Richard Chee Quee: First of Chinese origin to play for New South Wales

Richard Chee Quee, born January 4, 1971, was the first cricketer of Chinese origin to play for New South Wales (NSW) and the second known cricketer of the same descent to play First-Class cricket in Australia. Despite being a spectacular close-in fielder and a dashing strokeplayer, Chee Quee was barely a contender for a national spot. He is the lead singer in a rock band. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at one of the cult heroes of Australian cricket.

Contrary to popular beliefs and much to the dismay of quizmasters across the world, Richard Chee Quee was not the first man of Chinese origin to play First-Class cricket in Australia. That distinction lies with Hunter Poon, who had played for Queensland in 1923-24, creating quite a stir across the world.

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However, unless some spectacular discovery is made regarding the origin of a cricketer between Poon and the 1990s, Richard ‘Cheeks’ Chee Quee was the second cricketer of Chinese origin (and the third Asian, Emmanuel Benjamin being the second) to play in Australian domestic cricket — if one excludes overseas recruits like Rusi Surti and Imran Khan, that is.

The origin

Did Chee Quee face problems because of his Chinese lineage? He later told The Sydney Morning Herald: “I remember when I went to school I was the only Asian kid in my school, let alone class. At the end of the day, a lot’s been made of my heritage, and I’m proud of my heritage, but I feel Australian.”

But Chee Quee’s origins were not as simple. His father was Chinese, while he described his Fiji-born mother — famously his biggest fan and critic — as “half-Chinese and a bit of English, Irish, German and Samoan” in an interview with The Canberra Times. Peter Roebuck wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald that Mrs Chee Quee made the best dim sums in Sydney, but there is no way to find out whether he wrote that in jest.

The Randwick maverick

Of sturdy build, Chee Quee was a naturally aggressive stroke player. “His attacking style of play gave spectators and teammates a thrill sensation like no other. He was in fact as he was so often described — the ultimate entertainer,” wrote Lyall Gardner in the Randwick Petersham Cricket Club website.

He was also an outstanding fielder, manning mostly the slip cordon, though he was brilliant in the circle in limited-overs cricket.

He played most of his cricket for Randwick Petersham, for whom he was a champion in Sydney First-Grade Cricket. He joined the club in 2000-01, and became an instant hit: he was the first for the Randwick-Petersham to top 1,000 runs in a single season.

Chee Quee got his 1,003 runs at 45.59, hit 3 hundreds, and was named won the Bill O’Reilly Medal for the Grade Player of the Year. For Randwick-Petersham, only Usman Khawaja and Nathan Price have scored more.

Note: Randwick-Petersham seems to have a penchant for ‘first’s. Khawaja, born in Pakistan, would later become the first Muslim to play for Australia.

Chee Quee topped the Grade Cricket First Division that season. In the next two seasons, he got 874 runs at 41.62 and 907 at 47.74. He scored most runs in 2003-04 as well.

Trivia:  In fact, even across all clubs, Chee Quee was the eighth across clubs to score 1,000 runs in a season. The first instance came in 1995-96, by Bankstown-Canterbury batsman from a cricket family of some renown. He went by the name of Dean Waugh.

A five-season career for the team fetched him over 4,000 runs at a shade below 40. Chee Quee was given a testimonial year by NSW Cricket Board in his fourth season: it was the first time granted a cricketer a testimonial year.

Chee Quee played for Randwick before the club joined hands with Petersham-Marrickville to form a merger. In 1989 he scored a hundred for the former against the latter. At 18 years 52 days he was the second-youngest to score a hundred for Randwick. He got 116 in that match.

For the two clubs, Chee Quee played 346 matches in all. His tally of 11,886 runs is the fourth-highest in Sydney First Grade Cricket history, after Greg Male, Greg Hayne, and Warren Bardsley. In 2011 Richard Chee Quee was named in the club’s team of the decade (alongside Khawaja, Simon Katich, Nathan Hauritz, and Jon Lewis).

He had a summer with Ayr in Scotland. He also played for both Liverpool and Hightown in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition. For Liverpool, he played alongside his brother R Chee Quee, whose full name remains unknown.

The next level

Between all that, Chee Quee played both Sheffield Shield and limited-overs cricket (in Mercantile Cup) for NSW. He made his way through age-group cricket and even earned a call-up to the Australian Cricket Academy alongside a certain Adam Gilchrist.

The First-Class numbers, 1,029 runs at 28.58, were average at best, but the strike rate of 50.3 (this was in the 1990s) was probably indicative of his aggressive style.

His only First-Class hundred came against the touring West Indians of 1995-96. The tourists folded for 246 against Chinaman bowler David Freedman, but they hit back, reducing NSW to 71 for 3. The West Indian attack consisted of the small matter of Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop, Roger Harper, and Carl Hooper.

Chee Quee joined Michael Bevan. The pair added 191, Bevan dropping anchor with 86 and Chee Quee racing to a 196-ball 105 with 13 boundaries. Despite starting an hour after Bevan, Chee Quee beat him to the 50-mark.

It was an emotional moment for Chee Quee, who had been in and out of the side till then. He had been through rigorous physical training that included skipping, boxing, and footwork drills. He had put hours in the nets, and to quote The Canberra Times, he “played none of the lazy shots that brought him undone in the past years” during his hundred.

The hundred came with a cut off Walsh. The celebration was memorable: he took his helmet off and stared for long at the red NSW emblem on it. Then he celebrated with what The Canberra Times reported as “a Zorro-like swish of the bat” (Ravindra Jadeja, anyone?).

Chee Quee later explained: “I have done a lot of soul-searching. I spent a long time looking at the crest at the end of each day after training. So, to get back to the side and get a hundred was a mighty relief.”

The West Indians then collapsed for 160 against Greg Matthews. The target was a mere 89, but there was no play after NSW reached 77 for 2. Play started late, at 2.30 PM, and a thunderstorm prevented any play after tea.

NSW captain Phil Emery was criticised for the batting order. Neither Rodney Davison nor Corey Richards, his regular openers, was a big hitter. Even then, Emery opened with them despite the delayed start and the weather forecast; he sent Bevan after Richards got out; and when Bevan fell, trying to go for the big shot, Emery promoted Shane Lee, holding Chee Quee back.

West Indies coach Andy Roberts commented after the match: “I’m very surprised they didn’t open with Chee Quee or Shane Lee or Bevan to push it along.”

However, Chee Quee’s most famous innings came in the Mercantile Cup final of 1993-94. NSW lost a quick wicket before Bevan joined Chee Quee. The pair added 199 before Bevan fell for 77; Chee Quee eventually got out for a 146-ball 131. Some late slogging from Trevor Bayliss took NSW to 264 for 4. Western Australia, reduced to 126 for 7, crawled to 218 for 9.

Chee Quee finished that season with 357 runs at 71.40. Only Stuart Law (384) had more runs. For NSW, nobody came within even 150 runs of Chee Quee.

Beyond the field

These days Chee Quee is the lead vocalist of Six & Out, an Australian rock band. Other members include Brad McNamara, Shane and Brett Lee, and Gavin Robertson, all former NSW cricketers. Their most famous song, Can’t Bowl, Can’t Throw that made it to the top 100 in the ARIA Singles Chart. For the uninitiated, the phrase originated from a sledge aimed at Scott Muller by Channel 9 cameraman Joe Previtera.

Some ‘credit’ the sledge to Shane Warne. The song makes a direct reference to this:
Don’t ask Warney. It was cameraman Joe, he’ll say
You can’t bowl and you can’t throw.