‘ “Wild Bill”…the street-fighter in flannels’…by KB Hill

The author’s resolutely mediocre sporting career was plied mainly in and around the North-East of Victoria.

Memories still abound, of the stars and characters we were lucky enough to play with and against – many of whom have featured in this column over the years.

It was during a brief sporting ‘odyssey’, to Darwin, via Brisbane, more than a half a century ago, that we connected with several more……..

One of them was a fellah they dubbed ‘Wild Bill’………..

 

 

People of his ilk are priceless in sporting clubs ………Larger-than-life personalities who play their heart out on the field, then set the agenda for the post-match social activities.

Billy Albury was probably at his peak when I came across him……..A slightly-built, bustling, red-haired, fast-medium firebrand, who was the bowling spearhead of a struggling Queensland Cricket Association club, Balmoral-Wynnum.

But his rise to sporting prominence had been something of a ‘Boy’s Own’ story in itself………..

 

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It wasn’t all beer and skittles for Bill and his ten siblings, Margaret, Shirley, Bob, Kevin, Neville, Graham, Trevor, Alan, Terry and Barry…….

Bill was just 6 when his dad was hit by a train, and lost both of his legs……..”He ended up having a ridiculous amount of blood transfusions – about thirty-five or forty….He was a tough bastard, but we eventually lost him when I was around 18………” he says.

“Mum died early in the piece too, so the younger kids had to rely on the older ones to look after ‘em……….We pretty much did what we wanted, as long as we didn’t get into trouble with the coppers……..Schoolwork missed out badly, but we all ended up okay…..”

Bill’s sporting fascination was with cricket – and baseball……..

He grew up in Norman Park, an inner-city Brisbane suburb, not far from Wynnum Memorial Park.

He recalls, at age 14, walking down the road, cricket boots slung over his shoulder, when a bloke watering his front lawn called out to him: “Where are you heading young fellah ?”

“I’m gonna catch a tram to Woollangabba and go to Eastern Suburbs training…….I’m hoping to play with their C-Grade team……” was Bill’s reply.

“You can’t do that……Come down to Balmoral-Wynnum……This is our first year in District cricket….When I finish doing this I’ll take you down to practice…..”

“It was my future father-in-law, Jim Chapman…..He was a key figure in the club, and did a lot of the groundwork to get them into the competition.”

 

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Billy’s rise was meteoric…..

He captured 57 wickets @ 7.00 in the U.16’s that year……Within two years he was elevated from ‘D’, to B-Grade, before being rapidly promoted to the A-Grade side, aged 16…..

Two years later, he was picked to play for a Queensland Under 24 XI, and cleaned up a talented New South Wales batting line-up.

“Usually what happened in those days was that if you performed well in that game you were getting close to Shield selection…….” Bill says.

“Then I get a ‘phone call from the QCA: ‘Listen Bill, you’ve been picked for the next Shield game, but we’ve got a problem.’…..I said: ‘What’s that ?’……..

“Your boss is not real happy…..He can’t afford to give you the time off…….We need you to make a decision about whether you’re available…..”

“I was doing my apprenticeship at Bucknor Printing, and was a bit wet behind the ears……I didn’t know what to do.” Bill explained……..”Trouble is, you come from a big family, and it’s important to get a trade. behind you……….I said: ‘Looks like I’m out’. “

“That was the end of it……..I didn’t hear from ‘em again for six years…..”

He remained at, or near, the top, of the QCA wicket-takers list during all that time, but it seemed like he was a ‘forgotten man’.

“It was an opportunity lost,” he says. “I’d have got to play with fellahs like Wally Grout, ‘Slasher’ Mackay and all those other jokers, and would have picked up a hell of a lot……I’d have been in a better position to handle it……..At 18, I was bowling pretty quick…. at 23-24 I was a fast-medium trundler.”

 

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In that period Bill played Grade cricket with Balmoral-Wynnum in summer, and baseball in winter.

He and his brothers Kevin, Alan and Barry all represented Queensland in Baseball’s national Claxton Shield competition.

“Al’s in the Australian Baseball Hall of Fame, and Kev should be……..” he says……”I’m biased, I know, but Kev’s the best player I’ve seen pick up a baseball…….He was the first guy from Queensland to represent Australia.”

“Al was a freak; played for Australia at 17…..He once pitched a game against defending champions Cuba at the World titles in Japan, which earned him international recognition……Cuba won the game narrowly, 3-1, but those in the know reckoned he had a Major League Baseball arm……He was a pitcher that batted.”

“When Al gave it away they retired his number, such was his standing in the game …Barry’s son, James, signed a contract to play with the Boston Red Sox……As for me, when they changed the Baseball season from winter to summer, it clashed with cricket, and I never got around to playing another game.”

 

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Baseball experts told Bill he should have stuck at it, but his sporting dream had been to play just one Sheffield Shield game.

His long-awaited debut came at the ‘Gabba, in late 1970, against the pride of New South Wales…….

“All my mates turned up……The Balmoral-Wynnum blokes were gathered on the Hill….I was so bloody nervous when they threw me the ball……Dougie Walters had not long returned from National Service, and was facing me at the other end……”

“First ball, I decided to test him with an out-swinger………Four runs……The next three balls he’s put his foot down the pitch and sent them to the cover boundary with the utmost disrespect….”

“I thought: ‘Shit, if I don’t cut it here I won’t be around for too long…..What am I gonna do ? So I decided: ‘I bowl a pretty good in-swinger…..I’ll try it…..I rolled it down, and it’s knocked his off-stump out of the ground………Geez, was I relieved…….”

