Gympie Cricket Legend Number 9 - 'BIG' JOHN McCLINTOCK

John McClintock aka 'Big John'

The Legends of Gympie Cricket would not be complete without celebrating the career of Big John McClintock. An irrepressible match winner who could turn a game on its head with his audacious stroke play, he will forever be a favourite teammate to many due to his resolute leadership especially in a crisis. Big John's batsman-ship probably wouldn't appeal to the purists eye but wow could he play, the power of his stroke play with a simple flick of the wrists was unbelievable. His signature shots included thrashing pullshots, thumping straight drives and power laden backfoot punches through the offside field. Never one to let a bowler dictate terms he destroyed many bowling attacks by combining his signature strokes with the more outlandish ramp and sweep shots he regularly implemented against the fastest of bowlers, much to their dismay. As the most prolific century maker with an astonishing 13 centuries in the 68 year history of Harlequins Cricket Club, he can feel satisfied after being told on debut by an opposition Valleys player 'you will never make it in A-Grade young fellow' following his dismissal for 14 which typically comprised of 2 fours and a six. To John's credit he never shied away from his aggressive approach to batting and despite the early doubters he successfully transitioned to higher levels of cricket punishing the best representative attacks throughout both Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast regions. Even at the age of 43 he managed to score a century in Sunshine Coast 1st division fixtures, 118 against the Tewantin Noosa Thunder in the 2004-05 season and to top it off scored his last A-Grade century of 141 for Harlequins against Valleys aged 50.

Of the many great innings Big John played two in particular stand out in his mind. The first being an innings of 52 not out in partnership with Craig Whittaker for Valleys in the 1994-95 Grand Final which clutched victory from the jaws of defeat against Wests in the last session of play. The second an innings of 111 not out against Wests in December 1984 in which he shared a double century partnership with Ken Mahoney 120 not out. In this particular match Harlequins were in a hopeless position of 3 down for not too many at the 3pm drinks break after Wests had nearly batted for a day and a half. Big John and Ken Mahoney were under strict orders from Harlequins Skipper Darryl Fink to play for a draw but in typical Big John fashion no chase was ever considered impossible and Harlequins much to Finky's surprise, claimed victory in the match just after 5pm. John played many innings like these two classics however, a real indication of his skill as a batsman is the ability he possesses to play different types of innings depending on the situation of a game. Two innings I recollect he played for Harlequins really highlight his ability to defend for long periods of time if required to do so. Struggling with only 7 players Harlequins were 3 wickets down for less then 10 runs on a wet wicket against defending Premiers Valleys when Big John strode to the wicket to join me during his homecoming season in 1995 after a 2 year hiatus with Valleys. John was determined not to go down without a fight as he was worried about tarnishing the clubs good reputation if we just folded meekly. After battling hard for over 3 and a half hours on a very difficult wicket against quality opposition he remained unbeaten on 80 not out but unfortunately defending 140 odd with only 7 players in 20 overs was not possible and disappointingly his efforts were in vain. The second example of his tenacity under fire was against Wests on Albert Park number 2 wicket. After finishing work at 3.00pm I arrived at the ground to find Harlequins in a hopeless position of  8 for 30 with 2 and a half hours left till stumps. Within 5 minutes of arriving I joined Big John in the middle and some 2 hours or more later I was standing at the non strikers end as he took strike to the last over of the day delivered by part time bowler Ross Gibbs. Unfortunately Gibbsy skidded one through John's defence with 2 balls to go till stumps ending his determined innings of 60 and robbing us of a gutsy draw but one thing that wasn't stolen from the group of Harlequins players that day was our respect for a man who bleeds Harlequins colours.

Big John's thoughts on Gympie Cricket:

Favourite batsman - Wayne Cooley (Harlequins)

Favourite Bowler - Greg 'Whisker' Walker (Valleys)

Favourite Keeper Batsman - Greg Hornsby (Wests)

Best Club Captain - Dean Chandler (Harlequins/Colts)

Best Tactical Captain - Brad Millard ( Harlequins/Colts)

Best Bowling Attack From Same Team - Kev Goatham, Brett Manthey, John Kropp, Bernie Jones and off-spinner Wayne Cooley (Harlequins 1988-89)

Best Innings - Steve Brady (Gold vs Caloundra) and Gary Beutel (South Burnett Juniors vs Gympie Juniors)

Favourite All-rounders - Josh Brady (Valleys), Troy Ashton (Valleys) and John Kropp (Harlequins)

Best Bowling Spell faced - Les Mitchell (Valleys) and Brad Jorgensen (Wests)

Best Stumping - Shaun Ringuet (Harlequins)

Best Fielder - Phil Dresher (Valleys)

Most Respected Cricketer - Scott McIntosh (Wests)

Hardest Batsman to Dismiss - Roy O'Brien (Colts) and Lumpy Williams (Wests)

Most Enjoyable Partnership - Batting with Bernie Jones when he scored his 1st ever 50 at number 11.

