1975-76: A-Grade Two Day Runner's Up; A-Reserve Grade Two Day Premiers

Notable Gains: Jack Trestrail, David Tilbury, Brian Mair & Tony Scanlon
Notable Losses: John Russell & Cliff Schaefer

One of the longest serving members of Waratahs, John Russell, left the club after 19 consecutive seasons. John was a bastion of the lower grades, playing only one A Grade game. A bowler who looped the ball high into the air, he captured 359 wickets, placing him third on the all time list of wicket takers. In his latter years, he was a keen encourager of the new breed of young cricketers starting in B Grade. On the flip side, the addition of Jack Trestrail and Brian Mair added all round strength to the A Grade and in David Tilbury, the club gained one of its most loyal servants.

There are very few recorded games from the season. The Club Championship was retained and A-Reserves won the Two Day Comp, whilst A-Grade were runners up in the Two Day Comp.

A Grade

Waratahs won all three of the games of the records available of the One Day Comp. Robb College were beaten by 8 wickets, Allan Thompson nearly beating them of his own bat and David Tilbury debuting with three wickets. Ex Services were the subject of revenge as John Donnelly (6-25) disposed of them cheaply. TAS struggled to get a hundred, with Merv Philp and Tom Cooke the best of the bowlers before Terry Betts and Brian Connolly dispatched them by ten wickets. In the Two Day Comp, Hillgrove failed in the first innings at the hands of Brian Joice and David Tilbury and were struggling on the second second day after Graham Johnson made a half century. TAS were in even more trouble, losing seventeen wickets for little after Philp took seven wickets and just avoided the outright.

In the final, St Peters had a day out with, David Mitchell scoring a century. Joice took six wickets. On the Sunday, the batting collapsed to Mark McCann's leg spin. It was the seventh time in ten years A Grade had been runners up, with only the 1971-72 Premiership to show for a decade of dominance.

Allan Thompson (271) led the batting aggregate but Terry Betts won the average (224 & 28.00). Graham Johnson (262) was close to both, whilst Brian Connolly just missed qualifying. Brian Joice returned to A Grade 27 wickets but it was Tom Cooke (20 at 6.35) who picked up the bowling average. Terry Betts took 10 catches behind the stumps.

A-Reserve Grade

Our only match record is the one that counts, the Two Day Final against Churches. Churches batted first, scoring only 80 and Waratahs reply was led by an elegant 82 by Peter Galbraith, spanning Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Trailing by 80, Churches avoided losing outright, limping through the afternoon and being all out close to stumps. David Tilbury with match figures of 7-64 and Bill Kempster 6-33 did most of the damage. It was Waratahs second Premiership in four years after being beaten finalists the previous season.

Graeme Walker (336) won the batting aggregate and Peter Galbraith (297 at 24.75) the average. Syd Philp made 285 runs and Bill Kempster made a century against Uni Vets in February. David Tilbury (38) took the most wickets but Brian Mair (22 at 6.4) had the best bowling average. Captain Ian Davies (22) was also among the wickets. Walker, Philp and Davies all help 9 catches.

B Grade

The one B Grade match result recorded showed Waratahs winning comfortably and Tim Muldoon taking five wickets.

This was a tough season. Only D Peter (136 & 19.4) scored more than a hundred runs and his batting average was twice that of anyone else in the team. Tim Muldoon (25 at 12.7) was the bowling mainstay.