Bulldog cricket stats

[worbod]

Another footy season is now upon us, but it would be fair to assume many of us also enjoy the summer game. I felt like creating a thread which shows some of the cricketing skills displayed by former Bulldog players over the years. Feel free to add any other names and stats you know about.


George Tribe (66 games 1940-1946)

The Bulldog who played the most cricket at the highest level would have to be George Tribe. He played only three Tests during the 1946-47 Ashes series and finished with just 2 wickets at an average of 165, but he could claim that he played alongside Bradman (and Miller, Lindwall, Morris and Hassett). After failing to gain further Test selection over the next few seasons Tribe decided to try gaining a Lancashire League contract. After being successful in doing so he also became a regular for Northamptonshire in county cricket between 1951 and 1959, securing 1000 runs and 100 wickets in the same season 7 times.

These are some main cricket stats for George Tribe:

BATTING

Level	Matches	Innings	Not out​	Highest	RUNS​	Avge​	100​	50​	Ct​
First class	308​	454​	82​	136*​	10177​	27.35​	7​	48​	242​
Melbourne district cricket	108​	100​	26​	104*​	1382​	18.67​	1​	3​	57​
Lancashire League	59​	52​	15​	92*​	1596​	43.13​	0​	14​	26​
TOTALS	475​	606​	123​	136*​	13155​	27.23​	8​	65​	325​

BOWLING

Level	Runs	WICKETS	Avge​	Best​	5wi​	10wm​
First class	28321​	1378​	20.55​	9-43​	93​	23​
Melbourne district cricket	5063​	329​	15.38​	8-49​	30​	3​
Lancashire League	2464​	247​	9.97​	8-27​	31​	0​
TOTALS	35848​	1954​	18.34​	9-43​	154​	26​

Tribe also played league cricket in England for Milnrow but I have not been able to find any stats for him with this club.

Tribe played his Melbourne district cricket for Colts and North Melbourne. Tribe also played sub-district cricket for Yarraville after retiring from first class cricket. All I have been able to discover from the sub-district website (Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association) about his time there are some seasonal records showing that he took 69 wickets (at 7.24) in 1960-61, 69 wickets (9.98) in 1961-62, 56 wickets (7.89) in 1962-63 and 50 wickets (13.86) in 1964-65 (aged 45). His best bowling for Yarraville was 8-43 against Oakleigh in the 1961-62 semi-final. He had taken 5-42 in the first innings. When Tribe’s known Yarraville stats are added on to his above figures he totals 2198 wickets at an average of 17.36.
Melbourne district cricket A-grade stats are available here:

Victorian Premier Cricket


George Tribe 8 wickets in an innings

9-43 Northamptonshire vs Worcestershire, Northampton, 1958
9-45 Victoria vs Queensland, Brisbane, 1945-46
9-45 Northamptonshire vs Yorkshire, Bradford, 1955
9-50 Commonwealth XI vs Bengal Governor’s XI, Calcutta, 1949-50
8-9 Northamptonshire vs Yorkshire, Northampton, 1958
8-23 Commonwealth XI vs Bombay Governor’s XI, Bombay, 1950-51
8-27 Rawtenstall vs Church, Rawtenstall, 1951
8-40 Rawtenstall vs Accrington, Accrington, 1950
8-43 Yarraville vs Oakleigh, 1961-62
8-45 Rawtenstall vs Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall, 1951
8-49 North Melbourne vs Essendon, Windy Hill, 1944-45
8-53 Northamptonshire vs Nottinghamshire, Nottingham, 1959
8-56 Rawtenstall vs Church, Rawtenstall, 1950
8-59 North Melbourne vs Prahran, Toorak Park, 1941-42
8-80 North Melbourne vs Prahran, Princes Park, 1944-45
8-88 Northamptonshire vs Yorkshire, Bradford, 1954

 

[worbod]

Harry Frei (6 games 1973)

Although Harry Frei played only 6 games, he can claim to have played football with Gary Dempsey, Bernie Quinlan, Barry Round, Laurie Sandilands, Alan Stoneham and Adrian “Gags” Gallagher.

