George David Robinson (21 January 1921 – 12 March 1999) was an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

doctor Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

and

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

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

between 1945 and 1948.

Life and career

Robinson was born in

Boulder, Western Australia Boulder is a suburb of Kalgoorlie in the Western Australian Goldfields, east of Perth. The Boulder (horse) Races were a significant event in early twentieth century goldfields region history. The town maintained its separation from Kalgoorl ...

. His father

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

had played one match of first-class cricket for Western Australia in 1907–08, and George's younger brother, also born in Boulder, and also named

, played two matches for Western Australia in 1952–53. George Robinson graduated in medicine from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in 1944, and returned to Western Australia to practise. A batsman who usually batted at number three, Robinson played several matches for Western Australia in 1945–46 and 1946–47. He was the vice-captain of Western Australia's inaugural

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

team in 1947–48.''

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 ...

'' 2000, p. 1559. In the first match of the season he scored 90, adding 159 for the second wicket with the captain, Keith Carmody, in an innings victory over

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. In the next match, against

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, he scored 134, this time adding 190 for the second wicket with Allan Edwards, and 126 for the third wicket with David Watt. Western Australia won the match on the first innings. Western Australia won the Shield in their inaugural season, Robinson contributing 326 runs at an average of 46.57, second only to the skipper Carmody in the team's averages and aggregates. He maintained his medical practice while playing cricket, taking morning and evening surgery on match days. He played no further first-class cricket after the 1947–48 season, and later returned to Melbourne, where he was director of anaesthesia at Western General Hospital in Footscray for 25 years. The cricket writer Ray Robinson was his cousin.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 452–53.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, George 1921 births 1999 deaths Australian cricketers Western Australia cricketers 20th-century Australian medical doctors Melbourne Medical School alumni Sportspeople from Boulder, Western Australia Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers Military personnel from Western Australia Cricketers from Western Australia Sportsmen from Western Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen