At one stage at the peak of his career James Thomas Arthur ‘‘Whitty’’ Whitbourne was described as ‘‘the best known player in Victorian country cricket.’’
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One report even stated he was ‘‘boasting a record that would never be challenged.’’
That might be the case too, even though it’s well over a century since the man they called ‘‘Whitty’’ started terrorising batsmen, firstly in the suburbs of inner Melbourne and then in the Kyabram and District Cricket Association for over three decades at the start of the 20th century.
Details of Whitty’s bowling career in his days in inner Melbourne suburbs in the mid-1890s and with the Lancaster and Kyabram Cricket Club from 1908 to the end of the 1930-31 season are mind boggling to say the least.
The best way to get an idea of the magnitude of his feats as a wily spin bowler can be assessed by comparing his records with the most successful bowlers of today.
At the top level in the Goulburn Murray Cricket and Cricket Shepparton competitions 50 wickets or less for the season today normally wins the award for most wickets.
And over the past 30 years or so the association’s top wicket taker for the season has often fallen well short of that tally.
In Whitty’s 10 years of fantastic feats with Kyabram Cricket Club he took 100 wickets or more in a Kyabram District Cricket Association season on five occasions.
These included a somewhat staggering 169 victims at a cost of 1047 runs at the incredible average of 6.2 runs per wicket in the 1924-25 season.
His recorded bowling history to then revealed he had claimed 2288 wickets at a cost of 15,040 runs and average of 6.6 runs.
Any bowler worth his salt will verify that’s an insane average over such a lengthy period.
His 2000th wicket came up on the final ball of the final over and final match of the 1927-28 season playing for the Kyabram Wednesday’s against his former club Lancaster.
Some old timers just might remember whose wicket it was - another wily spinner called Bill Payne who played cricket with Lancaster into his 60s and into the 1960s.
By the time he had finished his career in 1940 at the age of 60 the man they called ‘‘Whitty’’ had taken over 3000 wickets.
NEXT UP IN GUS UNDERWOOD’S FREAKISH SPORTING FEATS: PAUL MCGANN (CRICKET)
Former Koyuga cricketer Paul McGann’s extraordinary 1987 batting feat in the former Kyabram District Cricket Association’s B-grade competition was one for The Unbelievable portfolio.
McGann made 73 that day against Stanhope.
His team made 74.
– Read Gus Underwood’s take on McGann’s ‘Freakish Sporting Feat’ in next Friday’s News.
Two former KDCA warriors Alex Ranson who played into his late 70s with Tatura and then Cooma and James Thomas Arthur Whitbourne who rewrote the record books in the KDCA in the early 1900s.
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