Arthur Ward Thomas (25 January 1881 – 7 May 1965) was a New Zealand cricketer who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

from 1911 to 1922.

Cricket career

Arthur Thomas was an all-rounder: a lower-order or middle-order batsman who bowled medium-pace. He was the outstanding player of the Plunket Shield match in January 1915 when Canterbury beat

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 ...

. Replacing the injured Duncan McLachlan in the team, he did not bowl in Auckland’s first innings, then made 41 at number nine to take Canterbury’s first innings from 124 for 7 to 208 all out. He then took the first seven wickets in Auckland’s second innings and finished with figures of 8 for 99, the best figures recorded for the Plunket Shield at that time. He then contributed 20 at number eight to Canterbury’s one-wicket victory. Thomas made his highest score in Canterbury's victory over

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in the 1919–20 Plunket Shield. After dismissing Wellington for 239, Canterbury were 160 for 6 when Thomas went to the wicket. He made 83

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

, the highest score of the match, and took Canterbury's total to 350. He then took 3 for 25 as Wellington made only 153 in their second innings, and Canterbury went on to win by seven wickets. Thomas was still playing successfully in Christchurch senior cricket in the 1930–31 season. In the 1930s, he served as coach to the Canterbury Cricket Association.

Personal life

Thomas was a farmer. On 29 April 1903 he married Esther Boulton at her parents' home in Charing Cross, a small farming settlement west of

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 / ...

. They had three sons and two daughters. She died in January 1945. He died in May 1965.

References

External links

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Arthur Thomas
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Arthur 1881 births 1965 deaths New Zealand cricketers Canterbury cricketers Cricketers from Christchurch