I thought I knew Baz!
After all, we studied together for our Physical Education degrees in the 1980s at SACAE in Adelaide, now the University of South Australia. The course was renowned nationally, and the standards were high. Barry and I spent countless hours in the library as part of an informal study group.
Both of us were district cricketers, playing for the now-defunct Student Teachers Cricket Club in the SACA District Competition. We formed a formidable opening partnership, achieving multiple 100+ run collaborations and playing key roles in winning an Under-23 premiership.
Barry Nicholls with his father Les in 1984. His no. 1 fan, but also greatest critic.
Coming from the country with few city-based friends, I was introduced by Barry to his circle from Linden Park Primary School and Pembroke College in Adelaide. I spent many hours at his home in Glen Osmond, where he lived with his father Les after his parents divorced. Barry introduced me to golf, and we played numerous rounds together at the Mount Osmond Golf Club.
We even took a term off from our studies to spend an ‘English summer’ playing league cricket for Ashford in the Surrey Championship Club. We shared a house in the outer London suburb.
Standing in front of our abode for the “Summer of 84, on School Road Ashford Middlesex. Dressed up for a game against a ‘posh’ Surrey League Club.
After graduating, we stayed in touch regularly, although this became less frequent when he moved to Alice Springs to start his new career in the media.
Second Innings reveals a side of Barry he kept hidden behind a facade of ‘family respectability’. His father, an engineer at the Weapon Research Establishment, designed weapons of war like the Rapier Missile System by day, but at night, he waged a domestic war with Barry’s mother, Margaret. While Barry’s elder brother could escape, Barry became a casualty of this conflict. His wounds were not physical, but emotional which festered as he faced life’s challenges, making him susceptible to the depression that plagued his family and contributed to his brother’s self-destruction.
Growing up in a family with an emotionally absent, ‘high expectations’ father and a resentful mother, left Barry with under-appreciated his own gifts and talents with an over-concern for his father’s validation.
Despite these obstacles, he forged a successful career beyond teaching as a journalist and broadcaster with the ABC and established himself as a respected and productive writer.
He’s managed to stave off the burden of depression that pushed him to the brink. He endured a marriage breakup, turbulent relationships with his brothers, and near-homelessness, yet found his way back. For Barry, cricket and sport provided an escape, a source of validation, and an antidote to the chaos.
Members of the Ashford ‘Devon Tour’ team, including former Australian fast bowler David Gilbert and NSW first class all-rounder Phil Marks
Second Innings vividly narrates his tale of family turmoil and personal torment, issues often swept under the carpet, locked in the closet or brushed aside as too difficult to face.
Graham Lewis
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