Last Saturday, South Tamworth did something that hasn’t been seen at the club in recent memory. They won all four grades.
The delight of achieving the feat quickly turned to curiosity. When was the last time South Tamworth had won all grades?
Club members knew it didn’t happen often. South Tamworth treasurer John Kilborn said: “If you win a couple grades, we’ve done pretty well. Win three and we’ve done really well and to win four, it’s almost a miracle.”
With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Kilborn put the year 1856 forward.
However, with a look through his own records, the year 1987, back when there was just three grades, popped up.
He wasn’t positive, but it sounded like it was around the right mark.
“We did it three times in that year, by the look of it,” Kilborn, who’s been at the South Tamworth club since 1976, said as he looked through his records.
The clean sweep bodes well for South Tamworth in the 2018/19 Tamworth District Cricket Association season and president Terry Browne expected the teams to be in the mix.
“They’ll be competitive,” Browne said of South Tamworth’s four grade teams.
“We’ve got a lot of juniors so we’re hoping for natural improvement during the season.”
A boost to their youth stocks is something the club has been working on.
“About four years ago we only had three people under 18. Now half the club’s under 18,” Browne said.
“We’ve worked very hard to change the makeup of the club and bring in a lot more enthusiasm.”
