On 18 and 19 January 2010, the Primary Club hosted its first ever Marathon Cricket event at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Over 520 players and umpires participated in 30 hours of cricket, commencing at 7am and playing through to 10pm. The event was so successful we are hoping it becomes a regular event on our schedule.
“Not only did we introduce the concept of what the Primary Club is about to 500 more people, we witnessed them all playing in a game of a lifetime!” said President Jim Maxwell.
Players entered as teams, each team playing in a Twelve/12 match for either the President’s Team or the Twelfth Man’s Team. That’s 40 teams, 20 matches over the two days, each match lasting about 90 minutes. Special rules about over rates and wickets ensured we kept to our timetable. Richie Benaud’s team won the event scoring a net 1,144 runs, versus Jim Maxwell’s team 1,054 runs. However, Jim claims his squad will extract revenge at the next outing, hopefully in January 2011.
Two other charities helped in the organisation of the two days – Cure Our Kids (Westmead) and Aspect (Autism Spectrum). We had over 70 volunteers actively running around during the event: organising teams, managing the equipment, hosting VIPs and sponsors, running games for kids, and so on.
The evening of the 19th January culminated in a celebratory dinner, MC’d by Honorary Vice President Mike Coward, when amongst other things we shared in the 88th Birthday party for Arthur Morris MBE. SCG Chairman, Rodney Cavalier AO, gave the keynote address and praised Arthur for his brilliant cricketing career, his stylish batting technique and his contribution to the game over the decades since he retired from playing. Rod reminded us of Arthur’s 196-run innings at the Oval in 1948, a game most remembered for Bradman’s last Test Innings ‘duck’. Arthur, also an Honorary Vice President of the Primary Club, was leading run-scorer on that tour, amassing 696 runs in five Tests.
Richie Benaud OBE welcomed everyone to the Dinner and acknowledged the fine effort that the Marathon Organising Committee under Jim Winchester’s leadership had put in. Richie had spent several hours during the Tuesday afternoon meeting and chatting to players, umpires and volunteers, to say nothing of the countless signatures and photo opportunities he graciously offered.
Jim Maxwell also acknowledged the sponsors who, together with the players and umpires, helped the Club raise over $100,000 for our disabled sports charities.
The Primary Club would like to thank our partners and sponsors of Marathon Cricket who were essential to the success of the event.
Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust
NSW Cricket
NSW Government: Media Release can be found at http://www.communities.nsw.gov.au/assets/pubs/media/sportrec/100118_marathoncricket.pdf
Cisco
Telstra
Efficient Data Communications
Canterbury Bankstown Leagues Club and the Bulldogs
Ray White and Loan Market
Colonial First State
Humbleton
Coca Cola Amatil
Nestle
Linfox
P&N Beverages
Screencorp
