Brian Wood - Penrith Cricket Club
Wood joined Penrith in the 1979/1980 season, coming from Bathurst and would feature in two Poidevin-Grey games. Before rejoining the Cats full-time in the season of 1981/82, where he would start in First Grade, becoming cap #61. Wood, who was 19 when he arrived at Penrith, would first reside with Bill and Helen Ball in their family home of Leonay, with Trevor Bayliss also living there.
Brian was an opening bat, slight in build and timid like a sparrow. But he was tight technically and had a solid back-foot game which enabled him to use the pace of the ball, nudging and pushing to accumulate heavily. In his first full-time season, Wood was dropped to 2s after a poor start in 1s, where he would score his first 50 for the club.
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A season later, Wood really started to display his talents, bringing up his maiden hundred for the club, ending the season with a hundred in both 2nd Grade and Poidevin-Gray. It was Wood’s 160* in PGs that lives in the memory books at Penrith, though, as this was a part of an unbroken 359-run partnership with Trevor Bayliss (204*) against Sydney, with Bob Clarence describing it at the time as the best performance he had seen by a Penrith PGs team. The team total would end at 1/377.
Teammates loved to gee him up about his lack of heavy hitting, and at lunch, during the record Poidevin-Gray partnership, he vowed: “After I get my ton I’m going to hit a six!” He tried, but everything landed just short; one even hit the fence on the full. Finally, a quick run two resulted in four overthrows and a six in the book—and Woody standing mid-pitch, arms outstretched in triumph.
Wood would spend the next five seasons solely playing First Grade, with his maiden First Grade ton coming in the 1984/85 season, in a season where he would score 724 runs at 45.25. The following season would see Wood join a very small club at Penrith, with that being the only two to score a double century for the Cats. Once again in partnership with Trevor Bayliss, they would set a club record for the 2nd wicket, amassing 287 runs against Balmain, with Wood finishing on 202* and Bayliss on 116*. This would set a Penrith record for the highest individual First Grade score, breaking the previous mark by Steve Small. Trevor Bayliss would then take this record off Wood some years later.
Wood (Right) with Greg Gavin
The 1987/88 season would see Wood get his chance in NSW 2nd XI off the back of two 700+ run seasons. With Bayliss absent on state duties, Wood stepped into the role of First Grade captain on occasion. The 1988/89 season would see Wood float between 1s and 2s.
After that season, Wood didn’t take the field until the 1993/94 season across both 1s and 2s before finishing his Penrith career in the 1994/95 season.
Fleet of foot, his speed, run judgement, and reliability between the wickets were legendary, as was his patrol of the cover region. He didn’t have a strong arm but was ‘run-out aware’. A classic example of that was one day at Howell where his nippiness and clean pick-up created a running mix-up. Woody’s choice? Try for a direct hit on the striker’s end stumps, or throw behind the stumps to the keeper still making his way in. He chose the latter, threw perfectly to the keeper, then watched in amazement as the keeper, ball in gloves, missed with his first swipe at the bails; then, on the turn, missed with his second swipe!
Wood was also a part of the 1982/83 Club Championship won by Penrith.
Wood featured in 11 seasons for Penrith, amassing 5,100 runs at 31.29, including 6 x 100s and 26 x 50s. In First Grade, Wood totalled 3,389 runs at 32.28, with 4 x 100s and 15 x 50s. With a highest score of 202*. Wood also had a single First Grade wicket, with 1/1 during the 1985/86 season.