305 opening partnership, Dad and Mr Taylor

If Dad was still with us, he’d have loved cricconnect.

He’d have loved the storytelling, reading about the achievement of others and everything to do with sport, not just cricket, in regional and rural areas.

Dad (his name was Bede) was a cricketer of note on the Northern Tablelands of NSW. He played representative cricket well into his forties, and from memory, he played his last game at the age of 53.

He was also a long-time administrator, selector and a coach. He loved coaching and passing on his cricketing wisdom to the younger generation and he enjoyed watching them do well.

Growing up Dad used to talk about some of the players he’d played with and against over many years. He’d speak of their talent, what made them so good and always said there were many great stories and lessons to be learned from sport in the bush.

I remember him talking about the talent of wicket-keeper batsman Keith Smith. He spoke highly of Rene Mullens a fast bowler in Armidale and Graeme Johnson, the local dentist who’d score hundreds on Saturdays.

Dad would speak of many other local cricketers and characters. He enjoyed a beer and talking cricket. He’d speak of Luke Foster, Don Foster, Peter Hutchinson, and Terry Betts and how a young Geoff Wood left Uralla to play cricket in Sydney (played for North Sydney) and return to dominate local attacks for many years.

I remember Dad saying Professor Roy Smith, a big tall left-arm spinner from New England University, was the best bowler he’d come up against.

He knew the value of wiser heads when he arranged for me to visit Alec Eddie, an older wicket keeper of the town. I was 14, Alec probably 60 and it was the best wicket keeping lesson a young gloveman could hope for.

He spoke of growing up listening to the cricket on the radio with family friends and it spurned the dreams of a young David Morrow from Uralla. Dad would have been chuffed to know David is now in the NRL Hall Of Fame as a broadcaster

But the person he spoke of with most fondness was Walter Taylor. 

Walter and Dad opened the batting for Uralla in the Armidale competition before our family moved to Armidale and Dad started playing with St Peters.

From about 1958 and for many years they formed a formidable opening partnership and once shared a partnership of 305 against Waratahs on 27 January 1962. Dad’s 23rd birthday. Walter was 44.

Walter Taylor, a grazier from Kentucky, is considered one of the finest ever batsman from Northern NSW. He represented Armidale, Northern Tablelands and Northern NSW for many decades.

In 1939 he toured Tasmania with the Northern NSW team and in 1958 played for New England against a NSW touring team that included Richie Benaud.

I remember Dad telling me that Richie Benaud was very impressed with Walter as a batsman. At the time I wondered why NSW didn’t pick him. I hadn’t realised he was 40 years of age.

In the season of the 305 opening partnership, Walter scored over 1,000 runs in just 7 games.

With our family in Armidale and Walter on the farm in Kentucky (about 35km from Armidale), I’m not sure how often they caught up or spoke over the phone but when they did, I can clearly recall the respect Dad had for Walter.

Dad was 16 when his father passed away and was left to run the family’s farm also in Kentucky. Given the age difference I don’t know if Dad saw Walter as a father figure or he just developed a great bond and fondness like many great opening batting partners do.

Walter Taylor’s legacy continues to this day as the Walter Taylor Shield is an under 15 carnival played by teams from Sydney and Northern NSW.

On the Armidale Cricket website, Walter Taylor is described as “A Cricketer and a Gentleman”

Dad would agree.