“With that I ended up getting four wickets, and scored 20-odd runs…….That got me another game; but I went within a couple of shots of being a one-game-wonder…….”

Future Test left-arm quick Tony Dell shared his first Shield appearance for the Maroons with Bill Albury, and later remarked what a great team-man his new-ball partner had been…..

“He just bowled his heart out every day…….did a bit this way and that, and kept knocking blokes over. What fantastic company he was…..Bill would have us in stitches with his down-to-earth opinions. “

Dell and Albury combined to rout a strong West Australian batting line-up in one ‘Gabba match……They bowled unchanged in the second innings to dismiss the Sandgropers for 54 in just 16 overs.

 

 

Albury finished with an eight-wicket haul for the match, whilst Dell chimed in with seven.

But Bill reckoned playing against the ‘Vic’s’ always managed to draw something extra out of his team-mates.

“I had my most enjoyable game against the bastards……Got Sheahan, Bedford, Lawry and Redpath……’Delly’ had broken down, and I had to bowl heaps of overs…….It was a good match…….Trouble was, there weren’t enough of ‘em…..”

It seems to me that, as a seamer he’d have been well-suited to English conditions……Did he ever contemplate having a season or two over there ?

“Nah…..Work was always the problem….I was running big Printing machinery at that stage…..Even used to take part of my Holidays to play Shield games….”

“But I did have a pretty good season in ‘71/72…..There was a rumour that if a bowler pulled out of the Ashes squad I was a chance for selection..”

 

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His club-mates were at the ‘Gabba one Sunday when Bill produced another of his marathon bowling performances…..(5/108 off 26.5 overs) also against Victoria.

“We got ‘em out in the last session…….I was absolutely knackered…..I said to Johnny Maclean ( the skipper): “Mind if I go up on the Hill and have a chat to the boys ?”

“I’d already had a couple of stubbies, when Malcolm Francke and Geoff Dymock came up to me…….’Wubby’, ‘Macca’ wants you back. He needs you to be Nightwatchman.”

“I said: ‘Bugger that; You pricks have been keen on my spot up the order for a while ….Here’s your chance to prove yourselves’….Maclean wasn’t too impressed when I got back to the rooms.”

Bill played his last Sheffield Shield game in February 1974. Greg Chappell was in his first season in the Sunshine State, and they needed to toss New South Wales at the SCG. They just fell short.

“I picked up a few wickets, but was starting to feel a few things in the body……I’d had a reasonable run, so I called it a day…….’Thomo’ (Jeff Thomson) came up the next season, and away they went.”

Bill finished his first-class career with 28 Sheffield Shield games, and two Internationals, against New Zealand and the Rest of the World. He was also selected for an Australian Second XI team which played in New Guinea.

 

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Bill had one more season of A-Grade cricket before sustaining stress fractures in the back…….For the following five years he played in the lower grades as a batsman/ change bowler, before sorting out his back problems and returning to A-Grade at the age of 35.

Balmoral-Wynnum had, by now, changed their name to Wynnum-Manly, to best represent their catchment area, and the battling side began to experience continued success.

His return coincided with a terrific run. Players of the calibre of Carl Rackemann, John Maguire, Greg Ritchie and Wayne Broad came through the ranks and the Club had managed to entice the competitions first playing-coach, John Bell.

The QCA’s former ‘ugly duckling’ had become a pace-setter. They won three successive flags in the early eighties, and the veteran Albury was a key figure in each of them.

“We trailed on the first innings in each game,” Bill recalls:

Wynnum-Manly Cricket Club: QCA Premiers 1980/81.

 

“Probably the most memorable was a match against Souths…….They’d arranged for Greg Chappell, who’d arrived home from a Test Tour to New Zealand, to play the last two days of the four-day game.”

“They had us by the balls….We came out on the Sunday morning with smoke coming out of our ears, needing 240 to win….. Chappell opened the bowling…..and kept bowling……Finished with 1/100-odd.”

“The boys just smashed ‘em, and we won with 3-4 overs to go…..It was a great game…..”

Bill continued in A-Grade until he was 40, then continued to captain sides in the lower Grades.

He was 55 when he called it quits….

“The only reason I gave it away was that, when we won the 6th Grade Premiership – which I captained – most of the team were under-aged, so the Manager took ‘em to McDonald’s to celebrate.”

“I said to Marg (his wife): ‘That’s it. We’ve won a flag and I had no-one to have a beer with.”

Wynnum-Manly named their home ground, ‘The Bill Albury Oval’ in honour of the old champ.

 

 

 

Bill had played 42 years with his beloved Club. He was Wynnum-Manly’s Club Person of the Year in 1985/86 and ‘86/87. He took a mammoth 932 wickets and scored 6,744 runs in all Grades.

 Included in this were 507 wickets and 2,349 runs in A-Grade.

“Tony Dell and Andy Bichel are two other fellahs who took more than 500 QCA wickets. ……I said: ‘If I hadn’t missed those five years with my crook back I’d have taken 700…….Then no bastard would have caught me….”

 

Footnote:

Billy Albury’s former coach John Bell, at a celebration of his career, described him as ‘The epitome of what a cricketer can, and should be, to his Club:

“It is ironic that poor administration and the lack of an appropriate mentor almost certainly cost him the Baggy Green cap of Australia when he was scandously forced to withdraw from the Queensland Shield team as an 18 year-old.

“I pay tribute to the way he played the game………From the first time we clashed, when I remember him diving hard to catch and bowl me for 99, despite it being his 29th 8-ball over…… Right through four decades of cricket, he has been a 100-per-center and the fiercest of competitors……A man you wanted in your Dressing-Room, and in the trenches……

 

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