Albert James Ditchburn (24 August 1908 – 7 March 1964) was an Australian sportsman who represented

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

in both Australian rules football 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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

. He played and coached in the

Western Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September ...

(WANFL) during the 1930s Ditchburn, who was born in the

Western Australian goldfields The Western Australian Goldfields is a term for areas in Western Australia that have had significant areas of gold mining occur. Range of goldfields There are goldfields across the state of Western Australia, from the Kimberley region to the so ...

, started his league career in 1929 with Subiaco. He crossed to South Fremantle in 1932 and put together 93 games for the club, during which time made the first of his ten interstate football appearances with Western Australia. Used by his state both in the ruck and as a half forward flanker, Ditchburn twice captained Western Australia to wins over South Australia in 1938. By then he was at his third WANFL club,

Swan Districts The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

, who had secured his services as captain-coach prior to the 1937 season. He had played his early football in Midland and was thus the first local to coach Swan Districts. In the three years he was in charge of the club, Ditchburn twice steered them to finals, with third-place finishes in 1937 and 1938. He briefly coached South Fremantle in 1946, after the sudden resignation of Neil Lewington. A right-arm medium pace bowler, Ditchburn played nine first-class matches for the Western Australian cricket team, all in 1934 and 1935. He took 22 wickets at 30.63, with his best innings and match figures coming in his final appearance, against the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

at the

WACA Ground The WACA (formally the WACA Ground) is a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium's name derives from the initials of its owners and operators, the Western Australian Cricket Association. The WACA has been referred to as Wester ...

. His first innings figures of 4 for 46 consisted entirely of present and future England Test cricketers,

James Langridge James Langridge (10 July 1906 – 10 September 1966) was an English cricketer, who played for Sussex and England. He played in eight Tests than spanned either side of World War II. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "a great servant of Suss ...

, Joe Hardstaff, Jim Parks and

Wilf Barber Wilfred Barber (18 April 1901 – 10 September 1968) was a professional first-class cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1926 to 1947. He played two Test cricket, Test matches for England in 1935 English cricket season, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ditchburn, Jim 1908 births 1964 deaths Australian rules footballers from Western Australia People from Boulder, Western Australia Subiaco Football Club players South Fremantle Football Club players South Fremantle Football Club coaches Swan Districts Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club coaches Australian cricketers Western Australia cricketers Cricketers from Western Australia