Robert O'Shannassy and Bernard Whimpress

The University of Adelaide Cricket Club (The Blacks) celebrated its centenary in 2008. The Club has played an enormous part in the sporting life of the University and  the social bonds of so many alumni. The Blacks is the only University team in the SACA Grade cricket competition - fielding teams for all four Grades and a team in the women’s competition. Several other teams play in the Adelaide Turf competition (ATCA).

Bernard Whimpress is a leading sports historian of South Australia who has written, co-written and edited more than 40 books, and former curator of the Adelaide Oval Museum. Joint author Robert O’Shannassy made his 1^st Grade debut with The Blacks in the 1967/68 season and has also represented the State. In 2014 he joined a research group to write biographies of around 200 Adelaide University cricketers and footballers who served in WWI.

The authors trace the origins of the Club, its impressive development, the impact of two World Wars, the lows and highs - culminating in 2020-21 with a 5^th A grade premiership, the formation of a women’s team in 1947 and its achievements, the many distinguished names past and present in the development of the Club. The book has been deeply researched in the University archives and presents a superb photographic record.