Lives in Cricket No 28 - Keith Carmody

128 wartime andproved a splendid ambassador onmany sportingfields throughout the world.’ Although he would be ‘forever remembered as the architect of the “umbrella field”’, this was only one of his contributions to cricket. ‘Scars’ from his PoW experiences hadn’t deterred him ‘from pursuing his life-long interest of imparting knowledge of the game to any young aspiring cricketer seeking his counsel.’ By initiating co-ordinated coaching and competition programmes for juniors he had laid ‘the foundation for the future strength of Western Australia cricket.’ The major influence ‘in that State’s emergence as a cricketing power’, Carmody had ‘keenly assessed the individual talent of every youngster he coached’, at the same time instilling ‘the principles of pride in achievement and humility in success’. Although Western Australia’s rise to ascendancy in the 1970s and 1980s depended in part on the way John Rutherford and others had used the methodology described so clearly by Price, recognition of Carmody’s contribution was slow to come from the WACA itself. In 1985 – eight years after his death – he was made a life member. At the same time, as part of a major restructuring of the ground, a ‘Carmody Room’ was included in the new Prindiville stand. From Kalamunda to Sydney