After a four-season stint in the Sunshine State, prolific wicketkeeper-batter Keegan Armstrong is back in Victoria this summer, joining Shepparton Youth Club United for the 2025-26 Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield season.
A past SYCU player before making the move north, his final innings lives long in the memory at the club after scoring 117 runs against Tatura.
The season prior, Armstrong won the 2019-20 batting average award after scoring 550 runs at an average of 45.8, while also claiming 20 catches and four stumpings as wicketkeeper.
While the re-signing was officially announced on Saturday via the club’s social media, Armstrong had voiced his desire to return to the Goulburn Valley at the end of last year and met with his former club, which was quick to embrace a return to the fold.
“We heard he was moving back down to the area at the back-end of last year and caught up with him,” SYCU playing coach Sam Nash said.
“It was a pretty easy process really, he did play cricket for us a few years ago and he loved his time in Shepparton, so it’s good to have him back.”
With a young squad shaping, Nash said the arrival of the opening batter’s experience was especially welcome.
“It is really exciting to have Keegan back at the club,” Nash said.
“He’s a very smart cricketer, he’s played a lot of senior cricket and he has the ability to play both white ball and red ball.
“He’s a very patient batsman, so he’ll be really important and really handy in the two-day cricket, where he’s made a lot of his runs for the club in the past.
“Especially from an experience perspective as well, we’re a pretty young side, so bringing someone in to help me as well is really important for the club.”
Armstrong is currently in the United Kingdom playing for Welsh club Llandudno, where he has piled runs on the stats sheet, producing not out scores of 86, 105, and 62 in the past six weeks.
That form does not go out without notice, with Nash delighted Armstrong will enter the Australian summer campaign with a string of strong form under his belt.
“It’s always nice seeing him scoring runs through winter when no-one else is scoring runs at the moment, we’re all playing footy,” Nash said.
“He’s in some really good form over in the UK, so that’s exciting for us to know he’s going to be coming back with runs under his belt.”
Armstrong’s signing comes after Nash recommitted as captain-coach for a further season last month, while SYCU also announced in May young batter Tyler Green would return to where he played juniors after a few years at Katamatite.
Green tonned up in Katamatite’s A-grade side last year and averaged nearly 45 runs for the summer, while Nash achieved career-best bowling figures of 7-30 for SYCU in round 10 last season.
In other cricket news, Karramomus youngster Jackson Crouch has been selected in Kew’s 2026 Craig Shield squad.
The Craig Shield is recognised as the premier under-15 tournament in Victoria and is a staple of Cricket Victoria’s Pathway Program.
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