Biggest sixes - Russell Tompkins (Harlequins) Ken Johnston (Colts)

Most Support as a Junior - Eric and Norm McClintock (Valleys) and Paul Tierney (Wests)

Best Coaching Lesson - Merv Pratt (Wests) at Dagun Tennis Courts.

True Club Hero - Shane Kropp for saving Harlequins, possessed the best cover drive and was a fantastic mentor for up and coming juniors.

Best recent Moments - Opening of the new facilities at One Mile Sports Complex and witnessing the adoring public reaction towards Courtney Sippel.

Best Substitute - Gympie u19 when playing a Brisbane Norths u19 team featuring future QLD opening batsman Robbie Kerr brought in Carl Rackemann from South Burnett as a replacement.

Favourite Moment - Watching Mick Walsh's face after winning his 1st premiership with Harlequins in 2011-12.

Best Example of what Cricket Means to Spectators - Watching the mood changes Nick Laffey (Harlequins) endured as Joe Laffey attempted to negate the nervous nineties and witnessing the despair on the young fellas face when he came up a run or two short.

Big John did not share a funny story but this golden moment shouldn't pass through to the keeper unnoticed. During the annual contest between the Gympie Silvers and the Queensland Cricketers Club it looked like the Silvers were headed for our first ever victory over the southerners when we found ourselves in a commanding position with overs running out and the QLD Cricketers Club innings on its heals. Enter Big John batting low in the order and he counter attacked with momentum swinging rapidly in favour of the QLD Cricketers Club. However, with 14 runs needed off the last over and Big John at the non-strikers end the Silvers could nearly taste the cold frosty victory beers. Mick 'Caveman' Cave was thrown the ball by Skipper Scott McIntosh. Still worried I walked over to Cavey and told him to bowl full and straight, John regained the strike with 4 balls to go and Cavey produced the perfect yorker length ball which could only be dug out - no run, 13 needed off 3, I am thinking we are home. Well so much for that, Big John faked a charge and Cavey dug one in which ended up in the BMX complex over the midwicket fence. Still 7 off 2 balls were required but the pressure got to Cavey and Big John launched him for a six and a four to ice the game in style. Bloody hell we were disappointed victory had been pinched from us by one of our own and to make matters worse former QLD Wicket-keeper Lew Cooper saved the best roast till the presentations. On awarding Man of the Match Lou brought the house down when he stated, "Well I guess this would be like sticking a pineapple up you Gympie boys arses but todays man of the match is the pineapple farmer himself, big John McClintock". Yes Lou, the man with the red soil stained Dunlop volleys caused plenty of heartache for opposition teams that is for sure.

              

Finally Big John would like to acknowledge that Cricket is a great game but the people involved in the game is what makes it special. Yes so true John and to your credit you have made Cricket special with your friendship, leadership, mentoring and exciting approach to playing the game. I and many others have been lucky to share the field with you.  

     

 

     

     

  

                                  

           

 

Gympie Cricket Legend Number 8 - TROY ROWLANDS

Troy 'DJ' 'Roly' Rowlands

                                                   

Back in the late 70's and early 80's McDonnell Park Southside bubbled with enthusiastic young cricketers who had primed their games in back yard 'Test Matches' prior to taking on the greater challenge of competing against other neighbourhood hopefuls on the parks more expansive boundaries. Troy 'DJ' 'Roly' Rowlands was one of these young starry eyed cricketers who fell in love with the game competing in the highly competitive environment these contests demanded. Thus the seed was planted for his long 25 year association with Gympie Cricket.

Much was achieved during Roly's involvement with Gympie Cricket. He represented both Colts and Harlequins Clubs with distinction, Captained Colts, Captained Gympie and represented Gympie Cricket as President of the Association, a true sign of the respect for which he is held.