Cricket-wise, Harry Frei is remembered for his startling debut in first class cricket. Batting at number 9 for Queensland against the touring English team, Frei top-scored by smacking 57 off 37 balls, his 50 arriving after 24 balls. He helped add 65 for the eighth wicket, Queensland’s highest partnership of the innings. Frei also took 2-76 and 3-31, dismissing David Gower in each innings as Queensland recorded an easy win.

Frei’s whirlwind knock remained his only 50 in 37 first class games. Frei’s family emigrated to Australia from Germany and before settling in Queensland the Frei family had lived in Victoria and Tasmania, where Frei developed his appreciation of Australian football.

Frei’s first class record is:

BATTING

Matches	Innings	not out	Highest	Runs	Average	50	Catches
37	42	5	57	489	13.21	1	19

BOWLING

Balls	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Best	5wi
7330	299	3458	91	38.00	6-52	2

All one-day games for Queensland:

Matches	Innings	not out	Highest	Runs	Average	Catches
13	6	3	5	10	3.33	4

Balls	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Best
696	18	434	13	33.38	2-17

In Queensland club cricket for Toombul Harry Frei bowled 15531 balls, 548 maidens, 6721 runs, and took 282 wickets for an average of 23.83.

His best bowling for Toombul came in the 1978-79 A-grade final against Northern Suburbs. In the four-day game Frei captured 5-62 and 8-36 and with the bat scored 1 and 28. His knock in the second innings helped add 54 for the eighth wicket, but Toombul then lost 3 for 2 to lose to Northern Suburbs by just 4 runs.

 

[worbod]

Jack Collins (154 games 1950-1958)

Footscray’s full forward in our 1954 premiership team who kicked seven goals in the big one and became the first Bulldog to top the league goal kicking in the process. Collins played first grade cricket for Footscray during the 1951-52 season. He played 5 games for 110 runs (22.00), took 6 wickets at 28.16 and held 2 catches.

 

[worbod]

Allan Hopkins (151 games 1925-1934)

Footscray’s first star player when we began playing in the VFL. Hopkins played 4 A-grade district cricket games for North Melbourne in 1932-33.
He scored 66 runs at 16.50, obtained one wicket and one catch.

 

[worbod]

Arthur Olliver (272 games 1935-1950)


The first Bulldog to reach 250 games, Olliver served as Footscray coach, captain, won two Best and Fairests and topped our goal kicking three times. Olliver played 10 A-grade Melbourne district games for three teams. He represented Essendon in 1933-34, then North Melbourne in 1944-45 and then Footscray in 1949-50. Olliver scored 52 runs at 4.72, took one wicket and held 4 catches. Olliver also played 19 sub-district games for Footscray between 1932-33 and 1935-36 and 82 games for Yarraville between 1936-37 and 1946-47.

Olliver’s centuries for Yarraville:

163 versus Preston, 1939-40
128 versus Brighton, 1937-38
125 versus Williamstown, 1937-38
114 versus Hawthorn-East Melbourne, 1937-38

Olliver scored 722 runs during 1937-38 with an average of 51.57.
Also that season he shared a fifth wicket partnership of 175 with Bob Nettleton against Camberwell.

 

[worbod]

Shane Loveless (28 games 1979-1981)

Scorer of over 2000 goals in all senior football.

Loveless played two A-grade cricket games for North Melbourne in 1979-80, scoring 3 in his only innings and taking 5 cheap wickets at 17.20.

Loveless also played three games representing the Sale-Maffra Cricket Association in 1977-78. He scored 16 runs from his two innings and took 7 wickets, but this does include a return of 5-42 versus the Alberton League from 13 overs.
Loveless played one traceable game for Wurruk in 1991-92. He did not bat but took 1-45 from 16 overs.
Loveless has also been given a five-year service award for being an umpire in the Sale-Maffra Cricket Association.

