Sydney Uni Cricket Club will facilitate an upcoming Community Coach Accreditation Course at the TAG Family Grandstand (No. 2 Oval) on Sunday 7th August 2016 from 9.30am.
The Club hereby gives notice of its Annual General Meeting to be held on Wednesday 27th July 2016 from 6.30pm at the TAG Family Grandstand (formerly No. 2 Oval).
Please click here for the full notice including positions vacant.
We invite any Club Member interested in nominating for a position on the Club's Board of Management to arrange for a nomination form to be completed and returned to the Club by Wednesday 20th July 2016 at 5pm.
MAJOR JOHN NICHOLAS FRASER ARMSTRONG (1878-1916)
Major Armstrong of the Royal Engineers was supervising the draining of a trench on the morning of Wednesday 5 July 1916. The weather, which had been fine, closed in on 4 July and the trenches filled easily. Amidst the noise and chaos of battle, Armstrong was hit by a shell. He died later that day and was buried in the Fricourt British Cemetery.
This was the fifth day of the relentless Battle of the Somme which eventually lasted for 141 days and which resulted in over one million casualties. This joint attack by the British and French forces on German positions at Picardy, astride the Somme River, had a net gain of six miles of ground.
Armstrong was born in 1878 in England into a well-connected family. His father was a law graduate of Oriel College Oxford. His maternal great grandmother was Mary Reibey (1777-1855), transported to NSW as a convict but who became a successful business woman and property owner and whose image is now on our $20 notes. John Armstrong was educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School (‘Shore’) after his family returned to Australia. Incidentally, ‘Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac’ makes a rare mistake when it gives his school as ‘Sydney Grammar’. At Shore, he was a successful and talented sportsman, winning ‘Blues’ for Rowing (bow seat in the 1st crew), Rugby Football (a powerful scrummager and light-footed lineout jumper) and Cricket (opening bowler, leading wicket taker, who also batted at number 3).
Leaving Shore in June 1897 with a swag of sporting prizes, he enrolled in Arts at Sydney University but discontinued after First Year 1898.
Returning in 1901, this time he enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering, sitting and passing a demanding series of first year exams in Chemistry, Physics, Maths, Geometry, Geography and Design and Drawing. He seemed to have found his feet and resumed his sporting career with relish. He rowed in the Sydney University Eight which had an emphatic win over Melbourne and Adelaide on the Parramatta River in 1903 and opened the bowling for the University 1st XI when the Club was readmitted to the 1st Grade Competition in 1902, having been restricted to the 2nd Grade Competition for four seasons.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining and Metallurgy)in 1904, Armstrong made his way to South Africa where he was Manager of one of the De Beer’s mines in the Kimberley.
When war was declared, Armstrong was already 36 years old but the patriotic call was insistent and he enlisted in England and was immediately appointed to the rank of Captain on 23 October 1914. He had some military experience, having served in a volunteer force, the Irish Rifles, in Sydney while he was an undergraduate, rising to the rank of Captain. During 1915, Armstrong raised and trained a new company, the 128th Field Company of the Royal Engineers and was sent to France where he was plunged into active service from August 1915.
Amidst the slaughter on the Somme and the thousands of deaths, there was no formal obituary for John Armstrong.
He had written a short account of his time in France which was published in Shore’s magazine, ‘The Torchbearer’ in April 1916 and his former schoolmates were advised of his death by the next edition of the magazine. His name is listed in the school’s substantial Roll of Honour and in that of the University of Sydney. He has a marked grave at Fricourt.
But, until now, 100 years later, John Nicholas Fraser Armstrong has been all but forgotten by the Club which he once proudly represented.
When you next take out a $20 note from your wallet, pause for a moment on Mary Reibey’s image, and remember her great grandson, killed in France 100 years ago.
James Rodgers
With a successful inaugural Foundation Open Day held at the TAG Family Grandstand on Sunday, Sydney Uni Cricket Club were proud to launch its new video content campaign for 2016-17 in the form of a new Foundation Video.
Designed as a guide to the Club and the importance of the Foundation, the video gives an overview of the key opportunities that Sydney Uni can offer its members including state-of-the-art facilities, scholarship opportunities, high quality coaching programs and unique touring opportunities.
