Christopher Anthony Russell Duckworth (22 March 1933 – 16 May 2014) was a

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to th ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who played in two

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), ...

for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

in 1957. Duckworth was born in Que Que,

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally k ...

(now

Kwekwe Kwekwe ( ), known until 1983 as Que Que, is a city in the Midlands province of central Zimbabwe. The city has a population of 119,863 within the city limits, as of the 2022 census, making it the 7th-largest city in Zimbabwe and the second-most p ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

) and was educated at

Chaplin High School Chaplin High School is situated in Gweru, Zimbabwe, and was started in October 1902. It was started in a building of the Trinity Church, Gwelo and first named as the Trinity Church School (1). The school caters for boys and girls from form 1–6 ...

and the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

. He also played hockey for Rhodesia, rugby for Natal U19 and league tennis in Johannesburg. Both of his Tests against England in the 1956–57 series were won by South Africa, the fourth at the Wanderers, Johannesburg, and the fifth at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth. Captain

Clive van Ryneveld Clive Berrangè van Ryneveld (19 March 1928 – 29 January 2018) was a South African cricketer who played in 19 Test matches between 1951 and 1958. He was the son of Reginald Clive Berrangè van Ryneveld (b. 7 July 1891, d. 1969) and Maria Alfre ...

presented him with a commemorative stump at the conclusion of each contest. In

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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

, Duckworth played two years from the 1952–1953 season for Natal while at University in Pietermaritzburg, scoring a century in his second match. In 1954–55 he returned to

and in the mid-summer of 1963 was asked by the Rhodesian selectors to spearhead the National side, an honour he declined as he and his family were shortly due to emigrate to South Africa, where, in Johannesburg, at

John Waite John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single "Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the top ten on t ...

's invitation, he played for his Wanderers side in the 1965–66 season. He was reserve wicketkeeper on two overseas tours, both to England, in 1955 and 1960, but was not picked for any of the Tests on either tour. He hit his highest first-class score, 158, against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

on the 1955 tour.

Jack Cheetham John Erskine Cheetham (26 May 1920 – 21 August 1980) was a South African cricketer who played in 24 Test matches between 1949 and 1955, captaining South Africa in his last 15 Test matches. He later served as president of the South African Cric ...

, captain of the 1955 tourists in his book ''I Declare'' wrote: "Duckworth played some beautiful innings, the one at Northampton possibly the most correct of the tour". In the 33 matches he played for the South Africans, he was on the winning side 21 times, against only two losses. Both defeats occurred on the 1960 tour, once at Northampton after Duckworth had scored 51 not out in a second innings total of 101 for 7 before an adventurous declaration by Jackie McGlew, the other on a ghastly wicket at Bristol.''

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" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1961, pp. 220-68,

1961, pp. 264-308.

References

External links

*
Chris Duckworth at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duckworth, Chris 1933 births 2014 deaths Sportspeople from Kwekwe Alumni of Chaplin High School South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Rhodesia cricketers Zimbabwean rugby union players Wicket-keepers