At one stage at the peak of his career James Thomas Arthur ‘‘Whitty’’ Whitbourne was described as ‘‘the best known player in Victorian country cricket“.
One report even stated he was ‘‘boasting a record that would never be challenged“.
That might be the case too, even though it’s well over a century since the man they called ‘‘Whitty’’ started terrorising batsmen, firstly in the suburbs of inner Melbourne and then in the Kyabram and District Cricket Association for over three decades at the start of the 20th century.
Details of Whitty’s bowling career in his days in the inner Melbourne suburbs in the mid-1890s and with the Lancaster and Kyabram Cricket Club from 1908 to the end of the 1930-31 season are mind boggling to say the least.
The best way to get an idea of the magnitude of his feats as a wily spin bowler can be assessed by comparing his records with the most successful bowlers of today.
At the top level in the Goulburn Murray Cricket competition today 50 wickets for the season normally wins the award for most wickets.
And over the past 30 years or so the association’s top wicket-taker for the season has often fallen well short of that tally.
So glimpsing through Whitty’s 10 years of his feats recorded in his performance chart (pictured) you will notice in five of these seasons he took 100 wickets or more.
These included a somewhat staggering 169 victims at a cost 1047 runs at the incredible average of 6.2 runs per wicket in the 1924-25 season with the Kyabram Cricket Club.
His recorded bowling history to then revealed he had claimed 2288 wickets at a cost of 15,040 runs at an average of 6.6 runs.
Any bowler worth his salt will verify that’s an insane average over such a lengthy period.
His 2000th wicket came up on the final ball of the final over and final match of the 1927-28 season playing for the Kyabram Wednesdays against his former club Lancaster.
Some old timers might remember whose wicket it was — another wily spinner called Bill Payne who played cricket with Lancaster into his 60s.
By the time he had finished his career in 1940 at the age of 60 the man they called ‘‘Whitty’’ had taken over 3000 wickets.