Hurtle Willsmore

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Hurtle Willsmore
Personal information
Full name
Hurtle Binks Willsmore
Born(1889-12-26)26 December 1889
Beverley, South Australia
Died17 September 1985(1985-09-17) (aged 95)
King's Park, South Australia
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm legspin
RoleBowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1913/14–1920/21South Australia
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 9
Runs scored 271
Batting average 16.93
100s/50s 0/1
Top score 57
Balls bowled 874
Wickets 16
Bowling average 32.87
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 4/65
Catches/stumpings 7/–
Source: Cricket Archive, 3 September 2015

Hurtle Binks Willsmore (26 December 1889 – 17 September 1985) was a South Australian first-class cricketer and Australian rules footballer for West Torrens Football Club.

Early life[edit]

The son of George Arthur Willsmore, a general carrier,[1] and Elizabeth (née Jeanes),[2] Willsmore was the youngest of eight children with two sisters and five brothers.[2]

Willsmore attended Prince Alfred College where, as a hard-hitting right-handed batsman and right arm leg spin bowler, he captained the first XI in 1907 and 1908,[3] and then studied at the University of Adelaide, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in December 1916.[4]

Sporting career[edit]

An all-round sportsman, Willsmore made his South Australian Football League (SAFL) debut in 1908 for West Torrens Football Club while still a schoolboy, playing as a centre-half back for three seasons.[3][5][6]

After graduating from Prince Alfred College, Willsmore joined South Australian Grade Cricket League club West Torrens for the 1908/09 season, and in his first match, against Glenelg, made 161 not out.[3] Willsmore led the West Torrens batting averages throughout the season.[7] The next year Willsmore transferred to Adelaide University Cricket Club,[3] which he captained, as well as vice-captaining the University's football club.[8]

Willsmore made his first-class debut for South Australia on 16 January 1914, against the touring New Zealand cricket team at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 57 (his highest first-class score) and eight, and taking one wicket for thirty eight runs (1/38) and 1/46.[9] On the strength of this performance, Willsmore was selected for his Sheffield Shield debut, for South Australia against Victoria at the Adelaide Oval, taking 4/65 in Victoria's second innings, which was to be his best first-class bowling figures.[10] He was reportedly chosen to tour New Zealand with an Australian team but never received his letter of invitation.[11]

Willsmore was chosen for all four of South Australia's first-class matches in the 1914/15 Australian domestic season,[12] the last before the temporary cessation of first-class cricket due to the war. While preliminarily a batsman, Willsmore was also an effective leg-spin bowler, once taking 7/50 in a district match in 1914/15 against East Torrens.[13] Around this time, a journalist wrote "Willsmore bowled splendidly. He flighted the slows with excellent judgment, and dropped them down on a fine length. Most of his runs were made from powerful straight drives."[14]

Following the resumption of cricket at the end of World War I, Willsmore transferred to Adelaide grade club Sturt as captain[3] and returned to the South Australian team. He played in their only first-class match of the 1918/19 season, against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), but injured himself while fielding in the first thirty minutes and was substituted out of the match.[15] In another case of injury-related bad luck, Willsmore was also forced to miss a match against New South Wales in 1919/20 when he had the webbing on his hand split open while fielding during a trial match earlier in the week.[16]

Willsmore played two more first-class matches in the 1920/21 season before being omitted but continued to play for Sturt, including a match in the 1921/22 season against University when he hit each of the first seven deliveries he faced for six, and then boundaries from the next three, reaching his 50 from nine deliveries;[17] an unbeatable record for the quickest half century in terms of deliveries faced. Referring to this innings, a journalist wrote "Hurtle Willsmore was a hard, but not wild hitter, and this demoralising burst of hitting was the result of perfectly timed strokes."[17] Willsmore made 187, his highest score in district cricket.[18]

Willsmore had his best club season in 1924/25, scoring three centuries and two half-centuries from seven innings[3] but did not return to the South Australian side. He retired from Adelaide district cricket in 1929, having scored 5666 runs at 34.97 and taken 245 wickets at 22.66.[18]

Professional career[edit]

Following his university graduation, Willsmore was appointed inaugural senior master in mathematics and physics at Adelaide's then new Scotch College in January 1919.[19] He also coached Scotch's cricket team and saw seven of his pupils play first-class cricket;[17] the most famous being Australian captain Vic Richardson but he also coached Wayne B. Phillips and noted cricket writer Dick Whitington.[20] Willsmore also initiated an annual cricket competition between Scotch, Hale School in Perth, Western Australia and Melbourne's Haileybury College.[21]

Willsmore worked at Scotch until his retirement in 1957, in the process becoming "one of the great cornerstones" of the college.[22] A history of Scotch College declared "Hurtle was one of the most popular masters to ever teach at Scotch, and renowned for his patience, whether working with a class of mathematicians or coaching a group of promising cricketers."[23]

Personal life[edit]

On 28 September 1915, Willsmore married Muriel Winifred Thomas at Woodville Methodist Church.[24] Their daughter Christobel was born on 21 August 1918.[25]

Willsmore died aged 95 on 17 September 1985 after a long illness. Muriel predeceased him but Willsmore was survived by Christobel, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.[26]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Advertiser Poor Fund", South Australian Advertiser, 4 August 1885, p. 5.
  2. ^ a b "Late Mr G.A. Willsmore", News (Adelaide), 7 June 1927, p. 8.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Consistent Batsman, News (Adelaide), 5 March 1925, p. 9.
  4. ^ "Adelaide University", Daily Herald (Adelaide), 12 December 1916, p. 6.
  5. ^ "Torrens making history", The Register (Adelaide), 2 August 1909, p. 8.
  6. ^ "Football", Daily Herald (Adelaide), 28 April 1910, p. 6.
  7. ^ "Cricket", The Advertiser, 19 April 1909, p. 10.
  8. ^ "Personal", The Advertiser, 29 January 1919, p. 6.
  9. ^ "South Australia v New Zealanders". CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  10. ^ "South Australia v Victoria". CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  11. ^ Read & Pouw-Bray, p. 35.
  12. ^ "First-class matches played by Hurtle Willsmore". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  13. ^ Sando, p. 139.
  14. ^ K.H.Q., "Adelaide Cricket Notes", Referee (Sydney), 3 February 1915, p. 13.
  15. ^ "Victoria v South Australia". CricketArchive. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  16. ^ "Interstate Cricket", Observer, 20 December 1919, p. 33.
  17. ^ a b c Kneebone, H., "Where is he now?", The Advertiser (Adelaide), 16 January 1953, p. 7.
  18. ^ a b Sando, p. 138.
  19. ^ Read & Pouw-Bray, p. 333.
  20. ^ Pollard, p. 1188.
  21. ^ Pollard, p. 1189.
  22. ^ Read & Pouw-Bray, p. 181.
  23. ^ Read & Pouw-Bray, p. 86.
  24. ^ "Family Notices", The Mail (Adelaide), 16 October 1915, p. 4.
  25. ^ "Late Edition", Observer, 31 August 1918, p. 27.
  26. ^ "Deaths", The Advertiser, 18 September 1985, p. 44.

Sources[edit]

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