On 20 December 2007 St George Cricket Club and Sydney Cricket Club selected teams from past and present to play for The Tiger Cup at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The match was Sydney Cricket Club’s debut for their social playing division after the formation initiative of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust and the former UTS Balmain Cricket Club. As part of the initiative it was agreed the Club would inherit the black and gold colours of the UTS Balmain Club and at the time its 110 years of Tiger tradition.
Playing for The Tiger Cup, The President of Sydney Cricket Club and Chairman of Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust, Rodney Cavalier wrote:
Bill O'Reilly
The selection of 20 December for this match is not an accident. Today is the 102nd anniversary of the birth of Bill (Tiger) O’Reilly at White Cliffs, NSW, in temperatures that soured above 102 on the old scale. The son of a school teacher, Bill travelled with his family until they settled in the Southern Highlands town of Wingello.
Playing for Wingello in the 1920s against the nearby town of Bowral, Bill O’Reilly encountered a boy wearing pads “that came past his waists”. Although Don Bradman and Bill O’Reilly were to face the best bowlers and batsman in all the world, both attested that the other was the best they would ever face.
In a Test career 1932-1946 his statistics were outstanding. 144 test wickets in his 27 Test matches – 102 of them Englishman – averaging 22.59. On 11 occasions Bill took five wickets in an innings, three times a 10 wicket haul for the match.
No batsman ever dominated O’Reilly. The only test Australian won during Bodyline is ascribed to Bradman’s century when a more sober assessment might note the difference was O’Reilly’s 10 wickets, as again in 1938 his haul at Headingley set up Australia’s only win of that series and the Ashes.
Bill was more than a cricketer. He did not depend on cricket for a living. He missed the 1930 tour because he accepted that his first priority was the children in his charge at Rylstone. He did not ever regret his late Test debut for reason that at Rylstone and thereabouts he perfected his googly.
Bill was one of the great cricket writers. He wrote a column for the Sydney Morning Herald and the occasional match description from the 1940s through to his retirement in the 1980s while continuing his day job. His daily journalism remains a joy to read even if the themes scarcely changed over the decades – the test selectors were mugs, a conspiracy existed at the highest levels against spin bowling, captaincy was over-rated, coaching and coaches have a diabolical influence on players of promise.
A perfectionist with firm views on grammar and the proper use of English, Bill regarded changes to the NSW English curriculum by Dr Harold Wyndham as an outrage against civilization. Nor did Bill entertain nonsense from sub-editors at the Herald minded to change his copy. His books were classics: reflecting the technical knowledge of a master of the game, respect for its tradition, sympathy for players who put everything on the line. Books afforded him the scale to exercise the full grace of his prose. His autobiography, Tiger, is an outstanding account of a cricketer and his times.
He would love this celebration at this Ground he loved above all others. He counted every step he needed to climb in the Noble Stand to gain his seat in the old press box. From there, he was master of all he surveyed. His writings reflected his ownership of the field and all that happened there. What happened to cricketers elsewhere concerned him not.
Rodney Cavalier AO
Players on the Day
Sydney Cricket Club XI
- Jon Moss (former Victorian players) - captain
- Greg Hayne (former NSW player)
- Gavin Robertson (former Australian player)
- Simon Cook (former Australian player)
- Mark Atkinson (former Australian A player)
- Neil Maxwell (former NSW player)
- Rod Tucker (former NSW and Tasmanian player)
- Craig O'Shannessy (current Sydney CC player)
- Richard Colbran (current Sydney CC player)
- Adrian Tucker (former NSW player)
- Alyssa Healy (current NSW player)
- Vilen Sithloo (current Sydney CC player)
St George District Cricket Club XI
- Grame Rummans (former NSW & Victorian player) - Captain
- Geoff Milliken (former NSW player)
- Graham Smith (former NSW player)
- Brad McNamara (former NSW player)
- Paul Ryan (former 1st Grade captain)
- Chadd Porter (former 1st grade player)
- Trent Copeland (current St George player)
- David Moore (former NSW player)
- Steve Green (current St George player)
- Katherine Koschel (current St George/Sutherland player)
- Warwick Hayes ( former 1st Grade player)
The match was drawn after play was washed out early in the afternoon.
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