Tim Brookes: timed out at the drive-thru

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 Tim Brookes. Tim played 143 first grade games for Bayswater Morley. He took 300 first grade wickets, won two first grade premierships and two first grade one day titles, along with a third grade premiership. He was the winner of the Bowling Aggregate Award for Bayswater Morley on two occasions and once won the WACA Bowling Aggregate Award.

0:46He was also a member of the WA State Senior Squad and for three seasons held the position of Director of Cricket and Chairman of Selectors at Bayswater Morley. Welcome Tim, or Brooksie as you're also known. Thanks for your time. It's great to catch up. Thanks, Freddie. Thanks for inviting me. You're a country lad. Where from? Who's responsible for getting you in the hill, Chris? Give us some detail. Okay. Originally I'm from Gimelli. I'm a Gimelli boy. I left Gimelli when I was seven. My parents had relocated up to Kegeli with work. So basically from Kegeli from the ages of seven right up to 23 when I come down to the city to play with Bayswater Morley.

1:29I had a great time in Kegeli growing up. Couldn't pick a better place to grow up, especially with the sports and the outdoor life. Which was very good. I was quite lucky to get approached probably by Bayswater at the time. With that, I did have a person who come and see me called Mr. Flood in his Holden Commodore station wagon. I do remember the night quite well. We're at training. If you can picture a country cricket night, basically guys just wearing football shorts, singlets or no shirt at all. So we were there in the edge of Sheppard Oval. We're right in the corner. So when Floody come driving along.

2:12And sorry, that's Terry Flood we're talking about, isn't it? Terry Flood, yep. So Terry actually drive along a dirt road to get to where we were training. And we're going, who's this coming along here now? And then all of a sudden the car stopped. He gets out and he goes, is Tim Brookes here? And we're all sort of going, what's going on here? So then I've come up and gone across to the fence and then he's done the spiel. He's given me Ray Robinson. Ray Robinson's phone number. He's given me the annual report for the cricket club. And he said basically, when are you next down to the city? We'd like to have a chat with you. And we went through that process and sort of didn't know if I was getting the mickey taken out of me because this is probably something you don't probably would be going to get approached that way.

3:02Whereas previously when I was with the Colts, I had letters from the clubs from the city, but I never had anyone come to me personally, especially in that way. And it was probably very much. When you listen to the Bayesie club song, it's probably very much like that, how we come and interact with me that afternoon. Brilliant. Now, it didn't take you long to settle in. You won the first grade bowling average in your first season and you became a part of a really fine pace attack during the 90s. Along with premiership success, what are some of your fondest memories of your time in first grade cricket? Just being able to play with Bayesie. I think that was the best part about it because I had to do some work to find out if I was going to come to Bayesie.

3:42I actually spoke to a bloke called Kim Hasson. He used to play for the club and he told me more about the club. But I suppose the best thing about the club is when I actually come to the club, everyone made me feel welcome. I always remember the first Friday night, Ryan and I come down to training. Ryan and I were very scared, not scared, but probably concerned about our training gear because we heard rumors of everyone wearing full whites and all this at training. So we didn't know what to expect. But then rocking up to the club, everyone made us feel really welcome. It was fitted in really well. And sorry, just to tell you about, you refer to Ryan as being Ryan Campbell, who we'll probably catch up with in one of these podcasts as well. So you're a pretty handy duo.

4:23So yeah, very lucky. Both of us come from the same club in Cagley and both come down to Bayes Watermoorley at the same time, which worked out really well for us. So we both had someone to bounce off when we first started with the club. Then I was quite lucky to play the first game in first grade. Played with some really good players and they made me feel at home. But when you look at some of the caliber of those players, it was really good. You know, you had your Jamie Snabbs, you had Darryl Smith, Tony Evans, a couple more, which I can't quite remember at the time. But at the time, especially as a fast bowler, you know, I had some really good fast bowlers to learn off at that time. But then there was the characters who weren't playing, but who were characters in the club who'd done a lot of work.

