When Peter Virgen helped select the NSW over-70 cricket side for this year's now-cancelled State of Origin series, he was struck by how many Tamworthians were in it.
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That got for the former Wests and North West batsman-wicketkeeper thinking about all the top cricketers who played alongside him and against him in the 1970s.
And that led him to putting his selector's cap back on to pick his team of the decade from that era.
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What a lineup it is: former Test players Graham Thomas and John Gleeson, whom Virgen named skipper of the team, former NSW Sheffield Shield players Brian Rhodes and Ross Taylor, as well as several one-time Sydney first-graders.
Virgen said the side had a mixture of homegrown talent and players who relocated to Tamworth from elsewhere, with a number coming to town to teach. Games that decade were played "very, very hard", he said.
Virgen also selected the side to see if anyone could devise team of the decade lists from other crickets eras.
He believes that now is the ideal time to do so, what with sport in corona-induced purgatory.
He said: "It's only looking back that I see the pedigree of the players in the '70s compared to now and other eras. They were very, very strong."
He added: "There was actually a Tamworth side who played against Petersham-Marrickville. And they were the [Sydney] premiers of the time, and this Tamworth side beat them."
Gleeson, whom Virgen played under at Wests, was Tamworth's first Test player. Known for his ability to spin the ball both ways, he took 93 wickets in 29 Tests at an average of 36.20. He passed away in 2018.
Other locals in the side include Terry Browne, whom Virgen said was a "wonderful, stylish batsman".
The selector is not sure where former Sydney first-grader Brian Camarsh came from, but rated him the best fast bowler he ever faced. "He was a legend around here."
Games in the '70s, Virgen said, were "very even across the board".
Virgen's team of the '70s:
1. Dave Baxter (Sydney first-grader); 2. Errol Coleman (opening batsman-wicketkeeper); 3. Terry Browne (NSW Country rep); 4. Graham Thomas (Test player); 5. Rod Richards (Sydney first-grader); 6. Brian Rhodes (NSW Sheffield Shield player); 7. John Gleeson (Test player); 8. Brian Camarsh (Sydney first-grader); 9. Bernie Barnsley (Sydney first-grader); 10. Ross Taylor (NSW Sheffield Shield player); 11. Bob Hickson (left-arm spinner)
