Chegwyn Match September 1978

Chegwyn Match September 1978

Featured Image: Acknowledge ‘A History of the Upper Hunter District Cricket Association 1894 – 2013 written by Lindsay Wood OAM

See also: https://sconevetdynasty.com.au/jack-chegwyns-xi-scone-1957/

I wrote earlier of the Jack Chegwyn Xi @ Scone in 1957 (see above). There was return visit in 1978 promulgated in part by my very good friend Bruce Shepherd who played in the 1957 match. See featured image.

The Upper Hunter received another visit from a Chegwyn XI prior to the start of the 1978 – 1979 season.

Back in May 1978 the offer of a visit negotiated by Bruce Shepherd had been “regretfully” declined as it was considered that the only available date would have clashed with the Rugby League grand final and it was felt that “very little interest” would be shown in the Chegwyn match.

However, apparently there was a change of opinion and two one day matches were arraged to be played on the 16th and 17th September at Aberdeen.

The first match was to be against an Upper Hunter side on the Saturday and the second against a Northern NSW team on the Sunday.

Chegwyn’s team was captained by Andrew Hilditch and included Steve Rixon, David Hourn, Steve Bernard, Geoff Lawson, Mark Clews, David Johnson, Bob Vidler, Len Richardson, Geoff Wright and Gary Bensley.

On the Saturday the Upper Hunter team included Tom Morgan, Paul Smart, Glen Simpson, Peter Ball, John Roe, Roger Boyd, Ray Ball, David O’Hara, Peter Fleming, Ken Moore and Geoff Barton.

The Northern NSW team for Sunday’s match had three Upper Hunter players – Peter McCallum, Roger Boyd and Alan Cook; former Upper Hunter player, Les Ritchie from Dubbo; abs seven Hunter Valley players from outside the Upper Hunter – Bruce Whatham, Don Skinner and Ina Hodge (Singleton); Errol Smith (Gosford); Phil warby and Rod Douglas (Maitland); and Garry Gehrig (Dungog).

The Scone Advocate very briefly reported that in the match on Saturday Upper Hunter was dismissed for 66 and the visitors went on to score over 300. Paul Smart in scoring 33 put up “a gutsy display against some of the State’s top bowlers”.

As for the Sunday match it was reported that the Northern NSW team was dismissed for 93 and the Chegwyn team scored over 200.

Authors note: Although the Chegwyn XI might have been considered a ‘development side’ of the day several of the team went on to Test and International status. The bowling attack in particular would rate highly in any era (Lawson/Bernard/Hourn/ Clews)?