Blenheim’s brilliant innings

By Kath Gannaway
IF THERE’S one regret Harry Blenheim has about cricket it’s that he retired at 50.
“I had it in my mind that that was the age to give it away, and that’s what I did, but I settled down, I was crook on myself. I reckon I could have kept going.”
The 91-year-old former Healesville champion and life member of the club could be right.
He won the club’s last two bowling averages at 50 and if passion for the game is any indication, he should still be out there now.
Harry’s Healesville unit is a series of shrines to the things he loves best in life – his family, his poetry, Hawthorn Football Club and cricket – not necessarily in that order.
Cricket he says has provided him with some of the most memorable moments of his life, and the best friendships.
His love affair with the game started with coaching sessions with his dad, Bill, in the family’s chookhouse in Hawthorn where he grew up.
While his lovely mum and his brother and sister went off to the Salvation Army service, he and his dad would talk cricket.
“I’d have to say those talks, just me and dad alone, gave me my greatest thrill of my life.
From the Auburn State School team, Harry moved up to play for the Auburn Cricket Club from 1935 to 1953.
A slightly tarnished, but obviously cherished, silver sugar bowl holds pride of place beside his and his wife Joyce’s life membership medal and badges.
The inscription is “Eastern Suburbs Cricket Association – 1st Grade Matting won by Harry Blenheim – Batting Average 44.66.”
“This is the first trophy I ever won,” he says. What he doesn’t say is that it was the first of many.
The family moved to Healesville about 50 years ago and Harry didn’t waste a lot of time finding the nearest pitch.
If there was any trouble fitting into the new town, cricket made it easy.
His late wife, Joyce, and the family were all part of the cricket scene.
“What I love about cricket is the comradeship,” he muses.
“You play with a team, the same players for a few years and you become real mates.
“You might make a partnership together and all that adds up … you get a real kick out of that sort of thing.
“I guess it’s the spirit of the game, or of any sport. You have your mates who play with you for years and that’s what it’s really all about.
He rates Wandin batsman Don Strachan as the best of his Yarra Valley opponents.
“He used to give me a pretty horrendous time,” he recalled with a mock shudder and a great big grin.
“He was the hardest batsman to get out. I got him a couple of times but he batted the blazes out of me other times.
“That’s the way the game goes … but we still remained friends.”
Playing in the premiership team of 1957 against Warburton was the highlight of his time with Healesville.
A yellowed newspaper cutting tells the story … Healesville recovered to win the A Grade premiership … H. Blenheim 124 not out … H. Blenheim 5/81…”
At 91 his memory for names is fading a bit but he remembers the characters.
“There were two brothers at Wandin who used to grow fruit. Every time we played them they would come up with boxes of fruit for Joyce. It’s those sort of things that made the game.
He considers himself the luckiest 91-year-old alive to have played against two of Australia’s top-notch cricketers.
Jack Ryder was his name and he played for Collingwood.
“It was there in the paper on the Monday morning,” he delights in the memory. “J Ryder, lbw, bowled Blenheim.
“People would remember him. He went on to captain an Australian Test team. It was the only wicket I took that day,” he says.
Clarrie Grimmet was the other. He played him during a stay in Adelaide with the Air Force during the war.
“I went out there as part of the services team playing the Adelaide Sheffield Team and faced up to Grimmet, who was the best slow bowler in the world at the time.”
Harry says, and I think he’s right, that any cricketer will have a trunk-load of memorable experiences, on and off the field to do with the game.
Being there when Don Bradman went out for a duck was one of those experiences for Harry.
“I saw Bradman make a duck,” he says (note the positive spin!) “ … The only one he made in his life.”
There is no doubt in his mind that he was the best batsman of all time.
What about Shane Warne?
“Well, I have an opinion…” he starts a little ominously. But it’s all about cricket with Harry.
“I have an opinion I’m sure I share with any real cricket fan. He was the most intriguing bowler ever seen because he used to twist the ball in his hands.
“You would have to say he’s the best,” he says giving a demonstration.
Talking of the best. Another piece of memorabilia, which tells its own story is a certificate listing the Eastern Suburbs Cricket Association’s Centenary Team.
Harry is eighth on the list of players, one selected on all the players who played in the ESCA competition between 1903 and 1999.
It’s a huge pool of players and Harry is justifiably proud of that selection.
The team was chosen as the best balance of batsmen, bowlers, all rounders, a wicket keeper and 12th man in batting order.
In February, Harry will have the chance to share some of his wonderful memories at a special luncheon in honour of the contribution of Healesville Cricket Club’s life members.
He says he will be doubly proud to be there on that day.
“The Life Membership medallion came with two bars, one for me and one for Joyce,” he beams. She was a tremendous worker for the club,” he said.