Vernon Seymour Ransford OBE (20 March 1885 – 19 March 1958) was an Australian

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 20 Test matches between 1907 and 1912. Ransford was a smooth and stylish left-handed batsman who could score with ease all round the wicket or defend patiently as the situation required. 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 Victoria from 1904 to 1928, and was the first Victorian to score a

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

in each innings of a match, with 182 and 110 against

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 ...

in 1907–08. In 1908–09 he was the leading run-scorer in the

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 ...

, with 720 runs in four matches at an average of 120.00 and four centuries. He was also an outstanding fieldsman, who could pick up and throw the ball in one movement and with great accuracy. Ransford's best Test series was the 1909 tour of England when he topped the Australian batting averages, helped by a career-best score of 143

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

in Australia's victory at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

, finishing with 353 runs at an average of 58.83. On the whole tour he made 1783 runs at an average of 43.48, and hit six centuries. These performances led to his selection as a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based "primarily for their influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

. Ransford toured New Zealand with Australian teams in 1913–14 and in 1920–21, when he captained the side. He also toured New Zealand with Victoria in 1924–25. After retiring from playing, Ransford served as president of the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

in 1927–28, and secretary of the

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Groun ...

(where he had played his senior club cricket) from 1939 to 1957, ably steering the club and its ground, the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

, through the ground's use as a military camp in

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 ...

and its later use as the chief venue for the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 440–41. He was awarded the OBE in the 1954

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ransford, Vernon 1885 births 1958 deaths Australia Test cricketers Victoria cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers Melbourne Football Club presidents Australian cricketers Cricketers from Melbourne Australian cricket administrators People from South Yarra, Victoria Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian sportsmen Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire