IT’S an Australian cricket tour of the West Indies, with a difference.
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A group of University past and current players have worn the whites on the famous Kensington Oval, as part of an international golden oldies carnival.
Only days beforehand, the West Indies had won a Test at the Barbados ground, a series claimed by Pakistan in the third and final match on Monday morning in Dominica.
The carnival included a chance to meet some of the West Indian greats, including Wes Hall, Gordon Greenidge, Sir Garfield Sobers and Mike Proctor. University won both matches, including a thrilling one-wicket triumph, with former club coach Mark Mulready, now living in the Netherlands, playing a starring role.
It was also a chance for squad member Julian Hall to pay tribute to the late Wollongong cricket talent Glenn Tobin.
Tobin played alongside Franklyn Stephenson, who had a long English County career and is regarded as one of the greatest never to play Test cricket, due to his involvement of the rebel tour to South Africa. Stephenson now runs a cricket academy in Barbados, but has a special connection with Tobin, who passed away in 2001.
“I walked into the dressing room area and placed my kit down to get changed,” Hall said. “I looked up and there was a team photo with Glen ‘Spud’ Tobin smiling straight at me. Franklyn Stephenson saw me staring at the photo and came over to introduce himself.
“We won two seasons in a row with that team in England – we were unbeatable man.”