For those interested in making a fully tax-deductible donation to the Foundation, please visit our Foundation page on this website.
This is the first in a series of videos we intend on releasing in 2016-17, all through the support of Anvil Media, who have kindly donated their time and expertise in producing these videos.
Sydney University Cricket Club would like to provide an opportunity for network members to join long-time partner ANZ Mobile Lending - Drummoyne & Balmain as a Lending Sales Associate..
Led by our great friend, Alex McRae, the mobile lending team for one of the leading financial services organisations in Australia is set to expand, and they are looking for an individual keen to learn from their successful team.
Mirroring the values that we hold dear as a Club, Alex is looking for someone with honesty, integrity and discipline.
For full details of the opportunity, please visit the position advertisement.
For further information, contact Alex on (02) 9181 3245.
Finally, for those looking to explore their finance options, whether that is finding your new mortgage or refinancing an existing one, Alex and his team are always on hand to support the Sydney Uni family.
Sydney Uni Cricket Club has run its annual 'Winter' Development Program, a free coaching program for kids aged between 12 and 15 years, over the past month with some outstanding young cricketers participating in the program.
Following the WDP, the Club held a number of Green Shield pre-season trials in order to select a Green Shield Development Squad. The Club is proud to announce the squad of 31-players that will continue their development over the off-season program:
Saarangan Arvind
Clancy Barrett
Tom Brooks
Connor Cameron
Nick Condon
Luke Denvir
D'arcy Dietz
Luca Dimeglio
Thomas Draca (Country Development Player)
Brendan Ford
Aiden Gardiner
Rehan Gunawardhena
Ethan Jamieson
Charlie Johnston
Craig Lewis (Country Development Player)
Zac Mackenzie
Ben Mitchell (Country Development Player)
Arvin Niranjan
Shivansh Pathak
Jono Phoebus
Shivraj Rana
Ewan Rogers
Noah Rubin
Ben Sanders
Chintan Sapiriya
Lovish Sethi
Liam Simpson (Country Development Player)
Connor Slater
Milan Swaraj
Daniel Tupper
Patrick Watson
Sessions for this squad will be held at Sydney Uni's Martin Lambert Indoor Cricket Complex on the last Sunday of each month, commencing Sunday 29th May from 9.30am to 11.30am.
This was a very difficult process with plenty of talent fighting for the last few spots in the squads, and for those players unfortunate to miss out, this is not the end of the process. The Club will hold one final Green Shield trial in September prior to selecting the final squad of 15 to contest the A.W. Green Shield tournament in December and January.
We have some exciting announcements for this program to come over the coming weeks, and we are passionate about the program we are going to roll out for this group.
Congratulations to all of those selected in the sides and we look forward to a pre-season of hard work and development of skills.
Sydney University Cricket Club's long tradition of Bradman Scholarship recipients has continued with young Tullamore cricketer, Tom Galvin, being announced as the Bradman Scholar for 2016.
Tom, hailing from far western NSW, recently commenced his undergraduate studies at the University of Sydney in a Bachelor of Advanced Science majoring in physics and nanoscience, started his premier cricket career with Sydney University Cricket Club and claimed a Third Grade premiership in his first three months in Sydney.
A top-order bat, and strong with the gloves, Tom made an immediate impact at the Club scoring 51 runs in his first outing with the Third Grade side against UNSW. He followed this up with 42 runs the following match against Hawkesbury.
Dux of All Saints' College in Bathurst, Tom was selected from 51 applicants, a record for the Scholarship program, displaying the blend of strong academic, cricketing, personal and social skills that the Bradman Foundation promotes.
Tom excelled though an exhaustive 4-stage selection process culminating in a personal interview conducted with Bradman Foundation Chairman Maurice Newman AC, Hon. John Howard OM OC, and fellow SUCC player and 2008 Bradman Scholar, Dave Miller.
Sydney University Cricket Club has now been home to six Bradman Scholars out of the 21 scholars since its inception in 1990. Current Club members Greg Mail, Mark Faraday and Dave Miller have all been past scholars.
The Club congratulates Tom on his outstanding achievement and look forward to supporting him on his journey both on- and off-the-field.