David Ashby (cricketer)
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Alexander Ashby | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 11 June 1852 Beddington, Surrey, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 2 June 1934 (aged 81) Christchurch, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast-medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1874 | Surrey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1875-76 to 1889-90 | Canterbury | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: CricketArchive, 20 February 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
David Alexander Ashby (11 June 1852 – 2 June 1934) was an English-born cricketer who played first-class cricket for Surrey in England in 1874, and Canterbury in New Zealand from 1876 to 1890.
Life and career[edit]
Ashby was born in Surrey and played for the county in 1873 and 1874. He moved to New Zealand, arriving in 1875, and took a job at a Christchurch flour mill operated by William Wood, where he worked for the next 50 years.[1] He became a regular member of the Canterbury team.
An all-rounder who batted at various positions in the order and opened the bowling, he played a major part in Canterbury's spectacular victory over Auckland at the Auckland Domain ground in 1877-78. Canterbury batted first and made 93 (Ashby 12), Auckland replied with 135 (Ashby 4 for 42), and Canterbury made 163 in their second innings (Ashby 32, the second-highest score in the match). Auckland needed 122 to win, but Ashby took 5 for 2, he and Billy Frith (3 for 3) skittling Auckland for 13, a total that included eight byes.[2][3][4]
Ashby was a member of the Canterbury side that inflicted the only defeat on the touring Australian team in 1877-78.[1] A month later he took his best bowling figures, 6 for 27 (all bowled) in Canterbury's annual match against Otago, at the South Dunedin Recreation Ground.[5] He made his highest first-class score in 1879-80 at Dunedin's Caledonian Ground. Captaining the side, he won the toss and batted, and scored 59 out of Canterbury's total of 190. He hit one ball out of the ground; the stroke was later measured at 130 yards.[6] He and Billy Frith's brother Charlie then bowled Otago out for 105 and 99, and Canterbury won by nine wickets.[7]
He took part in New Zealand's first overseas cricket tour, when Canterbury visited Victoria and Tasmania in 1878-79 and played several non-first-class matches.[8][9] After his playing career ended he became an umpire, standing in a first-class match in Christchurch in 1901.[10] He was one of the 14 players chosen in 1927 by the New Zealand cricket historian Tom Reese as the best New Zealand cricketers before the First World War.[11]
Ashby and his wife Mary Jane (née Haddrell), whom he married in Christchurch in April 1882,[12] had a son and three daughters.[13] They lived in the Christchurch suburb of Riccarton. At his funeral all the pall-bearers were employees of Wood Brothers flour mill.[14]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Croudy, Brian (1985). "Some Early New Zealand Identities". The Cricket Statistician (52): 6–9. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ "Auckland v Canterbury 1877-78". CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ "Old Cricketer Dead". Evening Post. Vol. CXXVII, no. 129. 2 June 1934. p. 5.
- ^ "Veteran Cricketers' Record made in 1878 is Still Unbroken". Star: 17. 3 December 1932.
- ^ "Otago v Canterbury 1877-78". CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ Fowke, Johnny (10 February 1920). "Reminiscences of the Sporting World". Star (19869): 4. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
- ^ "Otago v Canterbury 1879-80". CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 383.
- ^ "Miscellaneous Matches played by David Ashby". CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ "David Ashby as umpire in first-class matches". CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
- ^ "New Zealand Cricket: Mr. T. W. Reese's book". Otago Daily Times: 3. 8 April 1927.
- ^ "Marriage". Lyttelton Times: 4. 8 May 1882.
- ^ "Mr David Ashby". Press. Vol. LXX, no. 21181. 4 June 1934. p. 6.
- ^ "Mr D. A. Ashby". Press. Vol. LXX, no. 21182. 5 June 1934. p. 14.
External links[edit]
- David Ashby at CricketArchive (subscription required)
- David Ashby at ESPNcricinfo