On Tuesday 7th November 2023, former Parramatta District Cricket Club 1st grade player and Life Member John Aitken passed away.

The old phrase ‘cricket is life’, was most apt when applied to ‘JA’, he conducted a life-long love affair with the game. The remarkable duration of his personal playing career would undoubtedly place him amongst Australia’s longest-ever continuous players. Up to the close of the 2012/13 season he was still captaining and playing in the Auburn Shire Club’s 4th grade team. Still maintaining his enthusiasm after an astonishing seven decades playing the grand old game.

John was physically a diminutive, slight man whose cricket could be best summed up as ‘gritty and determined.’ Not blessed with the natural ability of his younger sibling Bobby, he practiced assiduously and utilised sheer hard work to extract ‘every ounce’ of skill he owned to forge his marathon career.

https://www.cricconnect.com/profile/406/parramatta-district-cricket-club/blog/1710/vale-john-aitken