Goulburn Murray Cricket swung into action at the weekend and courtesy of Kyabram historian Eileen Sullivan, some facts and figures of an extraordinary former Kyabramite and cricketer have been revealed.
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When I started as a cadet reporter at the Kyabram Free Press 60 years ago as a 17-year-old, the first person to show me the news-gathering rounds was a chirpy and charming chap called J. T. A (Arthur) Whitbourne.
Some things stick in your memory forever and one thing he told me that first day on the job has never left me.
As we were walking down the aisle of Frank Kightly’s packed shoe shop opposite to what we called in those days the Town Hall (Mechanics’ Institute) to see whether Frank had any news worth reporting, the man affectionately known as ‘‘Whitty’’ suddenly swung around, looked me straight in the eyes and quipped ‘‘Garry (yes that’s my real Christian name) you won’t believe how quickly your life will pass you by“.
Has there ever been a truer statement for those lucky enough to have lived a full life or close to it?
Whitty was nearing the end of his life at the time and had been employed by the Kyabram Free Press to write a column and articles, riding around on his bike with a penchant for sniffing out stories. He also had a passion for poetry and catchy ditties.
Always with a pen and notebook at the ready he finished up writing notes of personal interest under the banner ‘‘Whitty at Warrumunda’’ from the fledgling Warramunda old peoples’ home.
Learning of his contribution to Kyabram and district in the years that have since passed has never ceased to amaze me.
It wasn’t until I started perusing through old Free Press files did I realise what an extraordinary and gifted person he was personally and for the town and district.
It seemed he attended just about every cat and dog fight in the district and had an endless supply of strings to his bow.
One of these strings was his ability as a cricketer.
Born in 1880 in Collingwood Whitty spent his early childhood days in Lindenow in Gippsland before the family moved back to Melbourne.
It was with the Ascot Vale Church of Christ cricket side he announced himself as a serious player and competitor, particularly a wily spin bowler, of exceptional talent. He was also a better than average bike rider and long distance runner with the Ascot Vale Harriers and was also a deft hand at quoits and billiards, a game in which often recorded breaks of 300.
Whitty found his way to the Kyabram area in 1908 at the age of 28 for a two-week working holiday on Claude Roper’s Lancaster fruit orchard. He was impressed so much with the hospitality he received he never returned to Melbourne to live.
He started playing cricket with the Lancaster Cricket Club and became a commercial traveller, riding his bike around Kyabram and district selling a wide range of goods, including fruit trees.
In 1913 he opened a sports store called the Kyabram Sports Depot where Kyabram’s Main Street Butchery is located today.
He also managed to fit in playing football and cricket with both Lancaster and Kyabram. He spent 34 years as secretary of the Kyabram Cricket Association and 28 years as secretary of the Kyabram Football Club in the period it won seven premierships, from 1919 to 1928.
Whitty married a Kyabram girl, Jessie Williamson, in 1915 and they had four children — Jim, Ernest, Ethel and Del.
He closed his sports store in 1924 to take on gardening work at the Kyabram Memorial Gardens, bowling and croquet clubs and Masonic Hall. He also filled in time as a doorkeeper at film nights at the Kyabram Theatre and in the Kyabram Mechanics’ Institute and later the Kyabram Theatre.
He was musically minded, sang in the Presbyterian choir, and organised and produced many concerts for district clubs and charities.
He and his wife spent their final days due to circumstances in an old peoples’ home in Bendigo and he died aged 89 in 1969, two years after the death of his wife.
He and his wife are buried in the Kyabram Cemetery and cricketing colleagues in Ern Purdey, Charlie Olle, Jack Stone and Alf Cooper were his coffin bearers.
A cricketing star in any era
At one stage at the peak of his career James Thomas Arthur ‘‘Whitty’’ Whitbourne was described as ‘‘the best known player in Victorian country cricket“.
One report even stated he was ‘‘boasting a record that would never be challenged“.
That might be the case too, even though it’s well over a century since the man they called ‘‘Whitty’’ started terrorising batsmen, firstly in the suburbs of inner Melbourne and then in the Kyabram and District Cricket Association for over three decades at the start of the 20th century.
Details of Whitty’s bowling career in his days in the inner Melbourne suburbs in the mid-1890s and with the Lancaster and Kyabram Cricket Club from 1908 to the end of the 1930-31 season are mind boggling to say the least.
The best way to get an idea of the magnitude of his feats as a wily spin bowler can be assessed by comparing his records with the most successful bowlers of today.
At the top level in the Goulburn Murray Cricket competition today 50 wickets for the season normally wins the award for most wickets.
And over the past 30 years or so the association’s top wicket-taker for the season has often fallen well short of that tally.
So glimpsing through Whitty’s 10 years of his feats recorded in his performance chart (pictured) you will notice in five of these seasons he took 100 wickets or more.
These included a somewhat staggering 169 victims at a cost 1047 runs at the incredible average of 6.2 runs per wicket in the 1924-25 season with the Kyabram Cricket Club.
His recorded bowling history to then revealed he had claimed 2288 wickets at a cost of 15,040 runs at an average of 6.6 runs.
Any bowler worth his salt will verify that’s an insane average over such a lengthy period.
His 2000th wicket came up on the final ball of the final over and final match of the 1927-28 season playing for the Kyabram Wednesdays against his former club Lancaster.
Some old timers might remember whose wicket it was — another wily spinner called Bill Payne who played cricket with Lancaster into his 60s.
By the time he had finished his career in 1940 at the age of 60 the man they called ‘‘Whitty’’ had taken over 3000 wickets.
Sports reporter