 

[worbod]

Alex Keath

42

Alex Keath

Age

32

Ht

198cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.0

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

5.1

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.5

3star

MG

206.7

3star

D

11.0

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.6

1star

MG

193.4

3star

D

11.4

3star

K

6.2

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

165.0

3star

(56 Bulldogs games 2020-2022)

After George Tribe it seems Keath is the Bulldog who has played the most professional level cricket, although Harry Frei played more first class cricket.
Before consolidating his football career Keath played seven first class games for Victoria between 2010-11 and 2014-15, played Big Bash for the Melbourne Stars and represented Australia in one-day games at Under-19 level in the 2010 World Cup. He played for Kialla in Shepparton district cricket, played A-grade district cricket in Melbourne and has also played a few seasons of league cricket in England.

These are some main cricket stats for Alex Keath

42

Alex Keath

Age

32

Ht

198cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.0

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

5.1

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.5

3star

MG

206.7

3star

D

11.0

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.6

1star

MG

193.4

3star

D

11.4

3star

K

6.2

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

165.0

3star

:

BATTING

Level	Matches	Innings	Not out	Highest	RUNS​	Avge​	100​	50​	Ct​
First class	7​	11​	1​	46​	174​	17.40​	0​	0​	5​
Domestic one-day games	16​	13​	0​	55​	250​	19.23​	0​	1​	15​
T 20	5​	3​	0​	30​	40​	13.33​	0​	0​	2​
Australia under-19	10​	10​	1​	88​	284​	31.55​	0​	2​	3​
South Australia under-23	2​	4​	1​	105*​	204​	68.00​	1​	1​	1​
Melbourne district cricket	78​	76​	16​	105*​	2101​	35.01​	2​	15​	50​
Shepparton district	48​	40​	3​	84​	1216​	32.86​	0​	8​	27​
Home Counties Premier League Division 1	12​	11​	1​	139*​	566​	56.60​	3​	2​	7​
Southern Premier League	16​	16​	3​	149*​	601​	46.23​	3​	0​	6​
Birmingham Premier League	20​	20​	3​	246​	1036​	60.94​	1​	8​	13​
TOTALS	214​	204​	29​	246​	6472​	36.98​	10​	37​	129​

BOWLING

Level	Balls	Maidens	Runs	WICKETS	Avge	Best	5wi	10wm	Strike rate
First class	126​	4​	73​	4​	18.25​	2-2​	0​	0​	31.50​
Domestic one-day games	138​	1​	98​	3​	32.66​	2-15​	0​	0​	46.00​
T 20	6​	0​	27​	0​	​	​	​	​	​
Australia under-19	173​	0​	163​	8​	20.37​	3-34​	0​	​	21.62​
South Australia under-23	12​	1​	6​	0​	​	​	​	​	​
Melbourne district cricket	2158​	53​	1550​	79​	19.62​	6-70​	1​	0​	27.31​
Shepparton district	1172​	33​	702​	45​	15.60​	7-62​	2​	0​	​
Home Counties Premier League Division 1	650​	15​	409​	10​	40.90​	3-91​	0​	0​	65.00​
Southern Premier League	1260​	37​	734​	31​	23.67​	7-42​	1​	0​	40.64​
Birmingham Premier League	658​	10​	513​	20​	25.65​	6-19​	1​	0​	32.90​
TOTALS	6353​	154​	4275​	200​	21.37​	7-42​	5​	0​	31.76​

Keath represented Melbourne in Melbourne district cricket between 2009-10 and 2013-14. His sole century was 105* versus Fitzroy-Doncaster in 2010-11. He took 4-44 and scored 50* to help Melbourne win the 2012-13 premiership against Ringwood.

Keath played for Bishop’s Stortford in the Home Counties Premier League in England during 2012. Keath’s centuries this season were:

139* versus Welwyn Garden City, 141 balls, 11 fours, 3 sixes
106 versus Henley, 124 balls, 4 fours, 6 sixes
101 versus Tring Park, 122 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes

Keath played for Bournemouth in the Southern Premier League in England during 2013. His centuries this season were:

149* versus St. Cross Symondians, 165 balls, 16 fours, 6 sixes
123 versus South Wilts, 142 balls, 13 fours, 6 sixes
116* versus Ventnor, 147 balls, 6 fours, 5 sixes

His best bowling analysis of 7-42 was taken off 24 overs with 11 maidens versus Hampshire Cricket Academy.

