1956-57 "First Building Phase" : B Grade semi-finalists

NOTABLE GAINS: John Carr, Gordon Lee, Bruce McClenaghan, Tony Morriss, Bill Nixon, John Russell, Arty See, Eric Smith, Roy Smith, J Walsh & Geoff Whitton
NOTABLE LOSSES: Norm Buckley, Laurie Cooper, P Morse, Milton Milligan & Ray Rose

With the future very much in mind, the 56-57 season opened with two Waratahs teams thanks to the addition of a solid core of eighteen players, most of which played often enough to be called regulars in this new B Grade team - at that stage, the second level of competition offered by the New England Cricket Association. Led by the experienced Hugh Ferris, it unearthed two stars who would make a major contribution to Waratahs in the coming ten years. J Walsh and Tony Morriss proved to be capable of big performances and along with Ferris himself, their broad shoulders carried the team. In A Grade, there were losses and gains. Don Paul, Brian Richardson and Vic Snell played only a few games, with Snell taking no part until the final two games. Laurie Cooper left to play for Wests and Norm Buckley went from a seed into an Acorn. However, on the plus side, brothers Eric and Roy Smith joined Waratahs and were hefty contributors with bat and ball. Ross Ridley and Alan Gray were as consistent as ever and Doug Johnstone probably had his best season with the bat.

A Grade
Apart from a few notable exceptions near the tail end of the season, this was a side that could and did consistently make good team totals. It was a drier summer, which helped but the batting seemed much strong and the list deeper. The season started on a winning note against DLSC, for despite struggling with the ball and dropping seven catches, Waratahs was able to chase down 179, with Doug Johnstone (62) and John Richardson (51) both batting well. Pat Ryan took six wickets as DLSC hung on long enough second time around to prevent an outright loss, despite Ross Ridley's (44no) scorching second innings. We have incomplete scores for the next game against Uralla but Walter Taylor maintained his big hundred habit and the first day ended with a long way to go, even though Eric Smith (6-34) had bowled immaculately under fire. A similar problem for the game against University, although we do know that Ross Ridley made a breezy 89. Churches were beaten outright but Easts overcame us in a tight game with only eleven runs deciding a game where both side score freely to go past 200. Don Paul got 4 wickets in his last game of the season and Doug Johnstone (47) top scored. In the last two games before Christmas, Acorns won easily after Waratahs had a first innings batting collapse and Wests rolled up 198 with Wally Miller scoring 110 but the second day was lost to rain.

Straight after Christmas, Waratahs won confidently against Rugby League, one of the gun sides of the competition. The Brothers Smith, Roy (5-41) and Eric (4-12) rolled RL for only 106 on a perfect batting wicket and Waratahs batsmen just about doubled that thanks to another Johnstone half century and runs froms the Smiths. Batting a second time, Ron Madden (99) was unlucky as he led RL to 208. Waratahs chased hard - almost too hard - but fell nearly thirty short but with eight wickets down and Johnstone again top scoring. The young Uralla blokes, The Rovers, won a low scoring tussle outright after Waratahs led on the first innings. Alan Gray made 46 in a second innings total of only 79 and Roy Smith took eight wickets for the match. Runs were back on the board against the full strength Uralla side when rain took the second week with Waratahs 4-142 after Walter Taylor (116) made yet another century in Uralla's 195. Rugby League were beaten again, after being routed on the first day by Roy Smith's 7-31 and then having Ross Ridley smash seven 6's in his 106, including one to raise his century. On the second day, RL recovered to post 194, with Ron Madden (95) again being the mainstay and missing centuries in consecutive matches against Waratahs. Chasing 81 for the outright, only Alan Gray got going and the team had to be content with first innings points. Outright points were gained in the next match, a thrashing of Acorns. Waratahs declared at 5-220, with Erich Smith, Gray, Ross Duncan and Johnstone scoring well. Acorns had two innings and still didn't get there, with Roy Smith taking nine wickets and Vic Snell claiming 4-12 in his first match of the season.

Waratahs failed to make the semi-finals and played two games whilst the finals rounds were on. Against Easts then lost by eight wickets outright a match in which their second innings 117 was the highest score. Only Gray showed form. Their season concluded with a one day match against Churches in which they lost handsomely on the first innings.

Ross Ridley (434) was the leading run scorer, which included only the second Waratahs century in seven years of competition. Eric Smith (336 at 33.60) had the best batting average by the narrow margin over Ridley. Alan Gray (291) and Doug Johnston (283) also passed the 200 mark. Eric Smith (45 at 10.64), was the leading bowler in his first season and brother Roy Smith (40 at 13.13) wasn't far behind. Only Pat Pyan took more than ten wickets. Amazingly, thirty five players made appearances in A Grade during the season.

B Grade
In a competition that was played as all one day games, there was plenty of opportunity for new blood in a week in, week out format in which each team batted and bowled.

Waratahs made their highest run total of the season (204) in beating Acorns in the first game. Tony Morriss (5-28) starred with new ball and G Whitton, J Walsh, John Dickson and Arty See scored runs. Hugh Ferris made runs and Morriss took wickets in a comfortable win over TAS and Ferris top scored in both innings of a loss to DLSC. Morriss took 6-37 in a losing side against Hillgrove but there was improved batting fortune as Walsh hit an unbeaten half century in a rain marred draw against Easts, supported by D Gratton. It was Ferris (44) and Morriss 6-34 in a close win against Dumaresq. The Teachers College then crushed Waratahs in a match they may have lost outright had it not been for Ferris' second innings steadying. Another loss just before Christmas to Dumaresq was tempered by Walsh's fine all round performance (4-49 & 51x).

The six weeks after the competition resumed in January were Waratahs best of the season, with five wins in six matches. The run started with a nail-biting seven run win over Rugby League, with Tony Morriss (6-30) again the star. Rockvale were the one blip on the radar, when future Waratahs batsman Greg Russell 61x, countered Walsh's season high 80x. Public Service were beaten by only ten runs, Ferris and Walsh among both runs and wicket. Ferris' 6-18 included a hatrick. Easts were beaten comfortably at Race Course 3 with R Turner top scoring in one of only four games he played. Rockvale were knocked over easily, with many contributing and Acorns were rolled for just 25 and were probably the most decisive win of the season. Morriss (6-6) was at his best.

From there it was a topsy turvy with the batting proving too reliant on a few and the same could be said of the bowling. As Morriss went off the boil, sides became much harder to get out. The run home was started with a loss to Easts in which Walsh made 40, a comfortable win against TAS in which Ferris made 69x, a loss to Hillgrove and a win against Public Service. This first season of multiple grade petered out with two more losses (DLSC & Rockvale) and final match tie against University as the final was played between others.

There was no doubt who the absolute star performer was by season's end. J Walsh (532 runs at 28.00and 27 wickets at 12.30) won the batting average and was more than handy with the ball. Hugh Ferris (561 runs at 26.71 and 23 wickets at 7.48) was the leading run scorer and had the best bowling average. Tony Morriss (59 wickets) was the leading bowler and R Marshall (27 wickets) was the other consistent bowler. The truly amazing statistic from the batting of this side is that apart from those named above and R Turner who played only four innings, only Arty See and D Gratton averaged over 10. Eighteen players appeared in B Grade in 1956-57 and twelve of them batted 13 or more times with the great majority of them averaging under seven runs per innings. This also may have been the side who recorded the most ducks in a season, 70 in all, with Max Nixon and John Dickson leading the way with 8 ducks each. Dickson, in fact, added another in an A Grade game to give him 9 for the season!