MEMORIES of Tamworth’s first Test cricketer John Gleeson continue to flow.
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Gleeson died last Friday at the age of 78, after a career that saw him take 93 wickets in 29 Test matches between 1967 and 1972 as the 42nd Australia to wear the baggy green.
Gleeson’s legacy lives on, as Tamworth man and close friend, John Muller, remembers a time during the late 1950s and early ‘60s when Jim ‘JS’ White, a cricket enthusiast from Boggabilla, held a special cricket carnival for young players under 21.
Tamworth was the venue over the Christmas holiday break when players from the North West, the Hunter valley, The Northern Tablelands, and the North Coast competed against one another over the long weekend.
One team was selected from the carnival and became members of JS White's Emu Cricket Club.
In 1961, White decided to take his team on a three-month tour of the world.
The first match was in San Francisco then New York's Staten Island.
Vancouver was the next destination, followed by every major city across Canada, including Victoria Island, which drew 3000 people to the game.
The team then flew to England, where they played 19 games in 21 days against Minor County and Club sides with outstanding success.
Against Middlesex, Muller was offered the chance to play county cricket. John Gleeson was selected as a wicket keeper-batsman on this trip. Team manager Ken Falkenmire was also a top Tamworth representative batsmen and founded the Ken Falkenmire Cricket Coaching Academy, which produced many quality players including Bendemeer's current test fast bowler Josh Hazlewood.
Gleeson was known as the mystery spinner, borrowing the bowling style of legendary Australian spinner Jack Iverson, by training himself to spin the ball both ways using a table tennis ball.
- EMU CRICKET CLUB: (Front) Dave Rutherford, John Muller, Neville Holstein, Ross Scott, John Hayward, Bill Bucknell, Colin Elliott and Dave Evans, (Back) Ken Falkenmire, Allan Robinson, Neil Frame, Hugh Munro, Terry Gleeson, Gordon Cross, Peter Davidson, Tim Grosser, John Gleeson and Jim White at Lord's Cricket Ground.