Mark Ray (born 2 October 1952 in
Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is sur ...
,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
) is a former
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal ...
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 ...
player.
Cricket career
Mark Ray played for
New South Wales
)
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, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
in the 1981–82 season, before moving to
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, where he played for
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
from 1982-83 until he retired after the 1985–86 season. He also
captained Tasmania on five occasions, becoming Tasmania's 40th captain.
A left-handed opening
batsman
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...
, and slow
left-arm orthodox bowler, he was a capable
all-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...
, although his batting relied on a limited range of strokes and his bowling on accuracy and flight rather than spin. His highest first-class score was 94, for Tasmania against
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 1983–84. His best bowling figures were 5 for 79, for Tasmania against New South Wales in 1985–86, in his second-last match.
While playing for Tasmania, he worked as a photographer for the Examiner newspaper in Launceston. After he retired from first-class cricket, he became a cricket journalist and author, working for many years for ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territo ...
'' in Melbourne and The Sydney Morning Herald. He also published two books of black and white documentary photographs depicting the world of international cricket outside the field of play. In the 1990s, the Australian Cricket Society rated one of those books, "Cricket Masala", among the 50 best Australian cricket books ever published. Ray's photography can be seen at markrayphotos.com.
Books
* ''Geoff Lawson's Diary of the Ashes: As Told to Mark Ray'' 1990
* ''The Ashes: England in Australia 1990-91'' (with
Alan Lee) 1991
* ''Cricket: The Game Behind the Game'' 1994
* ''Border & Beyond'' 1995
* ''Shane Warne: My Own Story: As Told to Mark Ray'' (with
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Austral ...
) 1997
* ''Cricket Masala'' 2002
* ''Long Shadows: 100 Years of Australian Cricket'' 2006 (editor)
See also
*
List of Tasmanian representative cricketers
This is a list of cricket players who have played representative cricket for Tasmania in Australia.
It includes players that have played at least one match, in senior first-class, List A cricket, or Twenty20 matches. Practice matches are not ...
*
List of New South Wales representative cricketers
This is a list of male cricketers who have played for New South Wales in first-class, List A and Twenty20 cricket. It is complete to the end of the 2017–18 season. The list refers to the sides named as "New South Wales" and does not include pl ...
References
External links
*
*
"Only in Tassie" by Mark Ray
1952 births
Living people
Tasmania cricketers
New South Wales cricketers
Australian cricketers
Cricketers from Sydney
Australian cricket writers
{{Australia-cricket-bio-1950s-stub