The passing of Bruce Collins KC, a legend of the Sydney University Cricket Club, wILL BE acknowledged at all SUCC matches played on 3 October 2026, followed by a minute's silence.

It is with much sadness that we gather this morning to acknowledge the hugely unexpected passing last Sunday of the club's Co-Patron, Bruce Wilkie Collins.

Bruce was a distinguished barrister, a King's Counsel, and, for 60 years, was one of the more influential members of our club. When he studied at the University, he was awarded a Blue for Hockey and he was 1st Grade cricket cap no469. He scored 4489 runs for the club and after retirement from Grade Cricket, he then scored another 3000 runs for the IZingari Club, as an aggressive batsman whose game was filled with thumping boundaries who could change the course of a match in just a few overs.

Bruce was much-respected well beyond the boundaries of Sydney University Cricket. In a life of unstinting service to the game, Bruce was the inaugural Chairman of the Bradman Trust, a member of the Board of Cricket Australia and of the Board of Cricket NSW and Chairman of the SCA Committee of Management.

He was a Life Member of our club, a Patron of the club's Foundation, a long-serving President of our club and, in recent years, the Co-Patron of the Sydney University Cricket Club.

Bruce's entertaining sense of humour, on and off the field, was legendary as was his prodigious memory. He was an eloquent and persuasive public speaker, never more so than when our club needed him most when we were in great danger of being exiled from the Grade Competition just 30 years ago.

The Club's sincere sympathy is expressed to Bruce's wife, Di, to his family and to all those who were privileged to have played with him and to have been the recipients of his boundless generosity and graciousness. He stood for, and lived by, the best qualities that our great game has to give.

So now let us bow our heads in silence for one minute as we pay this mark of respect for our good and faithful servant and our great friend, Bruce Wilkie Collins.

May he rest in peace.

 

James Rodgers

Co-Patron, Sydney University Cricket Club.