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George Cranney – Fifty Years of Service

Parramatta District Cricket Club | June 17, 2026

George Cranney was an unassuming and modest man his record of service for the club was peerless – for such a long time he was the heart and soul of the Central Cumberland District Cricket Club.

He made a ‘priceless’ contribution to Cumberland (Parramatta) over a fifty year timeframe.

His association with Cumberland started in 1904/05 when he filled the role of official scorer to the First grade team, of which his illustrious brother Harold ‘Mudgee’ was a rising star.

Affable and modest George was a member of the famous six ‘Cricketing Cranney’ brothers who blazed a sporting tradition in the district – four played First grade for Cumberland, uniquely, they all appeared together in the 1918/19 season (Harold, George, Tom and Arthur). George became Parramatta District Cricket Club First grade player Number: 140.

Despite his ‘on field’ competency, it was in the administration sphere that his star probably shined at its brightest. First elected to the Management Committee in 1920/21and he stayed a member until 1948/49 (rarely missing a meeting) and remained Auditor until 1969/70 – a remarkable 50-year love affair with the Central Cumberland club.

In 1922/23 he became hon. Treasurer, a position he retained until July 1929, whilst in November 1926 he was elected hon. Secretary – for three years he carried the dual workload of these two important roles, at a time when the club with limited financial resources was burdened with the entire management of Parramatta Oval (venue hire, employment of staff, maintenance, revenue collection, pitch preparation etc.). He resigned his Secretarial position in May 1931 but took back the reigns of Treasurer in 1937/38 and continued in that position for another 12 years until 1947/48 (total 18 years as Treasurer). In addition to those roles George, ‘the clubman supreme’, spent the years 1937/38 to 1946/47 as Assistant Secretary and he was Cumberland’s NSWCA delegate for three years from 1940/41 to 1948/49.

His minor offices in the club were innumerable – he was a regular member of the selection panel from 1918/19 to 1937/38; team captain in Second, Third, Fourth and M. & S. Shires grades; hon. Auditor for three terms (totalling twenty years).

Another of his great legacies to the club was that he was the first Historian, he did all the early work on the club’s origins, compiled the club’s statistics, collected the early historical stories – laid the foundations for future historians such as the iconic Jack Deeth, and later Tom Wood to expand upon the club’s amazing heritage.

The club honoured this highly efficient and self-effacing administrator / sportsman with Life Membership in 1943/44, and no recipient was ever more deserving of this award.

George had a long fruitful playing career that commenced in 1910/11 and stretched to 1937/38 – making appearances in every grade the club fielded.

George Cranney is the perfect example of the dedicated clubman plying his cricketing skills in the lower grades for years, always reliable and often taking leadership roles in the teams.

He first took the field as a player for the club as a 21-year-old in 2nd grade during the 1910/11 season. However, it was not until 1918/19 after the end of World War 1 that he began playing regularly, mostly in the Seconds, he also made his debut in 1st grade that season.

His playing career extended to 1937/38 (with a brief appearance in 1941/42 to assist the club cover player shortages due to World War II). The major proportion of his playing days were in Second grade (often as captain), but over the years he received the call-up to First grade on 15 occasions, and the last stages of his on-field endeavours were spent captaining Third and Fourth grade shepherding the club’s youngsters into the higher grades.

A steady, patient right-handed opening batsman in his best years he compiled an impressive 4,789 runs @ 22.27 (H.S. 111*) in all grades, (Second grade 2,745 runs @ 23.46). His most productive summer was 1923/24 when he compiled 545 runs @ 28.69 (1sts – 75, 2nds – 470). George was also a part-time bowler who uniquely sent down big turning googlies but couldn’t deliver a genuine leg-break, never-the-less he still snared 61 wickets @ 26.26.

In his youthful days George was a highly talented sportsman, apart from cricket he was a gifted footballer, transferring his allegiance from Rugby Union to League when the latter code started. When the first Rugby League Test between Australia and England was played at the Sydney Showground in 1908 George played in the curtain-raiser for Western Districts against Eastern Districts. He also played for NSW Colts against Queensland Colts at Brisbane before the first-ever interstate game between NSW and Queensland.

He died aged 85 years in 1974. A Parramatta man ‘through and through,’ he lived his whole life in the city. Residing for over half-a-century at 75 Sorrell Street North Parramatta, directly across the street from the house in which he was born. His son Harold also played some lower grade cricket for the club.

By Tom Wood – Parramatta District Cricket Club Historian