5:06You know, there was a Johnny Moores, Johnny Rogers, yourself, the Scrowys, Gordon Booth. So there was plenty of people. And especially, and even the guys in the lower grades, you know, they made you really feel at home. They made you really feel at home, which was really good. Now, I haven't got this scripted as a question, but I think, you know, it might be coming. One of those guys was a gentleman by the name of Tony Piliotis, who was very good friends. And can I get you to recount that story? Oh, do you mean, I can tell you a couple of stories. Well, I'm talking one that occurred during play at a break from a game in Waltham. I think you're either coming back from injury or it was a story behind it. Well, yeah.

5:46So I had come down. I'm playing fourth grade. I had a hamstring injury via doing a bungee jump in England. Took a little while to get fixed. So I'm playing fourth grade, playing with Pili. We're playing at Waltham Reserve. For those who know Waltham Reserve, there's only Crimea Deli if you're going to get some food, because there's no point in getting food. Pili had got his sister's BMW for the day. So all of a sudden, I said to Pili, all I want is just a can of Coke and a drumstick for lunch, because I was batting, I was going awry. And then Pili says, no, no, no, let's go to Beachboro. So I had no idea where Beachboro was from the ground. We had then gone to Hungry Jack's through drive-thru.

6:30So we're in drive-thru, and the traffic is going nowhere. So we were stuck in the drive-thru, and we couldn't get out. Then we got the food. We come back, turn the corner into Waltham Reserve, and they already started playing. So I was effectively, I don't know if I was the first one for the club, but I was the first one probably timed out. What does make this funny, there was those water postles on the upper ground. I think they had four or five players who were timed out in the same season, which was quite funny. Yes. Can you remember who your captain was that day? Yes, quite clearly. It was Tony Piliotis.

7:11And it was quite funny. As we got to the ground, he got out and went one way, and I went the other. Yeah, that's been a great story over the years. All right, let's get back to business at hand. 300 first-grade wickets. Fabulous achievement. But the 300th wicket took a little time to get. Can you explain the story behind the 300th? And can you remember who you claimed as that 300th wicket? Good question. So the year before I had retired, I think it was the year before, my last game was against Subie Floret in the grand final. I think I took five for the game. Not quite sure, but I needed one more. Didn't get it for the 300th.

7:52So I was walking away with 299 wickets. Pretty happy with that. Then the next season, there were some discussions to come back, and it happened to be playing against Subie Floret again. I cannot remember the batsman's name, but I know Peter Lewis caught the ball in, I think, his first slip, which was quite ironic, really, because I took my first-grade wicket against Subie Floret as well, which I remember, and that was actually Glenn Derring, who's just passed away. So, yeah, Subie Floret, yeah, I have a lot of dealings with over the period of time. In terms of dismissals, who was the biggest wicket that you took, and you had one which was also critical in terms of game sense.

8:38So the biggest wicket you took, and then maybe one in terms of, you know, importance. I probably got two incidences. I reckon the biggest one probably would be Michael Hussey in the second innings of the first grand final we won. At that time, I think we were bowling on a bit of a road, and all of a sudden, I got the ball to start swimming around, and I've got one to cut back in, and so basically a leg cutter to a normal righty, but it came back into Mike and Boldy. So at that time, he was going very well, because they'd just come back from the Sheffield Shield final in Adelaide, which I think we'd just got beaten by. So, yeah, I got him in the second innings, and it was actually a really good contest watching Mike bat that one, because Bruce Red got him bowled in the first innings, and that was a game of cat and mouse, which was really great to watch, that one.

9:31The other one was probably against Wanderoo as well, and it was a one-day game, and I bowled Dave Fitzgerald and Damian Martin. So that's another two big wickets in the same game. So they're probably the two games I remember. I'm not a great person to remember wickets, unlike Glenn McGrath. Yeah, some stand out and some don't. Now, you were quite handy with the bat. Maybe you could walk us through a day down at Abbott Park where you had a pretty good day out. Yes, I still remember that game pretty well. We batted first. We didn't do too well. We got out pretty quickly. Not out, but we lost a lot of wickets.

