Farmer and Dobson break club batting record

By Hamish Solomons

We should have all heard about the amazing fightback in 2nd Grade on the weekend. At 5-72 Jono Craig Dobson the pace bowler from Wingham joined the 17 year old wicket keeper and created a partnership for the ages. Young Max Farmer with just a hand full of 2nd grade games under his belt went on to score his first "premier cricket" century and how Jono Craig Dobson went perilously close to scoring a ton

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During the week, the partnership had the St George cricketing nerds of the newly formed St George DCC Historical and Statistical Society reaching for their pencils, calculators and history books to see if the partnership had broken any records.

The verdict is that it looks like they have broken one of the big ones. The highest ever 7th wicket partnership for all grades in the clubs entire history.

Why then is there still a little uncertainty then in the title.

Here's what we know....

The records in the Annual Report indicate that the highest 7th wicket partnership in 1st Grade is 196 by Bill Ives and Harry Waghorn back in the season of 1928-29 where they frustrated the hell out of Northern Districts.

The Annual Reports states for all other grades there has never been a partnership for the 7th wicket for 200 runs or more.

So unless a couple of unlikely Saints managed to put on 199 in its 110 year history for the 7th wicket then Max and Jono have broken a 91 or 92 year old record.

I think it is safe to give a few rewarding high fives to Max and Jono for many reasons but what a wonderful achievement particularly when you take into consideration the fact that Blacktown were on the boil when Jono came in at 5-72 and factor No.2 is that the ground had been top soiled a few days prior. So in essence this partnership was probably worth more.

So here they are added to the list of all-time record breakers: 

1st - 310 S McCabe & L Reynolds Vs Penrith 2005-06 (2nd Grade)

2nd - 309 K Patterson & L Bartier Vs Western Suburbs 2018-19 (1st Grade)

3rd - 285 L Reynolds & M Turner Vs Randwick-Petersham 2008-09 (2nd Grade)

4th - 370* D Bourke & A May Vs Sydney 2015-16 (1st Grade)

5th - 220 K Ferguson & R Rogers Vs Northern Districts 1969-79 (2nd Grade)

6th - 284 C McComb & R Trewartha Vs Western Suburbs 1991-92 (1st Grade)

*7th - 198 M Farmer & J Craig Dobson Vs Blacktown 2020-21 (2nd Grade)

8th - 217 G Matchett & T Laws Vs Mosman 2001-02 (3rd Grade)

*9th - 196 P Wooden & K Pillay Vs UTS-Balmain 2004-05 (1st Grade)

**10th - 114* E Zelma & S Green Vs Hawkesbury 2004-05 (1st Grade)

 

*Unlikely to be a partnership between these scores and 199

**Only able to go from 1st Grade Records (could be higher from a lower grade)

It is likely that the partnership was also the 21st highest 2nd Grade partnership for the Saints with the highest being the 310 that Stewart McCabe and Luke Reynolds set in 2005-06.

So how do some of our Partnerships hold up against the other clubs in the NSW Premier Cricket competition?

Our all-time record of 370 (unbroken) by Damian Bourke and Ashton May is the 3rd highest in history of 1st Grade and the highest 4th wicket tally whilst the 366 that Steve Cazzulino and Ashton May set for the 4th wicket a few years earlier is the 4th highest.

Craig McComb and Ross Trewartha also hold the all-time 1st Grade record for the 6th wicket with the 284 they put on against Western Suburbs.

The 309 that Kurtis Patterson and Luke Bartier scored for the 2nd wicket a few years back is the 7th highest 1st grade partnership for the 2nd wicket but the highest ever Limited Over partnership and the only over 300 it would appear.

Let's hope we can report on a few more great partnerships over the course of the 2020-21 season.