Cyril Gore Crawford (13 March 1902 – 17 June 1988) was a New Zealand

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

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 ...

for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

from 1921 to 1932 and played for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the days before New Zealand played

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

Career

Crawford was born in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and educated at

Christchurch Boys' High School Christchurch Boys' High School, often referred to as CBHS, is a single sex state secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated on a site between the suburbs of Riccarton, New Zealand, Riccarton and Fendalton, to the west of ce ...

, where he excelled at cricket, coached by Arthur Thomas. A middle-order batsman, Crawford struggled to establish a place in the Canterbury side until he scored 61 against the touring New South Wales team in 1923–24, when he "played the soundest cricket of any one on the side" and "more than justified his inclusion". The next season, against

the Victorians ''The Victorians'' is a 2009 British documentary series which focuses on Victorian art and culture. The four-part series is written and presented by Jeremy Paxman and debuted on BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast ...

, he made 70 batting at number three, when he "gave a sound exhibition of batting" and "made quite a lot of fine scoring shots", particularly the cut. He toured Australia with the New Zealand team in 1925–26, but failed in his two matches against state teams, although he scored 121 in a two-day match against a Northern Districts of New South Wales XI in the last match of the tour. He played a few more

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octo ...

matches over subsequent seasons with little success. Crawford was a stalwart of the St Albans club in Christchurch, playing 223 matches over nearly 30 years. He was a life member of the Canterbury Cricket Association.''

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 ...

'' 1989, p. 1158. Crawford was a Rugby union referee who officiated in a number of inter-provincial games from the 1920s to the 1940s.

References

External links

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Cyril Crawford
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Cyril 1902 births 1988 deaths New Zealand cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers Canterbury cricketers Cricketers from Christchurch People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School New Zealand rugby union referees