Gary Ireland: first premiership captain

0:03Welcome to the Bear Essential podcast, where I will chat to the people who have contributed to the rich history of the Bayswater Morley Cricket Club, formerly known as the Bassendean Bayswater Cricket Club, established in 1946. My name is David Baird and my association with the club began in 1983, and over the years I've been a player, lower grade captain, president, secretary and club coach. Today I will be chatting to Gary Ireland. Gary, or GI, is the club's first first grade premiership captain and the leading run scorer in the club's history. He played 174 games for Bayswater Morley and eight Sheffield Shield matches for Western Australia and is a life member of the club.

0:43Gary commenced in 1977-78 with a brief appearance in the lower grades before debuting in the ones during 1978-79. The first few seasons were tough, but by 1982-83, J.I. scored his first first-grade century and the ones had played in a first-grade grand final. State selection followed in 1984-85. In 1985-86, G.I. was made captain and the first grade side won the club's first first grade flag. A Lawrence medal in 1987-88, a one day Toyota Cup win in 1988-89 were surrounded by multiple first grade grand final losses.

1:25In 1990-91, G.I. moved to Mount Lawley for a number of years, but returned to Bayswater Morley to finish his career in 1997-98. a year in which the club were club champions. Welcome, Gary, or GI, so we might flip between the two as we go through, but just so as people know who we're referring to. Gary, you're a country lad from Collie. How did you and your older brother, Jimmy, who also played many years at the club, find your way to Hillcrest? Yeah, interesting. When I first decided to do this, I was thinking of some of these things and I honestly thought that Jim would have been contacted by a Ray Robbie or a John Moore knowing that there was a country lad coming up and he came up five or six years before me, so probably around 72, 73.

2:13So I actually gave him a call and quite to the contrary, he was actually going to play with Perth where a lad from his school had already come up, Lindsay Flynn. You may know Lindsay from the WACA. Yeah. Great lad. Anyway, but Jim didn't have any way of getting to the ground in those days so he was living in Bassendean doing an apprenticeship at Midland having to ride his bike everywhere, footy training, cricket training so he landed at Bassendean Bayswater which was quite interesting and he was actually telling me that his first game that he got picked he was only 16 and they didn't tell him until the Thursday night that he was playing and he didn't even have a pair of long trousers to wear so he actually had to ride his bike to the train station, catch a train into Perth went to Bones and bought a pair of long whites which were about a foot too long as you can imagine with us, and in the end he made it to the ground riding his pushbike to the ground for his first grade game as a 16-year-old.

3:19Times have changed, eh? Times have certainly changed. I was a bit different because I was always going to live with Jim and his wife Trish when I came to Perth five years later, so it was always going to be a matter of me following him. So I just followed suit. Now your first few years in first grade were tough, but a remarkable period of competitiveness for most of the 80s followed. How were the early years and what was the main reason for the rise in fortunes? It's a good question, Dave, because we actually had some quality players still in those late 70s. Malcolm Wolfe, we had Wayne Clark, Tom Mullooly, Greg Beveridge.

3:59I think Danny McEvoy might have still been playing at that time, but the wicket was a lot different. It was pretty heavily grassed. It was a real struggle to make a competitive score there and because Wayne was out a lot with shield duties, we didn't have an attack that we managed to get sides out with. So we struggled for about those first three years. Then came the fantastic 80s. Apart from those, the losses in, well, I was a player in four grand finals that lost during the 80s. We lost two semifinals.

4:36One of those semifinals when Wayne was captain against North Perth, we had what I would have said was the best first grade side that I've probably seen over the last 40 years, batting and bowling. When you've got a side with Dennis Baker, Bruce Reid, Wayne Clark, and you've got Derek Aslett, Glenn Hughes, and a few others at the top of the order, Steve Mylos bowling and Dennis Baker coming on board, it was just a fantastic side. it was a real pity we didn't pick off at least two or three of those premierships. It would have been a fantastic achievement. Yeah, so by the mid-'80s, Wayne Clark had been a captain and coached a little bit there.

5:23Then he left and you took over the captaincy in 85, 86. What impact did that have on your batting or your enjoyment of the game? It was quite a funny period because we had a dominant side in the early 80s, then we lost seven players from that grand final side in 84, 85. And it was though we needed, or we were just going to plummet down the ladder. We were just going to be cellar dwellers. So 85, 86 was an absolute credit to the club, the administrators, the way we recruited. You lose Wayne Clark, you lose Derek Aslett, you lose Glenn Hughes. Jim Walters was opening the batting. Don McKenzie was our sort of second, third seamer. And Peter Lawrence, our long-term wicketkeeper, all left at one hit. So we then had to balance up the recruitment of a few players, which the club did very well. And we brought up at least three players from the seconds who won the grand final in 84-85. And they came in and just complimented the side beautifully. So we had a new group, a new group to look forward with, and they just performed fantastically.

