Arthur Sydney Hamilton "Ash" Cutler (17 January 1913 – 27 August 1997) was a New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He played seven first-class matches for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

between 1938 and 1947. Later he was a first-class

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

Life and career

A middle-order batsman, Cutler played for Manawatu in the Hawke Cup from 1929 to 1937. He scored a

century A century is a period of 100 years. 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. A centennial or ...

when Manawatu beat

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

to regain the title in December 1934; no other batsman on either side reached 50. He left

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

in February 1937 to take up a position as teacher in charge of a school in the

Southland Region Southland ( mi, Murihiku) is New Zealand's southernmost region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. It includes Southland District, Gore District and the city of Invercargill. The r ...

. Cutler married Flora Browne in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

in December 1940. He worked as a schoolteacherMcCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010''. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) and served overseas in the New Zealand Infantry Brigade during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

. Cutler's best first-class match for Otago was in the 1939–40 Plunket Shield, when he scored 51 and 33 against

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. In a low-scoring drawn two-day match in 1944–45, playing for Southland against Otago, Cutler scored 49 and 44; no other Southland batsman exceeded 17. He scored a century for Southland against Otago in 1946–47. Cutler umpired 13 first-class matches in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

between 1965 and 1974. He also umpired the second unofficial

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

between

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia in 1969–70 at Lancaster Park in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. He umpired the second

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

match in New Zealand, a match of 36 eight-ball overs each between Otago and the touring MCC in February 1971. Cutler died at

in 1997 aged 84. An obituary was published in the following year's ''New Zealand Cricket Almanack''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cutler, Arthur 1913 births 1997 deaths New Zealand cricketers Otago cricketers Cricketers from Palmerston North New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand cricket umpires