William Robertson (Canterbury cricketer)

William Robertson (4 March 1864 – 5 April 1912) was a New Zealand cricketer who played first-class cricket for Canterbury from 1894 to 1901 and played in New Zealand's first representative matches.

William Robertson
Personal information
Born(1864-03-04)4 March 1864
Invercargill, New Zealand
Died5 April 1912(1912-04-05) (aged 48)
Auckland, New Zealand
BowlingRight-arm off-spin
International information
National side
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1893-94 to 1900-01Canterbury
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 12
Runs scored 68
Batting average 7.55
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 15
Balls bowled 2880
Wickets 85
Bowling average 14.44
5 wickets in innings 10
10 wickets in match 4
Best bowling 9/98
Catches/stumpings 5/0
Source: Cricket Archive, 24 September 2014

An off-spinner who opened the bowling, on his first-class debut for Canterbury against Auckland in January 1894 Robertson took 8 for 59 then, bowling unchanged throughout the second innings, 6 for 48.[1] In his next match he took 6 for 72 (unchanged again) and 2 for 72.[2] Selected for New Zealand's first representative match in February 1894, he was New Zealand's outstanding player, taking 6 for 76 and 4 for 73 in a 160-run loss to New South Wales.[3] He then took seven wickets against Otago and eight against Hawke's Bay to give him 47 wickets in five matches at an average of 12.12. He was New Zealand's leading wicket-taker for the season.[4]

After taking only one wicket in the first match in 1894-95, he then took 4 for 65 and 9 for 98 against Wellington,[5] 6 for 54 and 5 for 40 against Fiji,[6] and four wickets against Otago, to finish with 29 wickets at 14.00. He was New Zealand's joint leading wicket-taker for the season.[7]

He played only one match in 1895-96, for New Zealand against New South Wales, when he took three wickets and made his highest score, 15, in a tenth-wicket partnership of 67 with Arthur Fisher that gave New Zealand a sufficient lead to enable them to go on to their first victory.[8] After a gap of five years he returned to the Canterbury side in 1900-01 for his final two matches, and took six wickets.

Dick Brittenden said of Robertson: "He spun the ball either way a prodigious amount ... Small and slender, he suffered much ill-health, and asthma ended a brilliant career cruelly early." An accident in his youth had resulted in the loss of two fingers of his left hand.[9]

References
  1. Canterbury v Auckland 1893-94
  2. Canterbury v New South Wales 1893-94
  3. New Zealand v New South Wales 1893-94
  4. 1893-94 bowling by average
  5. Canterbury v Wellington 1894-95
  6. Canterbury v Fiji 1894-95
  7. 1894-95 bowling by average
  8. New Zealand v New South Wales 1893-94
  9. R.T. Brittenden, Great Days in New Zealand Cricket, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1958, p. 25.
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