10:12Probably a little bit upset. Then I forget who I was batting with, but I'm quite an attacking batsman. Can play a defensive shot, but my mode is to be attacking. At that day, they had some very good bowlers on their side. So if you know Scarborough back in the day, they had a lot of state players. So luckily enough, the deck wasn't real quick, but it was still enough. To get going, I give a couple of chances. They dropped lucky enough, then I got going. I don't know how many fours or sixes. Made it entertaining. Did get scared. I did get into the nervous 90s, which I was 91 not out, but they did bring on Justin Langer, and I thought I can't get out to this bloke.

10:55So all of a sudden, I wasn't worried about my wicket, and all of a sudden, I started to worry about my wicket. But then we declared. No, we didn't declare. The other batsman got out, and then we went and bowled nothing. So who let you down and not get into that 100? I don't think it was Peter Rogers. Dixon. Greg Dixon. Greg Dixon, yeah. So, yeah. He got LBW to Langer. So, but no, look, it come off. So, no, it was quite good. Third grade enjoyed it anyway. Yeah, for sure. Now, you've been involved with getting caught in drive-thrus and so on, and this may seem a strange question to some, but it's still cricket related.

11:36You've been happily married to Kim for many years, but maybe you're not. Maybe you could remind us where your proposal took place. Yes. For those who remember, Rodolfo's Italian restaurant, where we used to always have our club awards. That was a year after we just won the 96-97 grand final, after the four-day against Midland.

12:0098-99. 98-99. Gee, you've been married longer than you think. Yeah, I know. Not as long. So, I actually, I don't know what made me think of doing it there, but I actually went to Midland, and I actually went and done the due process. I actually went and asked her mum and dad for the hand of their daughter's hand, and I was given the approval. I said, oh, it's going to happen on the weekend, rah, rah, rah. And then I went, well, I've got to do it. I'm going to do it now. So, at the end of the awards, I then went up and said, oh, look, I've just got something to say. Went out to Kim, got down on one knee, and I think everyone's going, what the hell's going on here?

12:40I'm not appealing for a wicker. Yeah. And, yeah, I asked Kim for her hand in marriage. And so, we've just, this year's been 25 years. Wow. I remember that night. It was such a big night. Such a big night. But originality, I probably got a score out of 10. Being a romantic, I probably got a score out of zero. Oh. You can't move every time. But, nah, but being very happy. That's great. You continue to serve the club long past your playing days. Yeah. You've served on committee, and you've taken on the role of chairperson, team and selectors. How have you found life as an administrator? Totally different to playing. As a player, all you've got to do is worry about your own game and then helping the team.

13:24This one, you're helping the club, you're helping the players to get better. And with your role, it is probably the most thankless task in the cricket club because people aren't going to be happy with your decision, and some people are. So, yeah, it's a hard role, but it certainly does give me better respect over some of the players. Some of the players who have done this for a longer time and probably a lot better than when I did it. It is a difficult job indeed. Tim, as we sort of wind up, have I forgotten to ask any questions or is there any people or people you'd like to mention as you've had your journey, which, again, still continues. Yeah. You were down at the club on Sunday there for a while watching, and, yeah, it was...

14:08I think we don't forget that, especially with the cricket club and how good Bayes is, is that the friendships you have with the people, the committee folk, and it goes on for a long time. Like, when I first come down, I'm still very good friends with a certain bunch of players. I recently caught up with Tim Hill overseas. If you really want to look after your safety overseas, don't catch up with Tim Hill. He does attract the wrong crowd.

14:36But, look, the club is great, but the friendship lasts a lot longer. That's what I'm really happy being part of the Bayes Watermole Club, but it's fantastic. I certainly don't regret any moment. I've been at the club. Tim, it's been great to catch up. All the best. Thanks, Freddie.