Dennis Walter Piers (10 May 1929 – 9 September 2005) was a South African

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 two first-class matches for

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

during the 1947–48 season. Piers was born in Leribe (or

Hlotse Hlotse (also Leribe) is an important market town in Lesotho. It is situated on the Hlotse River, near the South African border. The town was founded in 1876 by a British missionary, Reverend John Widdicombe. It was a colonial centre until Lesot ...

), in what is now

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

(previously part of the British colony of

Basutoland Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basot ...

).Dennis Piers
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 September 2015. He is one of only a handful of first-class cricketers to be born in that country. Both of Piers' matches for Orange Free State came in March 1948, towards the end of that season's

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 ...

. On debut against

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

, he scored 24 and 6, while in the next match, against Eastern Province, he scored a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

in the first innings and 11 run in the second. In all four of his innings, he came in ninth in the batting order.Orange Free State v Eastern Province
Currie Cup 1947/48 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 September 2015. Despite making his debut at the age of 17, Piers played no further matches for Orange Free State. He died in

Randburg Randburg is an area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort ...

, a suburb of

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 ...

, in September 2005, aged 76.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piers, Dennis 1929 births 2005 deaths Free State cricketers Lesotho cricketers South African cricketers People from Leribe District