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Opinion

The power of 16 to Western Australia

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Roar Rookie
20th April, 2022
38

I need to apologise. When I wrote my first article on WA and their 16 championships in Pura Milk or Dan Marsh Cup, it was supposed to lead to a dynasty of WA articles.

How wrong I was as it quickly turned into a series about NSW.

While NSW certainly do deserve the praise, love and admiration of everyone, sadly this article isn’t about NSW.

This is about WA. This is about 16 of their best and (Ray) Brightest and the number 16. Well, not including Ray Bright. Obviously.

So let’s begin.

NSW won their 16th Pura Cup saucer in ’22-23, two-state NSW bowler Will Bitty averaged 16 with the bat, Ned Gregory played 16 first-class games for NSW… 

Oh bugger. Jeez Louise, Zeez. This is supposed to be about WA. Not NSW.

Let’s try again.

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Western Australia pose with the Sheffield Shield.

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Who better to start with than the bloke with the most famous 16 in WA history, HH (sorry Bob) Massie.

Bob Massie has the most famous 16 for a westerner in Tests. He also scored a total of 16 runs in ODIs with a highest score of 16 not out. In Tests he averaged 16 when batting number 11.

Ken MacLeay played 16 ODIs, Graham Watson was the 16th player picked to play a ODI for Australia, Jhye Richardson has played 16 T20s and Cameron Bancroft has taken 16 Test catches.

Terry Alderman’s Test bowling strike rate at the WACA is 16. He also played in 16 winning Test matches and he took 16 wickets in the ’91 Ashes series.

Adam Gilchrist scored 16 centuries in ODIs. And his loss percentage as Test captain was 16.66 per cent. 

Ric Charlesworth, Olympic hockey silver medallist (player) and gold medallist (coach), scored 16 first-class half centuries for WA.

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Rod Marsh scored 16 Test half centuries and hit 16 sixes in Tests. Marsh’s Test average in Pakistan was 16.

Rodney Marsh

(Photo by S&G/PA Images via Getty Images)

Joel Paris made his debut for WA in under-16s. In ODIs he has bowled 16 overs after making his debut in 2016. He’s also taken 16 wickets in the BBL and scored 16 in the first innings of the Pura Milk final this year.

Bruce Reid and Tom Moody were both 16 feet tall.

Luke Ronchi played his last Test in 2016 and scored 16 first-class hundreds. He blasted 16 fours in his score of 119 against minnows England.

He also hit a T20 half century off 16 balls in Minnowland and his highest score batting at five in ODIs was 16.

Cameron Green has taken 16 Test wickets and in the recent Test series against Pakistan he hit 16 boundaries. His best bowling figures in T20s are 2-16.

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Cameron Green celebrates.

(Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

I need to take a breath for numbers 15 and, of course, 16…

In his Test career Mitchell Johnson bowled 16,001 legal deliveries, was not out 16 times, took four wickets in an innings 16 times, took 16 Test wickets under the captaincy of Steve Smith and had a batting average of 16 when batting at ten.

In ODIs he had a batting average of 16. He took 35 wickets against the Windies in 16 innings, and he took 80 wickets in 16 Tests with Ryan Harris.

Dennis Lillee also had 16 innings against the West Indies, averaged 16 with the bat in Tests in New Zealand.

DK Lillee scored a total of 16 runs in Tests in 1971. His aluminium bat was 16 inches long, weighed 16 Swan Lagers (in the old scale) and he flung it 16 cubits. He also threatened to strike Javed Miandad 16 times.

So to all you westerners from the west of us: congrats to the power of 16.

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Coming up: yet more WA glory. Westerners who dominated in World Cup wins for Australia.

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