William George Ditchfield (21 May 1903 – 21 March 1991) was a New Zealand musician and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He played one

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

match for

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

in 1933/34. Ditchfield was born at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in Australia in 1903. He worked as a window dresser and was a founder member of a "pioneering" New Zealand country and western band ''

The Tumbleweeds The Tumbleweeds, sometimes billed as Cole Wilson And His Tumbleweeds, were a New Zealand country and western group founded in Dunedin in 1949. The band are considered among the major pioneers of New Zealand country music. They were amongst the ...

'' in 1949, playing double bass, harmonica and banjo.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 43. Cardiff:

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. He had previously played in ''The Hawaiian Serenaders'' and was inspired to form ''The Tumbleweeds'' after hearing Myra Hewitt sing ''Maple On The Hill'', the song which became the groups best selling single with over 80,000 copies sold. The band were inducted into the New Zealand Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and hand impressions in cement were added to

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...

's Gold Guitar Awards "Hands of Fame" walk in 1991.Hands of Fame induction
" ''goldguitars.co.nz''. Retrieved 12 July 2022. Ditchfield died at

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in 1991 and is buried in

Andersons Bay Cemetery Andersons Bay Cemetery is a major cemetery in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located to the southeast of the city centre, on a rocky outcrop which forms the inland part of Lawyers Head, a promontory which juts into the Pacific Ocean. ...

. Obituaries were published in the ''New Zealand Cricket Almanack'' in 1992 and in ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' in 1993.

References

External links

* 1903 births 1991 deaths New Zealand cricketers Otago cricketers Cricketers from Sydney 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen {{NewZealand-musician-stub