6:43And I think looking at some of those names, Jamie Snadden had played a year in the twos, Dave Lewis were ones that came up. And then really critical, I think, was Daryl Smith who joined us and Scotty McRae or Ian McRae. So those sort of people, they were quality people and quality players that come up, eh? Yeah, they brought so many different things to the club. Scotty was, you know, was a clever man working with Channel 7. He brought a lot of business acumen and he brought a lot of good cricket knowledge and a lot of them just brought a lot of humour and the club prospered. The players got on really well on and off the field and we had a unit together there for the next five years that every year we'd sort of bring someone else new in. We always were going to lose people but we had a core group of players who dominated first grade cricket and the club itself won several Kevin Sullivan shields along the way and the focus was on club depth, but the first grade side just continually won more than enough games to qualify for finals every year.

7:49I mean, I think we only lost one game in 85-86 and we just had a fantastic unit of players. Yeah, and you mentioned the Kevin Sullivan Cup, which was the award for the side that finished top after the home and away series. in first grade and then club championships for all four grades contributions. So, yeah, it was certainly a great time. So, again, keeping, you mentioned a number of players already. Any favourites amongst those? I do remember, and it's not on the script, I remember watching your captain at different times and bowlers would get hit and that cat would come off and occasionally bite the dirt and a little kick of the ground. Does that strike a memory? Who are your favourites and who gave you some of those grey hairs you've got now?

8:31Gee, it's a good question. I mean, all the players, I took great enjoyment out of captaining them and none of them really gave me any grief. Sometimes I was a little bit angry, but it was only because I knew that the players could do better. So the hat throwing, it didn't happen as often as a lot of people think it did.

8:54But to captain, sort of Bret Mulder, Steve Mylos, it was a challenge because they always wanted to bowl. They wanted the ball next. two of the probably other highest wicket-taking players in grade cricket. I haven't seen the statistics, but they were fantastic. Some of the people like Jamie Stadden, who we've mentioned before, who came from Perth and played, must have played 200 games of A-grade cricket. 300. 300. It's amazing, isn't it? That is amazing. And it ended up being, I don't know whether he coached, but he certainly captained the club. We had, I loved batting with Glenn Hughes during his period.

9:36We brought Glenn when he was really struggling and in two or three years he became a quality shield player when he went to Tasmania. Derek Aslett, Dennis Baker, Bernie was a challenge sometimes, had some funny ideas. But the beauty of Bernie was that he was the true professional of great cricket. He would bowl up against a brick wall for a half an hour before each match. So when he got out on the field he was ready and he was at his best first ball and that made a huge difference. We had Vic Marks from England for two seasons. Vic was fantastic, professional. Heels, Greg Healy, just flicking out his little bits of turf in front of the batsmen when he was keeping wickets.

10:23Yeah, the list, you know, obviously Reedy. Bob Parry came to the club and he was, you know, in 85, 86, was obviously a first coach, a coach at the time. So a first-year coach and a first-year captain, which made it even more memorable from that point of view because I've got no doubt when Midland turned up for that final, they would have looked at our side and thought with the strength they had in Tom Moody, Alex Stewart, who went on to be England's highest test run scorer for a while there, Tony Mann, of course, Ian Phillip was a Scottish international, Tim Zura, they had a good side.

11:07But we had a great day, a great weekend, and pulled off a flag. Celebrations lasted quite a while. Quite a while. Yeah, they did. So we've covered quite a few of the players, and you talked about recruitment and just the club in general. Any behind-the-scenes people and characters that maybe didn't play in your side with you but were important through your time at the club? The committee were fantastic. During my tenancy as captain, they allowed us to play cricket. They did the behind-the-scenes work. All we had to do was turn up and play cricket. People, you know, the John Moores, the Ray Robinsons. We had the Clarks in the early days.

11:48We had the Lawrences. My favourite man, Eddie Metherall.

11:52For those people who wouldn't know Eddie, they may have seen him on the scoreboard at Hillcrest for near on 60 years from memory. Absolutely amazing person. We had people like Ricky Booth was always at the club. Jono, Greg Johnson, Angry, Steve Walker, of course. Still there, still at the club, still having a beer every Saturday afternoon, still supporting the club. Quite amazing, really, yeah. Yeah, it's been great support over a long time. What about some of your toughest opponents that you came across during your days?

