Slashing Through the Cordon: The Kiama Cricket Podcast

On today's long-overdue return episode of Slashing Through the Cordon, we discuss the issue of umpiring in cricket, in particular the occurrence of the square leg umpires that come out and do the job when their team is batting. In a sport that is so overregulated and so over umpired at the highest levels in this day and age, with technology and video reviews and pitch maps and actually attempting to follow the rules, it is still a quaint part of lower grade cricket that games are self-umpired, and that people expect that these games will be played under the laws of cricket with completely unbiased decisions. This episode offers three stories from my own experiences in my early days of grade cricket, and will now doubt give everyone a chance to recall their own experiences of the same. That's coming up on today's edition of Slashing Through the Cordon - the Kiama Cricket Podcast.

When it comes to talking about the history of cricket in the Kiama region, it would be remiss to bring up the name of a man who did not play for the Kiama club, but was a trailblazer in the forerunner to the current south coast competition, the Kiama District Cricket Association. Edgar Emery, also known as Gerry Emery, is an icon of the Gerringong Cricket Club, arguably that club’s finest ever player, whose name now adorns their home ground. His record speaks for itself, and even casual readers of local cricket history know his name and vaguely are aware that his exploits on the cricket field bear mentioning. Now while dissecting and retelling his life and cricketing career would take much longer than most would like to spend, what I will be doing on today’s podcast episode is having a short discussion on one particular season, a season where Emery’s wonderful batting skills shone like a beacon in a year where the world overseas was reaching a dangerous crescendo. So for everyone who is aware of the name, but perhaps not why you know the name, please hang around as I fill in a few of those blank spaces on today’s episode of Slashing Through the Cordon, the Kiama Cricket Podcast – with a Gerringong flavour.

Today's episode is dedicated to the memory of Greg Chambers, who sadly passed away last week at the age of 53. Many people around the Kiama district would know of Greg, but it is his cricketing exploits that are fondly recalled by members of the Kiama Cricket Club. This episode will offer some of the best moments from Greg's cricketing, both for Kiama and in his junior representative days.

On today's much delayed episode, I take you through the career of Alexander Gordon, who played for various clubs in and around Kiama from the earliest days of recorded matches all the way through until 1880. It is a career that faced some controversial moments, as well as matches of the highest calibre. It is an episode where I will hopefully show you that Alexander Gordon should be considered the first of Kiama's great cricketers, and bring to life a cricketer that most of you will have never heard of.

In April 1879, the Kiama United Cricket Club took on the visiting Clyde Cricket Club at Church Point in a match that for all intents and purposes played out as most other cricket matches do, until the game took a turn late in the day. It was at that point that it became less about cricket and more about pushing the laws to their limits. Today's podcast explores the actions that occurred in that strange but interesting match.

In the three Ages of South Coast Cricket, the one I haven't started talking about yet is the Second Age, when the first organised competition was formed. Not many people know that initially Clubs from the South Coast actually participated in a version of the Illawarra competition. Today I go back to 1910-11, when Kiama delegates formalised an agreement to become a part of the IDCA, and clubs first competed against each other for a cricket premiership for the first time.

In this week's episode, with the SCDCA T20 competitions having begun in earnest, we have a look back at what shorter forms of the game existed in the South Coast District in years past, before the BBL and T20 cricket took over the cricket world. We also check out the scores from Kiama's start to the T20 season, and wonder aloud just how far they can go this season in this form of the game.

Ever had a day on the field where you dominated the match, destroyed the opposition and won the game for your team? Bill Longbottom, one of the greatest players ever to pull on the baggy blue and gold cap, had many of them. Today we bring you the story of just one of those days. As well as this, we catch up with how our junior teams have travelled so far this season as they break for the Christmas New Year period.

It's always good to win your first, especially in a new competition. Back in 1948 Kiama managed to do this in the 1st Grade competition. But back in the days when the finals were timeless and played to its conclusion, there can be some special moments. Come and listen to a match which mightn't have had the most exciting conclusion, but was remarkable for its own reasons.

Back in the first ever season of the S.C.D.C.A, Kiama 2nd Grade met up with Jamberoo 2nd Grade to contest the final and play for that first Premiers title.  In a match over three weekends, with countless runouts, serious injury and playing two men short, could Kiama beat the odds and find a way to win the game, especially down to their final wicket and still needing 56 runs to win?

In a dystopian future 2020 - which already seems like a massive overstatement - where Covid-19 has wiped out every organised sport in existence, there needs to be a plan set in place for cricket to survive. Not unlike The Goodies did in their wonderful episode 2001... And a Bit, Daniel Reilly joins me to discuss the formation of the Kiama Premier League, and how such a competition could be the saviour of the game... in our municipality at least. Following this, Dan enlightens us with how much he can remember about what he likes about cricket when he has drunk all of Bill's beer.

Everyone wants to have a connection to the higher echelon of Australian cricket, and when you find that connection it can be a little exciting. Here are two stories from 1873 and 1896, where Kiama not only gave their all against two leading cricketers who played significant roles in the first ever Test match in 1877, but also found a Australian Test captain metaphorically pulling on the baggy blue and gold and leading the way for the Kiama team. Another episode for the cricket history buffs.

With this season marking the 75th season of the South Coast District Cricket Association, we travel back in time to see what happen to cricket during World War II, and how the vision of several men changed cricket on the South Coast forever. Discover what came before, and how it was able to merged into the Association we now know.

This week we interview new 1st Grade captain Zac Parker about how he sees the season ahead, and his plans for the 1st Grade team in 2020/21. Then we hit him with the really tough questions in the first edition of This or That.

The 2nd episode has dropped. Who would ever think we would get this far? On today's edition we journey back to 1854 and 1860 to investigate two matches from the earliest days of Kiama Cricket and discover that controversy never seems to stray far from the clubs core. Then we have an interview with the club Bowling Machine, and ask whether the Kiama players have got anything to offer and ageing and creaking device.

In the boredom of a pandemic winter, one cricket tragic comes up with a weird and unoriginal idea... lets pass the time doing a podcast! Why did he think anyone would be interested in listening to anyone talking about the Kiama Cricket Club? Hell, even I dont know and I'm writing this!