to be outdone Brucey chimed in with 5/32 & 5/31 in one game. Haydn was not to be left out by taking 7/18 in an innings.)
The semi-final was mainly the bowlers match as Andris Stelbovics skittled Ferryden Park for 103 by taking his own 7 wickets in an innings for 32 runs. No batsman had made more than 30 for Fulham in batting first but 145 was comfortably enough in the end. The Grand Final was washed out on the first weekend, and the A’s having already lost, a permit was sort and granted by the ATCA for Rob Ashby to play despite the fact he had been promoted to play in the A Grade Grand Final (apparently a unique first for the club & unlikely to be repeated). Fulham lost the toss & were sent in on a damp pitch. Not even the presence of Ashby, Trevor Waller, Nick Dyki or Dean Scott could get Fulham more than 102, as only Nick Feltos (22) passed twenty. With Andris Stelbovics & Haydn Turner unavailable the bowling onus fell onto the shoulders of Grant Dugan & Barry McLoughlin, supported by Phil Williams. With the pitch drying out 102 was never enough & Hope Valley went comfortably past to finish @ 6/124. Dugan was the best bowler with 3/24.
With Don Cowie mainly unavailable for the higher grades and a good spread of promising juniors the C Grade were always going to be in with a shout. And so it was. Minor Premiers, the side cantered into the semi-final. As with the B’s the bowling was the strength as Cowie finished with 45 wickets in also winning the Association bowling for the grade. Mark Emmett was one of those promising juniors in support, and in one game collected 7/7 & 6/46 with his medium-fast deliveries. Cowie also was not outdone collecting 7/36 in an innings. No batsman finished with reported figures in the yearbook.
The semi-final was filled with expectation, but finished in disappointment. Don Cowie did the double, taking 3/64 in Grenfell Mail’s 262 all out, and making 64 in Fulham’s reply of 180.