Cricket: 1966 Emu Cricket Club side reminisce their World Tour

It was the first time they had officially got together since their World Tour, and for some the first time they had seen one another since they stepped off the plane.

But it was straight away like they were back on tour, the banter instantly flying thick and fast.

They came from all over - Albury, Sydney, Queensland, Wollongong, the North Coast and North West to reminisce what was for many of them the trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately not all of the side could be there, a few have sadly passed away and a couple of others were unable to make it due to other reasons.

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Starting in Canada and America, where they spent six weeks, the three month tour then took them on to Germany, England, Bahrain, Singapore and Malaysia.

Playing a mix of local and combined teams, they were billeted with local families and often wined and dined by Australian officials in the area where they were visiting.

It was a very successful tour. They played 39 games, only losing one.

Gunnedah's Tim Grosser was the captain for the tour and was joined by Tamworth's Trevor Newell and Bryon Lee, Narrabri's Tony Longworth, Walcha's Lance Kermode, Armidale's Paul McCann and Moree's Greg Jones and Rob Mathews.

Mathews said it was wonderful to be able to catch up again and reflect on what was for him the highlight of his cricketting career.

"The World Tour came out of the blue. Boss (Emu Club founder JS White) rang up one night and said 'would you be interested in going' and my father said 'yes'," the opening batsmen recalled.

Then 24, it was the first time he had been out of Australia.

"When I think back now and I think of doing that, and the fact that my parents allowed me to do it, that opportunity was only going to come around once and the experience I had was fantastic," he said.

He formed friendships for life with not only his team-mates - spending three months together they built a pretty special bond - but the people he met.

"I stayed with an Englishman in Singapore, who now lives in England and he and I have stayed in touch. He's been out to Australia twice and stayed with me, I've been to England twice and stayed with him, we correspond probably every three months and it's because of the friendship made through the cricket tour," he reflected.

Some of the standout memories for him were when they arrived in San Francisco, the porters at the hotel they were staying at asking "what are those goddam sticks you're carrying?", referring to their cricket bats. They had no knowledge of cricket.

Then all though Canada they would often arrive at the ground to find no obvious wicket and to enquires from their opponents as to where they would like them to put the stumps.

Another memory from Canada was that the wicket-keepers always caught the ball with their left hand.

"It didn't matter if the ball was on his right or above his head," he continued.

"It was because they were all baseballers and because they wore the glove on the left hand."

"The other thing we learnt in those games was never take a quick single, because they could all throw like you wouldn't believe."

Another, more personal highlight, is scoring a century in Bahrain, the knock as memorable for the milestone as the conditions.

"It was about 150 degrees," Mathews recalled.

"And of course what it was was it was a concrete wicket with matting on it and the outfield was rolled clay so it was very hard and so the heat radiating off that was horrendous."

"Somehow or other I was able to withstand the heat and got a score."

Also a talented rugby player, he had the opportunity to return to Singapore the following year.

"The Boss took for the first time, and once only, a rugby tour to Singapore, Malaya and Panang and I was picked in the rugby team," he said.

"We actually caught up with a lot of guys that we'd met the year before when we on the Emu Cricket Tour.

Longworth was one of youngest in the 1996 squad.

Then 19, he was a late inclusion after two of the players who were originally in the squad were conscripted.

He had just come back from playing for the Tasmanian colts in Tasmania, and the next year went to New Zealand with the Emus side Rick McCosker took over there.

The long-time local administrator carries a lot of good memories from his involvement with the Emus, going on to later play for the club at various international week of Golden Oldies tournaments.

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