Keath played for Knowle and Dorridge in the Birmingham Premier League in England during 2015. His score of 246 came off 165 balls and contained 29 fours and 11 sixes. When taking his best bowling figures of 6-19 he also caught two other batters, helping dismiss eight of the opposition that innings.

 

[worbod]

Robbie McComb (15 games 2022)

One of our first-year players has been donning the whites for Ferntree Gully Footballers in the Ferntree Gully District Association since he was 14 years old. The cricket club’s website has the stats for McComb at all age levels since 2009-10. Since then McComb has played metropolitan cricket for Ferntree Gully Footballers, Kingston-Hawthorn, Croydon, Ferntree Gully, Mountain Gate and Vermont.

BATTING

Club	Matches	Innings	Not out	Highest	RUNS​	Avge​	100​	50​	Ct​
Ferntree Gully Footballers	80​	72​	17​	79*​	1427​	25.94​	0​	9​	37​
Kingston-Hawthorn	4​	4​	1​	66*​	102​	34.00​	0​	1​	2​
Croydon	5​	3​	2​	20​	35​	35.00​	0​	0​	5​
Ferntree Gully	1​	1​	0​	39​	39​	39.00​	0​	0​	0​
Mountain Gate	2​	2​	1​	44​	46​	46.00​	0​	0​	0​
Vermont	8​	6​	0​	57​	95​	15.83​	0​	1​	1​
TOTALS	100​	88​	21​	79*​	1744​	26.02​	0​	11​	45​

BOWLING

Club	Balls	Maidens	Runs	WICKETS	Avge	Best	5wi	10wm	Strike rate
Ferntree Gully Footballers	1916​	50​	1007​	45​	22.37​	5-19​	1​	0​	42.57​
Kingston-Hawthorn	0​	​	​	​	​	​	​	​	​
Croydon	96​	3​	36​	1​	36.00​	1-17​	0​	0​	96.00​
Ferntree Gully	42​	0​	24​	2​	12.00​	2-24​	0​	0​	21.00​
Mountain Gate	24​	0​	17​	1​	17.00​	1-17​	0​	0​	24.00​
Vermont	27​	1​	14​	1​	14.00​	1-14​	0​	0​	27.00​
TOTALS	2105​	54​	1098​	50​	21.96​	5-19​	1​	0​	42.10​

McComb’s highest partnership for Ferntree Gully Footballers is 132 for the second wicket with Luke McComb (Robbie’s twin brother I presume?) against Lysterfield in 2011-12.

Century partnerships
132 2nd wicket, Robbie (53) with Luke McComb (58) Ferntree Gully Footballers vs Lysterfield, 2011-12
121 4th wicket, Robbie (66*) with Jack Armour (58*) Kingston-Hawthorn vs Casey-South Melbourne, 2012-13

 

[worbod]

Easton Wood

10

Easton Wood

Age

34

Ht

187cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.0

4star

K

8.0

3star

HB

6.1

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

217.0

3star

D

11.2

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

4.2

3star

M

4.3

4star

T

1.2

2star

MG

154.0

3star

D

12.8

4star

K

6.4

3star

HB

6.4

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.8

4star

(188 games 2008-2021)

The first Bulldog player many of us would have seen hoisting a premiership cup aloft (along with Bob of course, who was dressed in his civvies). After retiring from AFL Wood reconnected with his junior cricket club, Pomborneit. His career figures as given on the club’s website:

Matches	Innings	not out	Highest	RUNS​	Avge​	Catches​
38​	35​	6​	31​	238​	8.20​	17​

WICKETS​	Runs​	Avge​	Best​	5wi​
33​	649​	19.66​	6-20​	1​

 

[bobs head soup]

Other ex Bulldogs who played first class cricket were Les Stillman and Bruce Duperouzel.

 

[weltschmerz]

James O'Donnell arrives.

 

[Iamspock]

He's a very good all-rounder, an aggressive batman, and a medium/fast bowler. He batted down the order in the firsts, but higher up in the seconds. He stopped playing cricket during this past season, in order to grab his chance at the Dogs. I'm glad it's paying off for him.

James O'Donnell arrives.