Malcolm Bruce Ronaldson (13 April 1917 – 2 December 2004) 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. A right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

,Malcolm Ronaldson
at CricketArchive he 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 Eastern Province in 1938First-class matches played by Malcolm Ronaldson
at CricketArchive and later played for Tanganyika and

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

in the 1950s.Other matches played by Malcolm Ronaldson
at CricketArchive

Biography

Born in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

in 1917, Bruce Ronaldson played five matches for Eastern Province in the 1937/38

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 ...

, his first coming against

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and his last coming 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; ...

. Opening the batting, often without gloves,

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

2007
Obituaries K-R
/ref> his highest score of 94 came in the match against

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 ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

prevented him from playing first-class cricket again, but he played for, and captained Tanganyika throughout the 1950s. Most of his matches were against

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, with one match each against

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and the MCC. He also played twice for East Africa - against Sunder Cricket Club in 1957 and against a South African Non-Europeans team captained by

Basil D'Oliveira Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE OIS (4 October 1931 – 19 November 2011) was an England international cricketer of South African Cape Coloured background, whose potential selection by England for the scheduled 1968–69 tour of apartheid-era Sout ...

in 1958. Ronaldson worked for the British Colonial Service as a District Commissioner for fifteen years and, while at Mbulu, trained Tanzanian runner John Stephen Akhwari, who was favourite for the marathon at the 1968 Olympic Games in

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. Akhwari is notable for his honourable last place finish. He fell early in the race, cutting his knee and dislocating the joint but went on to complete the race, stating to journalists, "My country did not send me 10,000 miles just to start the race; they sent me to finish the race." Eighteen other competitors did not finish the race. Ronaldson moved to the

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in 1962 and spent 20 years as company secretary of

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. He died in

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in 2004, aged 87. His son Chris Ronaldson was world champion in

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

, winning the first ever grand slam in 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ronaldson, Malcolm 1917 births 2004 deaths South African cricketers Tanzanian cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Cricketers from East London, South Africa East African cricketers East African cricket captains Oxfam people