William "Digger" Roderick Robertson (6 October 1861 – 24 June 1938) was an Australian
cricketer
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 striki ...
who played in one
Test match in 1885.
A native of the
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
town of
Deniliquin, near the
Victoria border, Digger Robertson was a right-handed
batsman with a
leg break
Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...
bowling
Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...
style. He made his
first-class debut for
Victoria against the
English touring team in November 1884, taking 3 for 36 and 5 for 46. After the
Australian team for the First Test in December refused to play in the Second Test, Robertson was one of eight Test debutants selected. However, he took no wickets, Australia lost, and along with four of the other debutants, he played no further Test cricket.
After an altercation with his East Melbourne captain
Harry Boyle, Robertson moved to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, where he played for three turn-of-the-century California Cricket Association league clubs. In 1898 he captained the Bohemia Cricket Club to victory in the California Cricket Association championship. He scored one of the first centuries in California cricket history and played against the 1896 Australian Test side at the Presidio ground. He returned to Australia in 1899, and played successfully for many years for
St Kilda Cricket Club in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.
[''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'' (Oxford: Melbourne 1996) p. 452.] He died in the Melbourne suburb of
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
at the age of 76.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, William
1861 births
1938 deaths
Cricketers from New South Wales
Victoria cricketers
Australia Test cricketers
People from Deniliquin
Australian cricketers