Alan Campbell
Randwick Petersham Cricket Club | April 24, 2024
When wicketkeeper Alan Campbell completed a massive 58 1st Grade dismissals behind the stumps in 1981-82 he broke his own record set the previous year by an impressive 17 wickets. And while the official Sydney Grade Cricket record was 64 set by Bill Englefield from Northern District in 1942-43, it was recognised that that feat was established in a season of one-day matches. The Randwick club claimed that Campbell’s performance had never been matched before in predominantly two-day match competitions and should be considered the new record. It was a claim beyond argument.
Alan Campbell came to Randwick in 1979-80 after six seasons with Sutherland. He had established himself as a wicketkeeper/batsman of promise and was keen to test himself further with Randwick which had won the 1st Grade premiership two seasons earlier and was one of the strongest teams in the competition. Aware that Graham Errington was the club’s established ‘keeper he advised that he was prepared to bide his time in a lower grade.
Born in Inverell on 28 August 1953, Alan James Campbell began his career with Randwick in 2nd Grade and after scoring 208 runs, including 107* against Gordon in the second round and taking eight catches behind the stumps, he was promoted to 1st Grade as a batsman. It was an unusual situation with Campbell in 2nd Grade as he was a member of the NSW State Squad and generally regarded as the best ‘keeper in the State behind Steve Rixon, a reputation he enjoyed for around 10 years. He was also a regular player with both the NSW Second XI and State Colts teams.
Mid-way through that season, a loss of form by a number of players forced some selection changes with the result Campbell was given the 1st Grade ‘keeping job. It is now history that the team went on to win the 1st Grade premiership with Alan Campbell a major contributor with 253 runs and 28 dismissals. Indeed it may be said with some good reasoning, that it was his dogged innings of 48*guiding Randwick through from 9-77 to chase down Mosman’s 100 at Mosman (now Allan Border) Oval which clinched a spot in the semi-final.
The following season Campbell cemented his 1st Grade spot with 335 runs and a new club wicket-keeping record when he effected 41 dismissals to exceed the previous record of 37 set by Graham Errington in 1973-74. That achievement however, was the forerunner to his outstanding effort in 1981-82 when he broke his own record with 58 dismissals. A number of amazing performances occurred in establishing that new mark such as in the match against Sydney University when he notched an almost unbelievable 11 dismissals including six catches in the first innings.
Six catches in an innings was nothing new for the agile ‘keeper as he repeated the performance against Gordon and Northern District. In an unusual twist, his 58 dismissals were seven more than the bowling aggregate of 51 wickets achieved by fast bowler Evan Gordon. Campbell won the Randwick “Player of the Season” award that year as he had done 12 months earlier.
Alan Campbell continued to be one of Randwick’s best and most consistent players over the following seasons with yet another 1st Grade premiership in 1983-84. A feature of his 23 dismissals that season was his stumping of the opening batsman in West’s first over, to give spinner Trevor Jay his 500th 1st Grade wicket, as they crumbled to be all out for 75 chasing Randwick’s 105.
In a major shock, Campbell announced his unavailability prior to the 1984-85 season and moved to the Balmain club. However, 12 months later he was back in Randwick’s colours where he completed another 22 dismissals. But that “comeback” was short-lived as an offer to coach at Campbelltown was too good to refuse forcing Campbell to finally bring his time with Randwick to an end.
In his seven seasons Randwick career, Alan Campbell completed 211 1st Grade dismissals (192 caught; 19 stumped) and scored 1,381 runs with his best 76*. His overall 1st Grade career produced 419 dismissals (385 caught; 34 stumped) and 3,332 runs over 13 seasons.
In the years which followed, Alan Campbell continued to have a life in cricket holding a number of senior and influential positions including NSW State Coach and NSW Chairman of Selectors while he spent 20 years with Cricket NSW as State Director of Coaching and head of its High Performance Department. He subsequently coached overseas while holding senior coaching roles with a prominent Sydney private school.
In 1998-99 Randwick’s Daryl Parmenter equalled Campbell’s 58 dismissals record. Parmenter achieved his total in 21 games compared to Campbell’s 16 while the dismissals break-up was 48 catches and 10 stumpings to Parmenter with Campbell holding 54 catches and effecting four stumpings. Only Shane Stanton from Sydney University who caught 55 in a total of 65 dismissals in 2002-03 has taken more 1st Grade catches.
