Ned Gregory served as curator at the SCG, occupying this position at the time of the birth of Syd.

Syd Gregory's uncle Dave was Australia's first Test cricket captain, and his nephew Jack was the nation's most feared fast bowler of the 1920s.

In 1912, six of Australia's leading cricketers – including captain Clem Hill – refused to tour England for the inaugural Triangular Test series.

Away from cricket, Gregory was initially employed by the postal service before opening a "men's shop" – containing a tobacconist, barber and sporting store among others – with two business partners in Sydney's King Street in the mid-1890s.

A delightful story that Vernon Ransford told us on one of his visits to New Zealand gives the best flash-light picture one could get of the quickness of movement and unerring aim of little Syd.

It was in a match at Lord's when a well-known English amateur hit a ball firmly between mid-off and cover-point, and in his cultured voice called, "Come one – perhaps two," but he was thrown out before even one run had been scored!