Richard Harris Drewer (born 12 June 1946) is an Australian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He played fourteen first-class matches and two

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

matches for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

between 1974 and 1976. Nicknamed "Stumpy",Kitto, p. 2. Drewer attended Scotch College,Turner, M. "The Great Cricket School Debate", ''The Advertiser'' (Adelaide), 2 September 2019. and spent many years playing South Australian district cricket for Sturt,

Adelaide University Adelaide University is a planned public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 2024, it will combine the University of Adelaide, the third-oldest university in Australia, and the University of ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

cricket clubs, before making his debut for South Australia on 13 December 1974, against

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

, scoring 90 and eight. Drewer, who was a DJ who played private parties under the name SWORD (an acronym for "The Swinging World of Rick Drewer"), was known for wearing his shirt unbuttoned to the waist and his uproarious laughSexton, p. 94. and quickly became a popular member of the South Australian team.Nicholls, p. 26. Drewer also received support from influential local sports reporter

Alan Shiell Alan Shiell (born 25 April 1945) is a former Australian cricketer and newspaper reporter. He played in twenty-three first-class matches for South Australia between 1964 and 1967 but retired from an active cricket career he was twenty four. He th ...

, who argued that Drewer was, along with

Ashley Woodcock Ashley James Woodcock (born 27 February 1947) is a former Australian cricketer who played in one Test match and one One Day International in 1974. A right-handed batsman from Adelaide, he played for South Australia in Australian domestic cric ...

, the best opening batsmen South Australia had. While South Australia won the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

in 1975/76, Drewer played poorly, averaging only 15.70 from five matches, including scores of 0, 0, 0 and five against

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, falling to

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is a retired Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

each time.Manning, pp. 125-127. When South Australian captain

Ian Chappell Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. Known as "Chappelli", he is considered as one of the greatest captains the game has seen.

learnt that selectors had dropped Drewer from the squad to play

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

without consulting Chappell, he threatened strike action. In 2019 '' The Advertiser'' named Drewer as an opener in Scotch College's Greatest Ever Team.

References

Sources

* Kitto, D. ''The Allrounder'', Adelaide Cricket Club Newsletter, Edition 5: Number 1, 2003/2004. * Manning, G. (2018) "Reviewed", ''Between Wickets'', Summer and Winter 2018–19, Mansfield Publishing: Sydney. * Nicholls, B. (2015) ''The Establishment Boys'', New Holland Publishers: Sydney. * Page, R. (1984) ''South Australian Cricketers 1877 - 1984'', Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians: Retford, Nottinghamshire. * Sexton, M. (2017) ''Chappell's Last Stand'', Affirm Press: Melbourne.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drewer, Richard 1946 births Living people Australian cricketers South Australia cricketers Cricketers from Adelaide Australian DJs 20th-century Australian sportsmen

See also

References

Sources

External links