Gerald Austin (cricketer)

Gerald George Austin (14 March 1875 – 14 October 1959) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played 29 first-class matches for Otago between 1896 and 1913.[1][2]

Gerald Austin
Personal information
Full name
Gerald George Austin
Born(1875-03-14)14 March 1875
Dunedin, New Zealand
Died14 October 1959(1959-10-14) (aged 84)
Dunedin, New Zealand
RoleAll-rounder
RelationsTal Austin (brother)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1896/97–1912/13Otago
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 29
Runs scored 771
Batting average 14.54
100s/50s 0/5
Top score 64
Balls bowled 2,085
Wickets 40
Bowling average 24.00
5 wickets in innings 1
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 5/156
Catches/stumpings 22/–
Source: Cricinfo, 14 January 2021

Cricket career

Gerry Austin was born in Dunedin and educated at Otago Boys' High School.[3] He was the youngest of four brothers who played for the Carisbrook Cricket Club in Dunedin in the late 19th century.[4] He played his first first-class match in January 1897.[5]

Austin top-scored in each innings with 35 and 52 in Otago's match against the Melbourne Cricket Club in March 1900.[6] He made a record score for Otago when he scored 182 (in two and a half hours) against Southland in 1903–04.[7] In the 1910-11 senior club cricket season in Dunedin, Austin scored four of the 21 centuries, but he was unavailable to play for Otago owing to work commitments.[8]

He made his highest first-class score of 64 against Canterbury in the Plunket Shield in 1911–12, adding 170 for the second wicket with Cyril Hopkins.[9] Until the 1920s he was one of only three players to score 1000 runs for Otago.[10] He was still playing senior cricket in his fifties, captaining Carisbrook in the Dunedin competition in 1926–27.[11]

The New Zealand cricket historian Tom Reese said Austin was "a very stylish batsman, and decidedly unfortunate in missing selection for New Zealand". He added, however, that Austin's results were disappointing for so capable a player, and suggested that perhaps nerves got the better of him in big cricket.[12]

Later life

In May 1942 Austin was appointed national general manager of Kempthorne, Prosser and Company's New Zealand Drug Company.[13]

He married in April 1921.[14] His wife died in January 1927.[15] He died in October 1959, aged 84.[2]

References
  1. "Gerald Austin". Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  2. "Gerald Austin". CricketArchive. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  3. "Pupils Sixty Years Ago". Otago Daily Times: 4. 16 February 1945.
  4. "Death of Mr. E. J. Austin, well-known cricketer". Evening Star: 6. 24 July 1947.
  5. "Otago v Queensland 1896-97". CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  6. "Otago v Melbourne CC 1899-00". CricketArchive. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  7. "Cricket". Evening Star: 4. 2 January 1904.
  8. "Otago Cricket Association". Otago Daily Times: 12. 2 September 1911.
  9. "Canterbury v Otago 1911-12". CricketArchive. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  10. "Round the Ground". Evening Star: 3. 21 March 1921.
  11. "Cricket: The Season Reviewed". Otago Daily Times: 4. 7 April 1927.
  12. T. W. Reese, New Zealand Cricket: 1841–1914, Simpson & Williams, Christchurch, 1927, pp. 66–67, 71.
  13. "N.Z. Drug Co. Manager". Auckland Star: 2. 5 May 1942.
  14. "Otago Cricket Association". Otago Daily Times: 7. 28 April 1921.
  15. "Deaths". Evening Star: 4. 14 January 1927.
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