Local Stories and Interviews

 Interview with Laurie Davies (10th May, 2025)

Laurie’s family moved from Pascoe Vale South to Brown’s Lane in Plenty when he was 14 years old. There were five children in the Davies family. Laurie attended Collingwood Technical School for one year after they moved to Plenty then went to work. He started playing cricket at Plenty when he was 15. He remembers that when the club started, before he joined that all the games were played on Burns paddock where the Plenty tip is now situated. They played social matches not competition matches at that time. The first competition the club participated in was the Eltham District. Each club could only enter one team and young Laurie at 15 was often included in the team to make up the numbers. In later years his brothers Max and Ray played.  In Max’s first B Grade game Plenty were all out for 7 against Diamond Creek. Ray who was 10 years younger than Laurie was more into coaching the juniors.

Laurie was primarily a bowler. He stared off as an off-break bowler until he was 17 when one Saturday he became a fast bowler. Whenever it was anyone’s birthday the team always celebrated with a glass of Benedictine before the match. One Saturday many of the drinks were left untouched. Young Laurie decided he would help out and finish them off. That afternoon he became a fast bowler. He took many wickets over the years. The match he remembers is a game against Montmorency where he took 5 wickets in a row (his best ever game) The score that day was 9-32.

For entertainment the club would hold progressive dinners and the kid’s Christmas party was a huge annual event. Dicky Adie’s father was always Father Christmas. A social cricket match against North Alphington was held annually. Some players from this club had moved to the Plenty area so started this tradition against their old club.

Laurie remembers the club sheds being built by Danny Beale on the east side of the ground. Laurie was one of the many who pitched in and helped. There was no fence around the ground back then and the pitch ran east/west. Laurie remembers a hole at the end of the pitch that became deeper as the season progressed, a bit precarious.

Many names came up as we spoke – Graham Berry,(moved to Strathewen) Jim Beale, Eric Lierse, Jack Fitzmaurice who coached and played and came from a sub district team maybe Brighton, Jeff Heddle, Eddie Skiba, Frank Milne (made 160-170 in first Premiership), Hughie Cullen (captained 5 premierships), his brother Bruce who was a champion wicket keeper, Don Fisher a fast bowler who opened with Laurie, John Elliot who was also a champion football player who played for Prahan (Fitzroy wanted to draft him but Prahan would not let him go.)

Laurie’s wife Beryl was heavily involved with the tennis club. Back then there were two tar courts, a good one where most of the tennis was played and another one where they had a hit of cricket. They were very run down.