The seed was sown for the idea to pen a few lines following coffee and a chat about cricket.
It was customary for me to call in to Hurstville Oval (home of St George Cricket Club) and partake in a coffee with Taree old-boy Jon Jobson. Cricket and the good old days regularly surfaced in conversation.
Driving home from the caffeine hit, names and memories quickly sprang to mind.
The time I recollect was September, 2010.
My mind was racing faster than an Adam Gilchrist quick single. Within minutes I had ideas for a cover design. Mention Taree and many folk will reply, “The lovely Manning River”. The region claimed a local hero Test cricketer and the game had been played in the Manning for well over a century.
Did we know of Wingham’s great cricketing deeds? Were we aware of more than a dozen double centuries? No! Nor of the bowlers that wove their magic and took ten wickets in an innings. Sporting history hanging by a thread in someone’s aging memory or helplessly fading in flimsy and aging newsprint.
Should we become aware of these exploits? “Yes, undoubtedly,” I answered.
This was enough to go from reminiscing to becoming an author.
Compiling a phone list of names was plan A. This progressed to mail-outs, email and search columns in the press. Names on the “wanted” list were found in Melbourne, Brisbane, Ivanhoe, Gold Coast, Nowra, Booker Bay and Iluka. Darwin, Perth and Bargara (Qld) were also places that satisfied my search for some “history”.
Numerous visits to the Manning led to interviews and photographing ovals and grandstands, along with intense research at libraries and museums. Upper Lansdowne, Harrington, Moorland, Tinonee, Cundletown, Kimbriki, Wingham and Mount George were destinations that brought back memories of the old playing days and villages that provided both fine cricketers and honourable citizens.
Painstaking research has resulted in the statistics within, however it has been impossible to locate every item sought. Disposed of scorebooks and insufficient newspaper reports are common examples of missing information.
These few paragraphs outline the book briefly. The interviews, stories, laughter and hospitality have been one heck of a roller-coaster in this, the first book I have compiled and published. Paramount in my mind was to document “Cricket in the Manning” history as a recorded stepping stone for future generations.
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