Denis Charles Aberhart (born 23 March 1953) is a New Zealand former

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 ...

er who played 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 ...

and

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

between 1976/77 and 1983/84. He was a school teacher who served as principal of several schools 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 ...

Life and career

Aberhart was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and useful lower-order batsman. His best first-class figures were 6 for 55 for Central Districts against

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in 1982–83. Auckland, chasing 284 to win, were 269 for 6 before Aberhart took the last four wickets to give Central Districts victory by eight runs. In December 1981 he won the

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award when he took 4 for 32 against Auckland when Central Districts won by three wickets. He also played for

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

in the

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat ...

. Captaining Marlborough in a Hawke Cup elimination match in 1979–80 against Buller, he took 5 for 11 and 7 for 21 (match figures of 37.2–22–32–12). Aberhart became coach of Canterbury during the 1990s before serving as full-time coach of

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 ...

between 2001 and 2004. He was a director of Canterbury Cricket for eleven years, and is a board member of the Marlborough Cricket Association. Aberhart was a school teacher for nearly 50 years. He was Principal of St Paul's School in the

suburb of Dallington, then of Our Lady of Fatima School in another suburb, Mairehau, and was finally Principal of Our Lady of Victories School in Upper Riccarton, Christchurch, between 2015 and his retirement in July 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aberhart, Denis 1953 births Living people Canterbury cricketers Central Districts cricketers Cricketers from Motueka Heads of schools in New Zealand New Zealand cricket administrators New Zealand cricket coaches New Zealand cricketers Coaches of the New Zealand national cricket team