James Richard Liddle (18 June 1930 – 15 January 1959) 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

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 ...

from 1949 to 1956. While at

Grey High School Grey High School is a State school, semi-private English-medium high school (grades 8 to 12) for boys situated in the suburb of Mill Park in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the top sporting schools in the coun ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, Liddle played in the South African Schools team in 1946, 1947 and 1948. A left-arm spin bowler, he played three matches for Eastern Province in the 1949–50 season, taking nine wickets, including 3 for 97 when the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

scored 418 on the opening day of their tour match. In the 1951–52, now playing 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 ...

, he took 40 wickets at an average of 16.65 and made 204 runs at 25.50. In the second match of the season he took 7 for 97 and 5 for 115 and made 31 and 77 against

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

and in the last match he took 7 for 93 and 4 for 46 against

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, w ...

. However, the more experienced

Percy Mansell Percy Neville Frank Mansell MBE (16 March 1920 – 9 May 1995) was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in thirteen Tests for South Africa from 1951 to 1955. Mansell was a bespectacled middle-order batsman, slips fieldsman, and leg-break and googly ...

of Rhodesia, who made 571 runs at 43.92 and took 52 wickets at 17.63 and was also an experts slips fieldsman, was chosen ahead of Liddle as the second spin bowler for the tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1952–53. In 1955–56 he moved to

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 was their most successful bowler in their victory in the

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 ...

that season, taking 31 wickets in six matches at an average of 18.83. He took 7 for 72 and 3 for 64 against

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in the first match, and 5 for 132 and 6 for 60, also at Cape Town, against

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

later in the season. He was one of the ''South African Cricket Annual'' Cricketers of the Year for 1956. After a few matches in 1956–57 he succumbed to illness, and died in 1959 aged 28.''

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 ...

'' 1960, pp. 953–54.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liddle, James 1930 births 1959 deaths Cricketers from Gqeberha South African cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Western Province cricketers Free State cricketers Alumni of Grey High School