12:32Some of the guys who regularly got me out weren't necessarily name players. I think I tended to play better against tougher opponents. I used to get out to certain bowlers who sometimes I didn't think they were the greatest bowlers and they probably got me out every week or every time I played against them. So it's hard to pinpoint. But we had regular fantastic games against Mount Lawley who were a similar club when I went to Mount Lawley. Strong administration, well-run club. The 82-83 grand final was probably one of the most... It sticks in my memory. Unfortunately, we lost by three runs, but it certainly sticks in my memory.

13:13been a great, great game of cricket against two fantastic sides, which is how it should be. We had a great match against South Perth the following year in a grand final. Lost that, unfortunately. People like Tony Mann, there was a lot of quality leg spinners around during the 80s. Bob Paulson, I found extremely challenging. Giles Bush was a fantastic grade player. Played a couple of shield games with Giles. Interesting chap. A lot of leg spinners are, aren't they? They are, yeah.

13:49No, nothing else sort of springs to mind. When you talk about those leg spinners and you go back to that Mould and Mylos combination, you've followed great cricket over time. You just don't see it on a Saturday where both your leg spinners and off-spinners bowl 25 overs each in tandem. And, like, it's just unheard of now. It's a changing game. Maybe it's just time. Yeah, well, and it's probably been impacted by white ball cricket, you know. Oh, guys bowling quick off spinners, pushing through overs, just trying to keep runs down. And big bats that you kind of, you might have enjoyed having an innings or two of some of those new sticks.

14:29I would have loved to have had one of those, yeah. Now, we mentioned that you represented the state, but not often enough for Basil and Morley people's liking, or I'm sure yourself, and timing's often said to be everything. The state of the WACA wicket back when you sort of were coming into the side wasn't great then. It was relayed and there was lots of stuff going on. How do you view your time in the state scene, if you like? And it was a pretty strong era as well. It was and I was in the squad for probably the best part of 10 years. So there was a lot of training involved and with the knowledge that it was going to be hard to get a game and the key probably was to be in good nick when and if I ever did get picked. And unfortunately when that did happen, I wasn't in the best form.

15:20The wicket was very average at the WACA. The outfield was terribly slow. I mean, the pace bowlers were leaving, Chris Matthews was leaving footprints in the turf, you know, four or five inches deep. And the wicket for that first year or so when it was relayed was pretty average. I had a couple of dodgy decisions, but I certainly have no regrets and I certainly have no fault on anybody. I, of the fault, lied with me. I don't think I prepared as well as what I could have. It was more, once I got in, I was hoping that I could get some big scores. But like a number of players, it was like it was a long wait and you never, I certainly never quite thought that I was quite good enough in that environment.

16:09And so the time came and it went and I'd missed an opportunity. But certainly no regrets. But there's things I certainly could have done better if I had the opportunity again. And you came back to the club. You had a few years at Mount Lawley and I think maybe even in the subterf for a scene with Dianella, but came back to finish your career. Are you glad you came back to finish? Oh, most definitely. Yeah, I had five years at Mount Lawley. I had a young family and we were living close two doors up from the ground. So I also felt a bit of guilt over some of my performances in the late 80s.

16:47The 89-90 grand final against Claremont, which was a debacle. I remember that pretty well. And I've spoken to people about that and the state of the WACA wicket. Went down on a Thursday night before the game. The pitch was jet black.

17:05And I found out, I thought it was because they were going to underprepare it because there was a Dockers game early the following week and they were trying not to because it had been fine all week. It was just wet. We lost the toss. I was just, we made, we struggled to make 90. We had them five for 50 and readied a bold non-stop for about 10 on the trot to get us into that position. But we couldn't get over the line and then James Brayshaw and Dave Lovell put on quite a substantial partnership that afternoon and that was the end of the game and it rained the next day. Yep. Yes. The year before, it should be Florida.

17:49We lost a final to Midland the year before, a semi, but I was away playing shield then. And the year before that, we lost the grand final to Seabee. We had them nine for 200 and I took the new ball. Giles Bush and Tom Hogan were batting. I thought we'd knock them over pretty quickly. I put on 70 and that was, we got about 230, 240 in reply. So a couple of things that I regret as captain, but I mean, you can't help the toss of a coin, but you cannot, you cannot. Well, you know what? I reckon we should finish there because I'm starting to get a bit sad thinking about a couple of those. But Gary, what a fabulous career. Thank you for those of us that saw you bat and play. It was always enjoyable.

18:31And thank you for your time. Pleasure. Thanks, Dave.