Vale Alan Wyatt (1935-2024)
Western Suburbs District Cricket Club Sydney | July 15, 2024
The Western Suburbs District Cricket Club, and the wider cricket community, is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Alan Wyatt, a fast bowler who had ten seasons at Wests (1949-1959) and played twenty first class matches for NSW (1956-1959). He died on Thursday, July 11th. aged 89. Alan was a right hand quick yet batted left handed.
To break into the all-powerful Blues Sheffield Shield side in 1956 was an outstanding effort. He did so after an impressive debut for NSW Colts v Queensland in 1954-55. NSW, containing stars such as Benaud, Davidson, O’Neill and co., dominated the Sheffield Shield competition with a sequence of nine successive titles, from 1953-1962.
Despite being predominantly a bowler, Alan certainly justified his position in the basically Test strength NSW team, by posting his best first class score of 40, batting at number 10, in a NSW follow on versus Victoria. Wyatt held on for the draw, thus denying Queensland the Shield and ensuring NSW’s winning run continued. Alan had earlier taken 5/100 versus the Vics.
Another stand-out performance from Alan occurred in the 1957-58 victory over South Australia, where he contributed his best figures of 5 for 36 and 2 for 41 plus a first innings dig of 32 in a last wicket 61 run partnership.
Overall, he took 40 wickets at 33.45 in first class and scored 179 runs at 13.76, with 7 catches.
Earning a spot in the strong Western Suburbs Firsts of the fifties was no mean feat, either.
Wests were Club Champions in 1948-49; 1953-54 and 1957-58. First Grade won the Premiership during Alan’s time (1956-57) and Seconds won in 1955-56. His contemporaries included Stan Sismey, Alan Davidson, Wally Wellham, Les Ellis, Ken Muller, Vic Cristofani and the Garrity brothers (Colin and Gerald).
Wyatt played in the awesome Wests Poidevon-Gray (PG’s) that won in 1954-55, where he contributed a spectacular 9/29 versus Petersham-Marrickville. Overall, in eight seasons of first grade, through 94 matches, Alan took 223 wickets at an average of 20.73, with best figures of 7/19. While not a recognised bat, his highest score was 47 not out. In fact, he was ‘not out’ 31 times during his 94 matches at the Magpies.
An indication of the respect and admiration that the Wests Cricket community has for Alan Wyatt is his induction, in 2011, into the WSDCC ‘Hall of Fame’. To this day, this an honour only bestowed on 29 Players over the 130 year history of the Club.
A close friend with Alan over the years, through the connections created by the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA), was former Magpie International Greg ‘Mo’ Matthews. Mo spoke with Alan on a regular basis, in fact, as recently as the day before he passed. A recurring theme to their conversations was their mutual respect for Alan Davidson and the memory that the ‘two Alans’ on one occasion combined to dismiss Balmain for “around 30”, with Alan taking 4/13 and Davo 6/18.
Alan’s brother Keith also played first grade for Wests (First Grade #414) during the 1960’s. Alan is survived by a large and loving family, including children Vicki, David, Gregg and Rod, twelve grand-children and several great grandchildren. Funeral details will be announced shortly.
WSDCC Players, Officials, Volunteers and Supporters extend our deepest sympathy to the Wyatt family at this very difficult time.
