Prahran History

PRAHRAN CRICKET CLUB FOUNDED 1879

Prahran Cricket Club has proved to be one of the finest clubs in Victorian District / Premier League cricket. Some of the greatest names in Victoria and Australian cricket, both on and off the field, have been part of the club.

Originally known as Hawksburn Cricket Club, the club changed their name to Prahran in 1906-07 at the end of the first year of the District cricket scheme. In its long and proud history the club has had only five presidents – Donald MacKinnon, Tom Chambers, Ernie Dwyer, Bob Parish and Ian Crawford. All are very highly regarded for the work they have done.

The club has four “home grown” Test cricketers – blacksmith Barlow Carkeek, parliamentarian Sam Loxton, international coach Dav Whatmore and businessman Julien Wiener. Ten other Test-men have also played at Prahran. The list is very impressive – David Smith, Don Blackie, Keith Rigg, Clarrie Grimmett, Doug Ring, Ross Duncan, Duncan Sharpe, John Embury, Simon Davis and Simon O’Donnell.

Eight players from the famous Victory Cup teams represented Victoria. Prahran won three premierships in a row from 1920-23 to qualify for the Cup. Their teams in this golden era remain some of the most talented in Victorian club history. Clarrie Grimmett took more than 200 wickets in just four seasons. The record final score of 688 against Collingwood in the 1921-22 final stills stands. Old fast bowler Percy Wallace remains one of the few to take all ten wickets in an innings.

There have been many memorable performances and performers. Gerald Healy hit more than 7500 runs for the club in a 20-year association. Bruce Murray took more than 400 wickets while Sam Loxton had more than 5000 runs and 300 wickets to be one of the best District all-rounders of all time. He played 77 times with Victoria and also played for Australia 12 times. Dav Whatmore played a record 108 times for Victoria, accumulating over 6000 first class runs to add to his Prahran record of 7994 career runs.

The club has had dozens and dozens of fine players. Three of the best were the Rush brothers, Harry, Eddie and Tommy – all whom became great players. H.R.Rush was even better renowned for his administrative work with the VCA (now Cricket Victoria) and the Australian Cricket Board of Control (Cricket Australia) at the turn of the 20th century. E.R.Rush holds the record for the highest individual score, 293 not out. Brother Tommy and Gerald Healy are the only other Hawksburn-Prahran players to make 200.

Hawksburn won two senior VCA premierships while Prahran have won seven. The last was 20 years ago when Dav Whatmore almost single handed won the 1983-84 final against Essendon when he blazed a remarkable 145 not out. Toorak Park, the clubs stronghold, is long considered one of the finest grounds in Premier League cricket, its pitch and facilities being first rate. The Stonnington Council (formerly City of Prahran), which was once an aboriginal settlement, has come a long way since missionary George Longhorne first came to the area. Its cricket club has a proud and respected history.

In recent years, Prahran has provided many state representatives at both the senior and under age levels. The pinnacle being in 2003-04 when Prahran provided a club record four representatives in the Victorian team – Jon Moss, David Hussey, Jason Arnberger and Bryce McGain all played against Western Australia at the Junction Oval. The club have also provided Australian World Youth Cup (U/19) representatives Michael Klinger (1997-98) and Cameron Huckett (2003-04) to continue its fine tradition of developing young talent.