In 2018/19, the Bears established the Austin Punch Club for those who score centuries for Norths in any grade during the cricket season. The name came in recognition of our Club’s highest First Grade run scorer, Austin Punch, whose 9,075 runs @ 36.30, including a double century and 19 centuries, have been the benchmark for almost 90 years.
The photograph below captures the features of his batting style. He was a tall (183cm), attacking batsman with fast footwork, noted for his lengthy reach and powerful strokeplay through the offside, especially his square cuts and cover drives.
But, aside from being a prodigious run scorer, who was Austin Punch? With the generous help of Austin’s sons, John and Michael, we have been able to dig deeper into Austin’s central importance to the history of the North Sydney District Cricket Club (NSDCC).
A Family Affair
Austin was born in North Sydney in August 1894, the youngest of six children. He had three older brothers, Frank, Jim and Wallace, and two older sisters, Helen and Mary. Their father, Francis Punch, was the first Mayor of North Sydney (1890-1892). The family home still stands at 91 Ridge Street, directly opposite the St Leonards Park Basketball Court. Francis and his wife Sarah (nee Mooney) were both of strong Irish descent. Which raises an interesting question. How did three of their sons become so skilled at cricket, a traditionally English sport? Whatever the reason, they all played First Grade for the NSDCC. First was Jim (Cap 53) in 1898/99, then Frank (Cap 58) in 1899/1900, and finally Austin (Cap 123) in 1911/12. Imagine a Saturday night dinner at the Punch home in early 1900 with five-year-old Austin listening to his older brothers Frank (20) and Jim (18) describing their afternoon’s cricket at North Sydney Oval. Did he dream that one day he also might play First Grade?
Frank and Jim have both left enduring records in the NSDCC. In the 1900/01 season Frank scored an amazing 1,083 runs in Second Grade, which remains both the NSDCC and the NSWCA record for the Second Grade batting aggregate. As for Jim, he holds the NSDCC record for the batting average in Third Grade with an average of 93.80 in 1910/11. In that same season, Austin, now a 16-year-old student in Year 10 at St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, joined his 29-year-old brother Jim in Third Grade. Bowling his leg breaks and ‘wrong’uns’ (‘googlies’) he took 63 wickets, still the NSDCC record for the Third Grade bowling aggregate. Not surprisingly, the team won the Third Grade Premiership. In 1911/12 Austin claimed 5 wickets in 5 balls in a Third Grade match. Later that season, aged 17, he made his debut in First Grade.
First Grade
Austin’s first few seasons in First Grade were only moderately successful. It seems there was some uncertainty in his mind as to whether he was a bowler who could also bat, or a batsman who could also bowl. A problem that has confronted many talented young cricketers over the years! However, he must have shown promise because he was chosen in a NSW Combined First Grade Team to play a one-day match at the SCG against NSW Colts. The match took place on 1st January 1915, and what a great New Year’s Day Austin had: he failed with the bat (3), but his bowling figures were 19.2 – 3 – 7 – 46.
His batting came to the fore in 1916/17 when he scored 393 runs @ 28.07. After that season, he went from strength to strength: 750 runs @ 57.69 in 1917/18, 827 @ 63.61 in 1919/20, and 894 @ 67.00 in 1920/21. He won the NSWCA batting aggregate in those seasons, and the average in 1917/18 and 1919/20. These statistics show why he was chosen to play for NSW in its match against Queensland at the Gabba in November 1919.
First Class Cricket
Austin’s first season for NSW yielded a modest 180 runs at 30.00 with a top score of 55. In the next season, 1920/21, he had an outstanding match at the SCG against England, which was playing a Test Series in Australia that summer. He scored 59 in the first innings, sharing a partnership of 113 with Johnny Taylor. In the second innings, joining Hunter Hendry with the score at 2 for 11, Austin scored 63 not out. They put on an unbeaten partnership of 140, with the match ending in a draw. Both Taylor and Hendry were chosen to tour England for the first time in the 1921 Australian Team. Several commentators expressed the view that Austin also deserved to be selected – but the selectors overlooked him!