    

A stylish wicket-keeper batsman, he is rated by many as the best keeper batsman produced by Gympie in the last 40 years and for those who played with or against him very few could argue this point. Good enough to hold his place in any team as a top order batsman he scored 2 Gympie A-Grade centuries, but I am sure he would of scored many more if not for his hiatus with Sunshine Coast Cricket. Troy's highest representative honours included selection in the Sunshine Coast Gympie team but advancing further was probably suppressed because of his innovative decision to wear shin guards rather then wicket-keeping pads long before this was an accepted practice. Like many of Gympie's better Cricketers prior to the formation of the Gympie Gold X1, 'Roly' wanted to challenge himself further and made the decision to compete in the Sunshine Coast 1st Division Competition with Tewantin Noosa where he played a lot of his best cricket. Thankfully, he returned to Captain his foundation club Colts and was rewarded with his 1st Gympie Premiership in his retirement year after implementing a more serious approach to skills based training and fitness. The highlight of his representative career was beating Bundaberg ( who had Australian and Qld Country players in their team ) in a Goodchild Rep game with only 10 guys and then having only 9 guys after one was sent to hospital with a split webbing. Gympie had to chase a huge total that day and Mitch O'Hara and 'Roly' steered the team home for a most memorable win.

The Colts team of the late 80's featuring players of the calibre of Ian 'Chubby' O'Brien, Steve O'Brien, Glyn 'Wally' Brook and Col Steinke to name a few was rated by 'Roly' as the best club team he played in.  During his early years in A-Grade he learnt a lot about playing competitive cricket from this bunch of guys.

Roly's thoughts on Gympie Cricket:

Favourite Club team mate - Josh Seaniger

Most annoying team mate - Mitch O'Hara 

Most annoying opposition player - Gary Smith

Best friend made playing cricket - Shaun Savage

Most respected player - Ian 'Chubby' O'Brien 

Best cricketer played against in Gympie - Brad Petersen

Best Batsmen - Shane Kropp

Fastest Bowler - Kev Goatham 

Best Spinner - Darren Page

Best Allrounder - Ken 'KJ' Johnston

Best Wicketkeeper - Mitch O'Hara 

Best Fielder - Dean Long 

Best Captain - Ian 'Chubby' O'Brien

Best Sledger  - Danny Mahoney 

Gympie team nemesis -Valleys

Troy's funniest Story features Jim Geiger who he recollects used to tell some of the funniest stories ever on the rep bus trips. One that stands out was about him playing in the early days at Albert Park. He was batting and he was facing a fast bowler. Well the bowler had bounced him 3 balls in a row and on the fourth ball he caught the bouncer that was flying over his head. Nonchalantly he chucked it back to the bowler and said, "now pitch the bloody thing up so I can hit something".  Other notable stories would include Jim's famous bandicoot stew and the odd nudie run around the servo's on the bus trips always provided plenty of laughter with Mr  Ian 'Gossy' Gosschalk.

Reflecting on his involvement in Gympie Cricket, Troy enjoyed giving back to the game during his 10 year tenure on the committee in the roles of Vice President and President. He still loves the game that bought him so much enjoyment over many many years and cherishes the friendships that result from playing a team sport.

Finally he would like to remembered as someone that had a little bit of talent, someone who gave their all for his club and town , was a determined player and never gave his wicket away easy. Rest assured Troy we can all agree with that.                        

          

Gympie Cricket Legend Number 7 - STEVEN BRADY

Steven 'Brades' Brady

Prodigiously talented Wide Bay Flames Skipper, Gympie Gold, Valleys and Goodchild Shield representative batsman Steven 'Brades' Brady has been pulverising bowling attacks in the Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast region with his ultra aggressive approach to batting since making his senior cricket debut as a 14 year old with the 1998-99 Gympie Junior Cricket team that at the time competed in Gympie's Reserve Grade competition. Stevo's swashbuckling batting style has been rewarded time and time again, racking up highlights other players can only dream about. Some of his more destructive innings have been against Caloundra, punishing the 'Lighthouses' at Roy Henzell Oval to produce the 2nd highest individual score in Sunshine Coast 1st Division fixtures of 254 in the 2013-14 season. This effort followed a spectacular 177 off 81 balls against Caloundra at Albert Park during the 2010-11 season on his way to posting the highest ever individual one day score in Sunshine Coast 1st Division One Day fixtures. To highlight his dominance during this particular innings, he blasted 100 of the first 109 runs in a partnership with former Sunshine Coast Scorchers 1st Grade opening batsman Lewis Waugh smashing 96 of these runs in boundaries (14 sixes and two fours), accompanied by a two and two singles.

