John Sullivan presented with Premiership Cap

- Submitted by Paul Bourke

Bingara resident John (Sully) Sullivan enjoyed an outstanding career in Sydney Premier First Grade Cricket as an aggressive fast bowler. He played eight seasons with Petersham-Marrickville before joining Campbelltown, where he lived. Campbelltown entered the competition in the 1985/6 season. During his career (1977-1987) John took 283 First Grade wickets, at 23.46 runs per wicket, with 5/22 his best return.

In John’s final season (1986/7) Campbelltown were runners-up in the Belvidere Cup (two day competition) and premiers in the Limited Overs and then became NSW Limited Overs Champions when they defeated Newcastle in the State Challenge. Both Sydney Finals were against Northern Districts, whose team included five First Class players including test stars Mark and Peter Taylor. The two finals were titanic contests with a 34 run loss and a win with three balls and three wickets in hand. John was the leader of the attack, taking the new ball and could always be relied upon to either take early wickets or set up batsman to be dismissed by his bowling partner. He could bowl short spells with serious pace but always bowled his heart out when he returned for spells later in the day. His team mates had the highest regard for his skill, whole-hearted efforts and his wonderful contributions to team spirit. It was no surprise when he was awarded Club Player of the Year for Campbelltown in 1986/7. Commonly referred to as “Sully”, John was treasured by his team mates and always respected by his opponents. In summary, he was a very good cricketer and a top bloke.

In recent years the Limited Overs Competitions (T20 and 50 overs) statistics have been added to players’ official cricket statistics and clubs have then awarded premiership caps to the winning Limited Overs teams. John was unable to attend our presentation of caps in 2022 and therefore his Captain Paul Bourke recently travelled to Bingara to catch up and present his cap