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

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

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 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 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 ...

in 1957. Duckworth was born in

Que Que Kwekwe ( ), formerly known as Que Que, is a city in the Midlands province in 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-mos ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a 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 known as South ...

(now

Kwekwe Kwekwe ( ), formerly known as Que Que, is a city in the Midlands province in 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-mo ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

) 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 (1891–1969) and Maria Alfreda Blancken ...

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

, Duckworth played two years from the 1952–1953 season for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

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 rock singer and musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single "Missing You (John Waite song), Missing You", which reached No. 1 on th ...

's invitation, he played for his Wanderers side in the 1965–66 season. He was reserve

wicketkeeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

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 Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

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 Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * In ...

, 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 cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

in a second innings total of 101 for 7 before an adventurous declaration by

Jackie McGlew Derrick John "Jackie" McGlew (11 March 1929 − 8 June 1998) was a cricketer who played for Natal and South Africa. He was educated at Merchiston Preparatory School and Maritzburg College, where he was Head Dayboy Prefect and captain of both cr ...

, 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" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' 1961, pp. 220-68,

1961, pp. 264-308.

References

External links

*
Chris Duckworth at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duckworth, Chris 1933 births 2014 deaths Cricketers 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