The Bear Essentials

Former WA and Tasmania fast bowler Dennis Baker on bringing a professional training ethic to Bayswater Morley, the 1985-86 premiership, practical jokes and what he thinks of load management.

Matthew Garnaut and Bret Mulder relive the unbeaten 177-run last-wicket partnership that won Bayswater Morley the 1998-99 First Grade premiership against Midland Guildford at the WACA.

Brothers Ken and Neil McAullay, 88 First Grade games each, on combining top-level football and cricket, a famous weekend in 1972, lightning-fast Hillcrest wickets and the volunteers who kept the club going.

Fast bowler Tim Brookes on the road from Kalgoorlie, 300 First Grade wickets, bowling Michael Hussey in a grand final, proposing at the awards night and life as Chairman of Selectors.

Gary "GI" Ireland, the club's leading run-scorer, on arriving from Collie in 1977, captaining Bayswater Morley to its first First Grade flag in 1985-86 and a decade in the WA state squad.

Bob Massie, the club's first Test cricketer, on filling in as scorer and ending up in fourth grade, the plan behind his 16 wickets on debut at Lord's, and a long career behind the ABC microphone.

Former Australian and WA keeper-batter Ryan Campbell on premierships at Bayswater Morley, playing behind Adam Gilchrist, an accidental international coaching career and surviving a cardiac arrest in 2022.

Life member Mel O'Neil, who turned 100 in May, looks back on 11 years as First Grade captain, 20 years as Secretary and WACA delegate, and how he kept Bassendean Bayswater alive through its toughest years.