the history of western suburbs district cricket club 1921-2002

-37-on to captain WSDCC but returned to NSW prematurely because of family commitments. He was anexcellent slips fieldsman.As stated previously if the twelfth man had been chosen on fielding ability alone the position would goto the youngest of the three Paulsen brothers, Steven, better known as Harry. Harry arrived on thescene at Wests as a 10 year old, watching his older brothers Greg (Qld U17 captain in 1994-5, of a teamwhich included Hopes and Miller), and Geoff (Qld U19 in 1994-5 in a team which included six subsequentstate players).When finally given his turn in the Under 16 Lord Taverners, as a twelve year old, Steven’s leg spinnersimmediately made their mark by taking 34 wickets at 16.09, in 1994-95, 26 wickets at 16.85 in 1995-96,11 wickets at 14.82 in 1996-97 (together with the small matter of 439 runs at 73.17). The followingseason he took another 20 wickets in second and third grades and then moved on to first grade.In season 2001-2 Steven made major advances in all phases of his game to the extent that he camesecond to Greg Rowell in the Peter Burge Medal and was selected to play in a trial match for aQueensland XI against the Australian one day team 9-6-02. His advance played a major role in theoverall success of the team. He is chosen twelfth man however for his fielding. He is equally adept asa catcher at gully or Silly cover, taking one catch in the latter position whilst airborne and parallel to theground in the 2002 semifinal which old timers believed was the best catch ever at Graceville. Howevereven stronger is his ground fielding at either cover or mid wicket where he is building up a significanttally of direct hit run outs. His hit rate is probably higher than Ricky Ponting’s.At the top of the order in the second team is Jeff Walker, a stylish batsman from Beaudesert who holdsthe first grade single innings highest score of 226 not out. Sadly Jeff left the club in 1985 after fourseasons because he believed he would have a better chance of breaking into the Queensland team fromAshgrove. He did go on to play two games for Queensland including one against a rampant PatrickPatterson on a Gabba Greentop in 1988-9.Another player who also spent two seasons at Ashgrove (including being a member of the 1996-7 winningfirst grade team) was Andrew Bailey. Andrew first played for Wests as a fourteen year old in 1987-8 andwas again a heavy run scorer in 2001-2. Andrew was fast tracked into first grade in 1991-2 coincidingwith the elevation of Carl Rackemann to the club captaincy and did not disappoint, scoring 195 runs at21.66 in two day games as well as a double century opening partnership at Bottomley Park with PaulEveringham when he scored 127 not out in a one day game. A further 657 runs at 43.80 next seasonelevated him into the state squad for the following season, and for a pre season trial match when AllanBorder was injured, the best eleven. Andrew top scored in this game. After a couple of lean seasonsand the two seasons at Ashgrove, Andrew came back to his best in 1999-2000 and 2000-1 scoring morethan 800 runs in all matches in the latter season.In many ways Andrew has been a better batsman technically in recent seasons than when he was in thestate squad in 1993-5. On his day he can thrash the best bowlers and is a delight to watch at work. Healso is an aggressive ground fielder and particularly early in his career was an active participant in theart of “mental disintegration” of opposing batsmen.At number three in this team is Jim Hunter who scored 2474 runs at 26.04 in 12 seasons for the clubcommencing in first grade in 1975-6. Earlier he had come up through the juniors. Jim was an elegantupper order batsman with sweet timing and an excellent slips catcher. He was captain of QueenslandthColts and 12 man for Queensland. In 1989-90 Jim dropped down to second grade and scored 530 runsat 88.33. Jim went on to become a Queensland Cricket Coach and Assistant State Coach, playing animportant role in the development of many of the players who have won five of the last eight SheffieldShield/Pura Milk Cup/Pura Cups for Queensland. Together with his brother, Jim developed a cricketcomputer software programme that greatly assisted John Buchanan in his stints as Queensland andAustralian coach. Jim left Queensland Cricket in 2000 to market the software full-time to other sportsas well as cricket.At number four is Ross Lupton, a player who commenced in third grade in 1991-2 as a 16 year old andimmediately made a habit of scoring centuries in this grade. His first grade debut was in 1996-7. By2002 Ross had scored more than 2000 runs for the club and at times must have been very close tomaking the state second eleven. He had performed so well for the Glamorgan second XI on his offseason trips to UK that he would undoubtedly have become a first XI player if he had chosen to live inthe UK and undertaken residential qualification. Despite marrying a Welsh girl, Ross chose to returnpermanently to Australia and was appointed assistant groundsman at Graceville. In 2001-2 the harderwickets and consequent higher scores in 2001-2 were a tribute to his diligence.Ross also is a stylish batsman and is capable of scoring runs against the very best bowlers operatingunder favourable conditions as he did against Kaprowicz and Jackson in 1996-7. Ross can be a veryhandy fast bowler, generating surprising pace at times but in recent years, back injuries have curtailedthis aspect of his game.The number five position goes to Peter Cameron who was recruited from Brunswick Heads as an 18year old in 1987-8 by John Bell. Despite a disappointing first season, Peter went on to score 2259 firstgrade runs at 28.28. He became club coach in 1997-8 and was at the helm during the successful 2001-2season. Unselfishly Peter curtailed his own playing career in an attempt to help others.Peter’s first grade batting average was higher than others who played for the state, being proof of hisconsistency. Either because of the quality of the wicket or the personalities of the opposition players,Peter reserved his best for matches at Deagon, scoring two of his four centuries and a 90 on this ground.Peter had a sound defence and was an excellent hooker. During his best years it was felt he was veryclose to the state second eleven team.At number six in this team is Brett Stephensen who scored 2750 runs at 25.94 and took 170 wickets at30.3 between 1985-6 and 1997-8. Brett came from Beaudesert at the start of the John Bell era and wasone of the longest survivors from that season. His career highlight was in playing a match for