OUR HISTORY
The O’Connell Cricket Club has a long and distinguished history. Its members have included community leaders, an Australian Test Cricketer and a farming family who influenced the naming of a grandstand at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
While it was formerly established as a cricket club in 1880, records show that O’Connell were playing cricket matches from the early 1850’s. The first full match report discovered was from a match in O’Connell played in 1855, between a team of married men and a team of single men. The singles team included George Lee of ‘Leeholme’ and the married team included his brother Thomas Lee of ‘Woodlands’ (now known as Bundilla), who’s daughters Alice and May Lee were ultimately responsible for a grandstand at the Sydney Cricket Ground being named the Brewongle Stand.
Records also indicate a game was played against Kelso in 1862, but beyond that, we can only assume with good confidence that O’Connell played other fixtures between 1850 and 1880, due to archives lacking any other records of ‘organised matches’.
In 1880, the O’Connell Cricket Club was formally established and played a major part in bringing the community together through sport and social outings. In July 1904, eighty couples were reported to have attended the O’Connell Cricket Club’s annual ball, where historians found it important to note that the event kicked on until 5am, no doubt to set a benchmark for all future social gatherings!
In 1894, O’Connell were able to celebrate the achievements of one of their own, Tom McKibbin, who in that same year, was selected for both the NSW and Australian Test teams. Tom played for the O’Connell Cricket Club from 1892 to 1894 before coming to the attention of NSW and national selectors when he visited Sydney to play the annual Country Week Carnival. He was so successful that he was immediately included in the NSW team.
Tom was a right arm bowler who imparted tremendous spin to the ball and was able to bowl both off-breaks and leg-breaks to the astonishment of many. His first-class career statistics spanning a 5 year period are also impressive, securing 320 wickets at an average of 19.67 with best bowling figures of 9/68. He took 10 wickets in a match 11 times and took 5 wickets in an innings 28 times.
1897 signified another important date in our history considering the growth and importance of women’s cricket across the globe. It was in that year that a women’s cricket match was played between Tarana and O’Connell, whose team included four Purdon's.
While proud of our history, our members recognise their role in establishing the future history of our club, and are dedicated to fostering a sense of community, playing our cricket competitively and forging lifelong friendships along the way.
Thank you to Phil Derriman for his research on our history utilising the National Library of Australia's Trove collection of old newspapers.
