John Willie Scaife (14 November 1908 – 27 October 1995) was an Australian cricketer 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 ...

for

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 ...

from 1927 to 1936. At the age of 18, Scaife was one of five Victorians who made their first-class debuts against

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

in January 1927. Batting at number six he scored 46, adding 106 for the fifth wicket with

Norman Mitchell Norman Mitchell Driver (27 August 1918 – 19 March 2001), known professionally as Norman Mitchell, was an English television, stage and film actor. Born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, his father was a mining engineer and his mother ...

. One of the smallest first-class players in Australia at the time, Scaife played the full six-game

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 ...

season in 1927–28, scoring 207 runs at an average of 34.50 in a season when his teammates

Bill Ponsford William Harold Ponsford MBE (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bil ...

and

Bill Woodfull William Maldon Woodfull (22 August 1897 – 11 August 1965) was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victorian Bushrangers, Victoria and Australian cricket team, Australia, and was best known for his dignified and ...

each averaged well over 100 with the bat and Victoria won the Shield. He was one of the three emergencies named for Australia's tour of New Zealand at the end of the season, but was not required to play. He played in a trial match for an Australian XI against The Rest at the start of the 1928–29 season but was not successful. He continued to play for Victoria with mixed success. He did not score his first century until 1933–34, when he made 120 and 80 to help Victoria draw the match after

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

had declared at 672 for 8 in their first innings. His best season was 1935–36, when he made 573 runs at 52.09. He played his last first-class matches in 1936-37 for the Europeans team in the

Bombay Quadrangular The Bombay Tournament was an annual cricket competition held in British India between 1892 and 1946. Until 1936, matches were played on either the Gymkhana Ground in Bombay or the Deccan Gymkhana Ground in Poona, and then at the Brabourne Stadi ...

References

External links

John Scaife
at ESPNcricinfo

at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Scaife, John 1908 births 1995 deaths Victoria cricketers Sportspeople from Haslingden English emigrants to Australia Australian cricketers Europeans cricketers Cricketers from Lancashire 20th-century Australian sportsmen

See also

References

External links