William Russell Endean (31 May 1924 – 28 June 2003) 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 in 28 Test matches from 1951 to 1958. Endean had a part in two highly unusual Test match dismissals: he was the

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

whom

Len Hutton Sir Leonard Hutton (23 June 1916 – 6 September 1990) was an English cricketer. He played as an Batting order (cricket)#Opening batsmen, opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England national cricket team ...

obstructed leading to Hutton's being given out ''

obstructing the field Obstructing the field is one of the ten methods of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. Either batsman can be given out if he wilfully attempts to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action. It is Law 37 of the Laws of ...

''; and Endean himself was given out '' handled the ball'', the first time in Test Cricket history a batsman was dismissed by this method. He also holds the record for the most runs made before lunch on the first day of a first class match, scoring 197* for Transvaal against

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 ...

at Ellis Park in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

in the 1954/55 season.

Personal life

Endean went straight from school into the South African Army, where he served in the

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and

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during the Second World War. Following the end of the war, he became an accountant in Johannesburg, and also played hockey for the South African National team. He met his future wife, Muriel, on a cricket tour of England, and had two sons and a daughter with her.

Retirement

Endean retired from state cricket at the end of the 1960–1961 season. He then moved to London, and worked as an accountant for BP. He continued to play for MCC in schools games, and also played club cricket for Malden Wanderers. He and his wife lived in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

References

External links

* 1924 births 2003 deaths Gauteng cricketers South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers South African male field hockey players Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers 20th-century South African sportsmen {{SouthAfrica-cricket-bio-1920s-stub