D. J. McBeath Was Among The Great N.Z. Bowlers

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30108, 17 April 1963, Page 13

D. J. McBeath Was Among The Great N.Z. Bowlers

VEARLY every cricketer has one match when the Fates nod approvingly: when that moment occurs the honest endeavour which has gone before and continues afterwards is often forgotten for that one glorious moment.

Sueh a cricketer was D. J. Mcßeath, who died in Timaru on Saturday. In a Plunket Shield match against Auckland at Hagley Park in 1919. he took nine wickets for 56 runs in the first innings and six for 112 in the second innings. It was not until 1954 when A. McK. Moir took 15 wickets in a match against Central Districts that Mcßeath’s record of 15 wickets in a Plunket Shield match was equalled and it was only in 1929 that his feat of nine wickets in an innings was equalled.

The great effort of Meßeatih in that match against Auckland in 1919 tended to obscure his equally fine bowling during his short Plunket Shield career from 1918 to 1927. In that time he took 80 wickets at an average of 21.1—more than respectable figures in a time of easy oi’ches and high scoring. In 14 matches he took five wickets in an innings eight times.

accuracy and length. Like most left-handers, he could move the ball away sharply from leg to off. but it was his accuracy which brought him most wickets.”

‘ Dan Mcßeath was one of the finest bowlers in New Zealand in his time.” said Mr C. G. Crawford, a former New Zealand and Canterbury representative. “He was not fast, but he had the supreme virtues of

His dub record for Sydenham bears that out. In nine seasons he took 321 wickets at an average of 11.8. In one golden summer, in 1914-15 when he was little more than a boy, he took 61 wickets at an average of 9.8.

Mr Crawford said that the Sydenham opening bowlers

in the 1920's were Mcßeath and W. R. Cunningham—certainly one of the finest club pairs ever seen in Christchurch, or New Zealand.

Mr M. L. Page, a former New Zealand captain, said that Mcßeath was best remembered for his amazing accuracy. “It would not be too much to say he could put the ball on the proverbial threepence. When the 1927 New Zealand team was chosen to tour Britain, McBeath was one of those who was considered a bit too old. But he would have been a great success there,” he said.

As a batsman Mcßeath never really shone, although he made some useful scores for Sydenham. His highest score in club cricket was 61 not out and in nine seasons he achieved 763 runs at an average of 13.3. But in Plunket Shield cricket he had only an average of 10.7 —helped by quite a few not outs—and a highest score of 35.

However, on the golf course he was a big hitter and represented South Canterbury for many years.

No doubt his name will remain on the record books for many years because of his 15 wickets against Auckland. But in the minds of his Sydenham and Canterbury colleagues the memory of him tirelessly wheeling up his accurate lefthand medium pace bowling will remain even longer. As Mr Crawford said: “He was even more accurate than John Kiddey, which is arriving at some sort of perfection.”