FROM the first team under the leadership of Ian Fillery back in 1974 to current day, Broken Hill cricketers have been integral to the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) Senior Country Cup.
From the 1978 event, when West Broken Hill Cricket Club player Rod Johnston lifted the Harry Meyer Cup, and the famous party on the beach at Henley which followed, across the next 12 years Barrier won four championships.
These Silver City cricketers enjoying Harry Meyer Cup success again in 1982, 1986 and 1990.
The ’82 and ’86 triumphs were also captained by Johnston, while Wayne Caldwell led the 1990 title victory.
In the 1978 triumph, Fillery was the leading run scorer in the tournament with 264 and Graham Delbridge led all-comers for wickets taken, a yield of 22 scalps.
In fact, in the 1976 representative match between the SACA and the Country Cup Team of the Carnival on February 12, Fillery became the first Barrier cricketer to produce a century at this event.
After the SACA side made 6/238 at Adelaide No.2 ground, they defeated the Country side, which finished with 7/189.
Ian Fillery was the mainstay of the innings, remaining undefeated on 101.
He produced a rapid-fire 100-run partnership with Murray District captain Bruce Elliott (36) for the fourth wicket in 52 minutes.
Among the more amazing individual performances was big bad bustling Bill Slee, bowling the 1980 Harry Meyer Cup winners, South East, out for 37 in round two of that campaign at Park 9 in North Adelaide.
Slee’s figures were an amazing 7-17 from 9.3 overs and all his victims were bowled. He also won the bowling aggregate at that ’80 carnival will 21 wickets.
In round two of the following season Rod Johnston remained one short of being the Barrier’s first century maker during the SACA Senior Country Cup.
He was 99 not out, dispatching 11 fours and a six at Colonel Waite Oval in Kensington.
In 1981, Johnston collected the batting trophy with 276 runs, including three half-centuries and 48.
Barrier was undefeated in the ’82 event, and, along with a raft of strong performances with bat and ball, all-round sporting talent Visco Sulicich won the competition’s fielding trophy for the first of two times in title-winning tours.
In a round 4 match on February 9, 1984, West Broken Hill technically correct right-hander Michael McGann became the first Barrier century-maker, remaining 104 not out.
In the ’86 campaign, Barrier lost their opening game against the 1985 winners Upper North, but a significant win in round three against fellow contenders South East was a catalyst to this victory.
Their opponents made a competitive total of 235 on the Park 25 No.2 oval.
David Hunt was the hero with an unconquered 43. His effort included four boundaries, a five, along three sixes, plus 20 off an over from the late Dale Bateman.
Number 11 bat Brent Elston importantly remained five not out at the other end.
On the Monday of the second week, Sulicich made a brilliant 124 and Greg McCoy made a better than a-run-a-minute 151 in the final game, hitting 14 fours and eight sixes (104 runs in boundaries) in a 92-minute stay against Eyre Peninsula, with the team making a giant total of 9/331.
McCoy produced another blistering effort in round two of 1987, making 121 not out in 120 minutes, with his second 50 coming in 18 minutes, with 24 runs dispatched from an over against Upper North.
With Wayne Caldwell as skipper and a 16-year-old future first-class cricketer Jeff Vaughan dominating with the willow, across an even tournament where Barrier, South East and Murray Districts all finished with five wins, the Broken Hill side were crowned champions, having a superior percentage.
Vaughan produced three half-centuries during the tournament, and became the second Barrier player, after the inaugural winner, Rod Johnston in 1985 to win the Cec Starr Medal as the player of the tournament.
A future first-class cricketer and the first Les Favell Foundation Academy Scholarship recipient, Vaughan produced a brilliant undefeated century against the SACA in the representative game on February 15.
Fearsome quick Slee was the leading wicket-taker across the competition in this ’90 victory, with 18 scalps.
Troy Stacey starred the ’92 SACA Senior Country Cup with an outstanding all-rounder performance.
In the round one clash with Upper North, Stacey made a brilliant 148 not out, including 22 fours and four sixes.
In a team total of 4/348, with Raymond Johns (107) who recorded a century as well, the pair added 185 for the second wicket.
He also chimed in with 3/18 with the ball, as the Barrier side won by 150 runs.
West Broken Hill, SA Outbacks and Barrier legendary all-rounder Paul Attard won the first of his three Cec Starr Medals in 1995, repeating the honour in 1998 and again in 2001.
Among a host of stellar performances, Attard was a member of the 1990 title win as a teenager, took four five-wicket plus hauls in Harry Meyer Cup games, with a best of 6-30 against Fleurieu & Districts at Cane Reserve in 1993.
He also scored three centuries, including a best of 166 not out against Yorke Peninsula in the February of 1996, dispatching 14 fours and 12 sixes, including 24 from a Jamie Agnew over.
He also collected the batting award for his performances in the ’98 carnival.
To start the 21st century, burly wicketkeeper-batsman Bill Bergman became the third player to win the Cec Starr Medal. This included a powerful 107 in the round four win over the Yorke Peninsula.
In the representative match at the end of the carnival on February 15, 2001, against the Favell’s XI, Bergman smashed 80 from 56 balls, including six boundaries and four more maximums.
Outswing bowler Mark Johns – another multi-sporting talent from the Silver City – with 23 wickets, including a haul of 6-19 won the 2002 bowling award and was the third Barrier cricketer in three years to secure the prestigious Cec Starr Medal in that campaign, as well.
Finishing third in the 2003 campaign, the Barrier didn’t send a team down to the 2004 event.
In their final game on February 12, 2003, Barrier defeated South East by 117 runs, making 252 with Bill Bergman producing a typically aggressive 67 and dismissing their opponents for 135.
The final act by a player under the Barrier stand-alone banner was in the representative match on Adelaide Oval on February 13, 2003, where Attard was player of the match as the Country lads made 8/202 to be defeated Les Favell’s XI by 39 runs.
*This is first of a two-part series – 1974 to 2003.