Typical of his aggressive mindset, he rates an innings of 51 off 14 balls against Wests during which he smashed quality fast bowler Wayne 'Sleezo' Sleeman for 32 off one over as Valleys chased an improbable outright at the insistence of skipper Darren Fanshaw. Fielding the powerfully struck strokes whistling off the blade of 'Brades' can be a nightmare at the best of times but under lights it is nearly mission impossible, an experience I did not enjoy one bit when fielding at extra cover during Stevo's innings of 109 in a T20 innings for the Gympie Gold versus the Gympie All Stars in 2009. Dead set I thought someone would get maimed such was the ferocity of his hitting as balls were pounded to all parts of Albert Park. Unequivocally a batsman of such talent would have been very successful if the opportunity to play Grade Cricket in Brisbane arose. Anyone who witnessed his 80 for Gympie versus the ACA Masters featuring former Australian fast bowlers Andy Bichel and Michael Kasprowicz can attest to his ability as he proceeded to blaze both big name bowlers across the 4 lane Bruce highway. Throughout 176 games for the Gympie Gold he has been consistently one of the highest run scorers in Sunshine Coast 1st division fixtures amassing 5551 runs with 6 centuries and 31 fifties.

Winning the 2015-16 Sunshine Coast 1st Division Premiership is the pinnacle so far in his cricket career, a moment Stevo claims was the best game ever played by the best team he ever had the privilege of representing. Other highlights include being a member of Valleys 2002-03 Gympie Premiership team, winning 1 one day final with Gympie Valleys in 2010-11 and topping this off with a Sunshine Coast One Day final victory and 2 Sunshine Coast T20 final victories for the Gympie Gold.

During his 22 year involvement with Gympie Senior Cricket 'Brades' acknowledges there have been many outstanding individuals that he has had the pleasure of competing with and against. Below is his opinion of who tops each of the following criterion:

Favourite Team-mate - Travis Chandler

Most Annoying - Tyson Hillcoat

Best Friend - Travis Chandler

Most Respected - Brad Millard and Troy Ashton

Best Opposition Cricketer - 

Gympie have had some quality cricketers but Craig Millard tops the list. He was a very aggressive fast bowler that attacked you every ball, was a very decent batsman who was fast between the wickets and lightning in the field.

Best Batsman - Josh Brady

Best Fast bowler - Craig Millard

Best Spinner - Jason Johnston

Best All-rounder - Josh Brady

Best Wicket-keeper - Cameron Quinn

Best Fielders - Josh, Glen and Trevor Brady not being biased but gee they took some spectacular catches and made some great run-outs.

Best Captain - Troy Ashton

Best Sledger - Jason Johnston

Best Bowler never faced in a game - Brad Brigg

Always difficult to face in the nets. He had great variation leg cutters, off cutters, slower ball, quicker bouncer and was always changing it up.

To finish with a bit of humour Stevo wanted to share a memorable moment featuring his beloved Gold team-mates. Glasshouse Cricket ground is a shared facility with soccer and as such there is a mural of a soccer player with his feet apart and hands up. Hayden Mitchell in his debut year as a youngster was sent out to field on the boundary in front of this wall. TA sensing an opportunity for a bit of skylarking yells out "hey Haydos", do this as he jumps with his feet apart and hands up. Obviously trying to please such an experienced cricketer Haydos does exactly as he is asked and everyone in the field just cracked up laughing. Haydos looked exactly like the painting on the wall and was positioned right in front of it. TA just loves telling this story to any debutantes while travelling home on the bus and even though its been heard hundreds of times its still such a crack up.

Thank you for sharing your Gympie Cricket journey Steve Brady. In my honest opinion Stevo is the most talented Gympie cricketer I have witnessed in the last 30 years. A proven match winner both with the bat and in the field. Put simply he is the cleanest striker of the ball, safest pair of hands and one of the most athletic fieldsman that has ever put foot on Gympie Cricket's ovals.