Adam Turrell – A Batting Stylist
Parramatta District Cricket Club | November 18, 2025
Adam Turrell was a Wenty Waratahs junior and began his career with Parramatta as a wicket-keeper / batsman in A.W. Green Shield team of 2003/04 – he is the son of club icon Allen Turrell – and entered the NSW Premier Cricket ranks via 5th grade in season 2005/06.
In that first season (2005/06) Adam impressed as a consistent performer with the bat, producing a solid 340 runs @ 26.15 (H.S. – 72) and behind the sticks he snapped up 14 catches and 4 stumpings.
By 2008/09 a growth spurt had ‘put paid’ to his keeping days and he was successfully opening the batting in 2nd grade and won a promotion to 1st grade. The move to opener in 2nd grade was the catalyst to Adam showcasing his flowing stroke-play and lifting him into 1st grade after registering 396 runs @ 44.00, including forceful maiden century against Bankstown (100).
The 2008/09 2nd grade skipper James Wood had this to say on Adam in the Annual Report: “A great start to not only his 2nd grade career, but also to his opening career. AT’s strong first half of the season featured superb straight driving and earned him just under 400 runs by Christmas, as well as a call up to 1st grade. There is a quiet competitiveness to Tuzz that I like, if he keeps backing himself, he has the intelligence and temperament to make a real good fist of the top grade.”
The following season (2009/10) witnessed Adam indeed advance his career, he opened the batting for the full season in 1st grade and the elegant left-hander proved to be one of Parramatta’s ‘most watchable’ batsman whilst harvesting, a team second-highest aggregate of 455 runs @ 26.76 – highlighted by two standout attacking efforts: 99 v. North Sydney and 93 v. Gordon that showcased Adam at his best.
During the 2009/10 Poidevin-Gray Shield competition Adam became the first Parramatta player to score a century in a P.G. T20 match – a blockbusting 116 not out v. Campbelltown.
Between 2009/10 and 2019/20 Adam was unfortunately often the odd man out floating ‘in and out’ of 1st grade, fluctuating all over the batting order, this proved unsettling to his cricket, and perhaps the club didn’t fully optimise the use of his talents. However, during this period he continued to evolve his game and added another string to his bow by becoming a handy left-arm orthodox spinner.
A popular player throughout the club, he also proved to be a very able captain on the many occasions he held the job in 2nd grade.
I was fortunate to be a spectator at two matches where Adam Turrell demonstrated the full quality of his batting, and they left me with a strong appreciation of this underrated player’s ability:
· Throughout the 2016/17 season fortunes fluctuated from match to match, regarding Parramatta forcing its way into the playoffs, indeed in a tight points field they needed to defeat Mosman in the last round, in a one-day game at Allan Border Oval, to secure a spot. In that match Parramatta batted first and with their season on the line they were teetering at 5 /155 with just 10 over left then left-hander Adam Turrell took control with an outstanding exhibition of pure stroke-play blasting 55 runs of just 25 balls (5 x 6s) to propel Parramatta to 7/242, and building on this late momentum Parramatta ripped through Mosman for 101 spearheaded by fast bowlers Ben Martin and Scott Copperfield who both claimed 3 wickets – after a hiatus of 23 years the westerners were in the 1st Grade Finals.
· In the 2017/18 Belvidere Cup Grand Final against the powerful Sydney University team, at stumps Parra’s innings was resting at 7/251, a target well within the scope of the student’s batting lineup, However, ‘cometh the hour cometh the man’ and Adam Turrell was the man for the job – at the close of day 1 the game was on a tight-rope. The morning session of day 2 witnessed Turrell at his absolute best, the stylish and fluent stroking lefty dominated proceedings thumping a match-winning 55 and with ‘a little help from his friends’ Copperfield and White projected Parramatta to challenging total of 334 – ultimately a premiership winning figure.
In a NSW Premier Cricket career ranging from 2005/06 to 2019/20 Adam Turrell scored 6,027 runs @ 25.22 (H.S. – 127), snared 64 wickets @ 30.73 (B.B. – 3/27), and secured 145 dismissals (135 catches / 10 stumpings), and scored three centuries – in All Grades.
By Tom Wood – Parramatta District Cricket Club Historian
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