Bowled over by chance to play against legends
HE PLAYED against the great West Indies team of 1975 and wishes his Queensland Country counterparts today were afforded the same privilege.
But Cairns cricket great Paul Gregory says the balance is right for Far North players to forge a pathway to elite level.
Gregory and Phil “Tracker” Minniecon were the deadliest opening bowling partnership in the region for Mulgrave in the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, which earned them multiple country honours.
But taking on the hugely popular Windies and later a New Zealand team featuring Sir Richard Hadlee were experiences most cricket tragics could only dream of.
“I played Clive Lloyd’s West Indies in 1975, the first tour a certain Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards played. Andy Roberts was in that team,” he said. “Then it was the Geoff Howarth Kiwis, Sir Richard Hadlee and Ewen Chatfield.
Gregory said it was something he wished the five Cricket Far North players chosen for Queensland Country recently could have experienced. However he said he was grateful for Queensland Cricket’s effort to engage more country players on the elite pathway.
“Forty or 50 years ago, there was a great gulf between country cricket and metropolitan cricket,” he said. “Back in those days if you didn’t play in Brisbane, you were never going to play for Queensland.
“But to their credit what Queensland Cricket has done is they’ve broken down those barriers to show that there are pathways for players. You look here and a guy who played for Mulgrave, Luke Feldman, same sort of career path, but now he’s playing state cricket.”
Gregory’s name adorns the main oval at the recently opened Walker Road Sports Complex, alongside that of his great mate Minniecon.
“I guess I piggybacked off Phil Minniecon a lot. He was a remarkable bowler.”