Austin continued his career with NSW for the next five seasons. In February and March 1924 a full-strength NSW Team toured New Zealand. Eight of the team of 12 were Australian representatives. They played a dozen matches, with two of them billed as “Test Matches” between NSW and New Zealand.
A Unique Australian Record
In the match against Otago in Dunedin, Austin and his skipper and close friend, Charlie Macartney, set a record that remains unique in Australian First Class cricket. The match began on a Friday, so the Otago side batted first to ensure the larger Saturday crowd would be able to watch the star-studded NSW batting line-up. All went to plan with Otago being dismissed in the final session of the day. Austin opened the batting and was undefeated on 59 at the close, with Macartney 19 not out. As they took their seats on the Saturday morning, the spectators savoured the prospect of watching the Test-quality batsmanship of Macartney, Alan Kippax and Warren Bardsley. Austin, however, was not yet done! In the pre-lunch session, he and Macartney became the first (and still only) Australian pair of batsmen to both score hundreds in a pre-lunch session of First Class cricket. Macartney added 101 to his overnight score and was dismissed shortly before lunch for 120. Austin added 116 and was 175 not out at lunch. Macartney was 160cm tall and Austin 183cm. What a contrast they must have made batting together! After lunch Austin was out for 176, his highest score in First Class cricket.
Further highlights were in 1924/25 captaining NSW in a drawn match against Queensland at the SCG, top scoring in both innings with 87 and 94, and in 1925/26 being a member of the NSW Team that won the Sheffield Shield.
Austin’s successful seasons halted in 1926/27. He lost form, as many cricketers have done at some time in their careers, scoring only 287 runs @ 28.70 in club cricket and not being selected for NSW. But, as we shall see, a very significant event occurred at the first practice session of the 1926/27 season at North Sydney Oval No.2.
Bill O’Reilly Meets Austin Punch
Bill O’Reilly, described by Bradman as “the greatest bowler I ever saw”, was born in December 1905 at White Cliffs in the Far West of NSW. After finishing High School in 1923, he won a scholarship to the Teachers’ College in Sydney University. While a student he played cricket in 1924/25 and 1925/26 for the David Jones Team in the Moore Park Competition on Saturday mornings. In September 1926 he was living with his eldest brother Jack in North Sydney. Encouraged by his former teammates, O’Reilly came to North Sydney Oval No.2 for the first practice session of the season – and there he met Austin Punch.
The events of that afternoon are described in Bill O’Reilly’s autobiography ‘TIGER’:
I made my way unknown and uninvited to the nets … I was thrilled to find that Austin Punch was on deck … His name was so familiar to me that I had often spoken of him and his prowess as an attacking right-hand batsman of top class as if he were one of my closest friends. … It was easy to finesse my way into Punch’s net … I imagined that I was making a satisfactory impression on the Club champion. … Quite often he would come forward defensively and play straight back to me … Finally I got one to pass the outside edge of Punch’s bat and hit the off stump. He was surprised, but not half as surprised as I was.
After our term of action was over Punch sought me out to introduce himself, to find out my name, and to talk about my bowling. … To turn [from the leg] at my pace was so rare on a well prepared turf wicket that he believed I might have a fine future with the club. I was delighted with the open manner in which he extended his friendship to a lonely newcomer, and I have never forgotten it. He is still my friend.
Later that afternoon O’Reilly was chosen in Second Grade, and the following week made his debut in First Grade. Bill and Austin played together many times for the NSDCC, including in the 1931/32 First Grade Premiership Team.
At Austin’s funeral O’Reilly told Austin’s son, Michael, how greatly he had appreciated the warm, friendly welcome and important encouragement Austin had given him when he came to that practice session at North Sydney Oval No.2 in September 1926.
A Season in the South
Austin’s loss of form in 1926/27 led him to take a break from Sydney Grade Cricket and accept an opportunity to play in Tasmania in 1927/28. He captained the South Launceston Cricket Club in the Northern Tasmanian Cricket Association, scoring 652 runs @ 65.20 including three centuries, 151, 123 and 114, and taking 21 wickets @ 17.33. He played for Tasmania in its annual first-class match against Victoria at Hobart Oval, scoring 1 and 47.
