Cecil Donovan Dixon (12 February 1891 in

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom ( ; ), colloquially known as Potch, is an college town, academic city in the North West (South African province), North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstro ...

South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...

– 9 September 1969 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

) played

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 ...

between 1913 and 1924. He was educated at

Potchefstroom High School for Boys Potchefstroom High School for Boys is a public English medium high school for boys situated in Potchefstroom in the North West province of South Africa. It is one of the oldest schools in South Africa. Historical perspective School history ...

. Cec Dixon was a medium-to-fast-medium pace bowler and tail-end batsman. From 39 innings he amassed just 184 runs with a top score of 27 and ended his career with an average below six. But he was a respected bowler who took

five wickets in an innings In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Taking ...

on six occasions and

ten wickets in a match In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bow ...

once. His best figures, 7 for 16, were gained at the expense of

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, w ...

in a

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

match played at Johannesburg in 1923/24. In that season Dixon took 33 wickets at an average of exactly 10 runs apiece, topped the national bowling averages and helped

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

to their eighth domestic title. Dixon toured

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

with

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

during the summer of 1924 but was rather disappointing. His only success of note was against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

where he took 4 for 14 and 6 for 39 to gain his only five-wicket haul of the tour and the only ten-wicket match of his career. He did not play in any of the

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

on that tour. He had played his sole Test ten years earlier at Johannesburg. Playing against an England side led by J.W.H.T. Douglas in the third match of the series, Dixon failed to score in either innings and took three wickets for 118 runs in the match, including the great

Jack Hobbs Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882 – 21 December 1963) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Master", he is widely regarded ...

twice. He played just one further first-class match after the 1924 tour. Since his death in 1969 no obituary for him has appeared in ''

Wisden Cricketer's Almanack ''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 ...

''.

References

# ''World Cricketers - A Biographical Dictionary'' by Christopher Martin-Jenkins, published by Oxford University Press (1996). # ''The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, Volume 1 (1877–1977)'' compiled and edited by Bill Frindall, published by Headline Book Publishing (1995). # www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Cec 1891 births 1969 deaths South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Gauteng cricketers Cricketers from Potchefstroom