A Return to Norths and NSW
Austin returned to Norths in 1928/29 scoring 502 runs @ 55.77. In his final match for NSW, against Queensland at the SCG in January 1929, he bowed out with scores of 72 and 90.
In 33 First Class matches between 1919/20 and 1928/29 he scored 1,717 runs @ 35.04, took 35 wickets @ 29.82, and held 23 catches.
North Sydney Glory
When the NSDCC won the First Grade Premiership in 1931/32, Bill O’Reilly took 54 wickets at an astonishing 7.88. Austin contributed 500 runs @ 41.57 and 10 wickets @ 15.60. In the photograph of the Premiership Winning Team, Bill and Austin can be seen standing shoulder to shoulder in the Back Row.
The team captain, Albert Vincent, said:
To [Austin] is credited the best all-round performance of the season, 102 runs and 7 wickets for 53 runs v Gordon – truly Austin’s match. His next knock of 132 v Glebe on a far from perfect wicket was, in point of merit, the best performance of the season – there was only one other double figure scorer in the innings.
In 1932/33, Austin scored 598 runs including his two final centuries, 103 v St George and 154 v Gordon. You can tell he enjoyed playing against Gordon: Charlie Macartney’s club!
At the end of the 1934/35 season Austin retired, aged 40, having scored 9,075 runs @ 36.30 in First Grade for the NSDCC, and taken 192 wickets @ 27.72.
Life Apart from Cricket
A sportsperson’s life is not simply confined to their sport. At the beginning we asked, “Aside from being a prodigious run scorer, who was Austin Punch?” Let’s take a brief look at some other aspects of his life:
- He was an A Grade tennis player.
- He studied singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. In the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s he was often engaged to sing on the radio (“the wireless”), a major source of entertainment at that time. He also performed as a soloist in the Sydney Town Hall, the State Conservatorium, the Tivoli Theatre, and the Capitol Theatre. After matches against Gordon, he would visit Charlie Macartney’s home alongside Chatswood Oval and entertain players and guests with his fine baritone voice, accompanied on the piano by Charlie’s sister.
- For more than 40 years he was the front counter cashier at City Mutual Life Assurance on the corner of Hunter and Bligh Streets, Sydney.
- He was a lifelong supporter of the other ‘Bears’, the Norths Rugby League Club, regularly watching home games at North Sydney Oval. After his marriage (1934) the family home was in Cremorne. He would catch a tram or bus to the ground (he never owned a car), sit on the Hill near the halfway line, then walk home afterwards.
- Austin and Sylvia Byrne married in November 1934, and produced a quartet of sons: John (1935); Edmund (1939); Michael (1941); and Austin (1944).
- John and Edmund played several seasons for the Mosman Rugby Club. John, who had been a champion sprinter at school, was a winger in Kentwell Cup, and Edmund a second row forward in Burke Cup.
- Michael was the Sports Master at St Aloysius College and later at St Ignatius College, Riverview. He coached the 1st XI Teams at those schools for many years and was a long-time selector for the NSW Schoolboys Teams. Michael’s son, Frank, captained Riverview’s 1st XI in 1996, exactly 100 years after his great uncle, Austin’s brother Frank, had done so in 1896.
- Austin, a batsman and occasional wicketkeeper, played First Grade for the Mosman CC in 1967/68 (Cap 223). He played 29 seasons of grade cricket, 20 in Sydney and 9 on the Far North Coast.
- Austin died in August 1985, aged 91. He was survived by his wife of more than 50 years, four sons, and 13 grandchildren.
PostScript
Two of Austin’s great grandsons, David and Thomas Loneragan (John’s grandsons), have played for the NSDCC. David played in the Watson Shield in 2004 and the AW Green Shield in 2004 and 2005. Thomas, his younger brother, played in the Watson Shield.
The Club is very grateful to John, Michael, Austin and the Punch Family for providing the material that enabled this article to be written. They feel honoured by the establishment of the Austin Punch Club and send their best wishes for many future enjoyable and successful seasons.