Basil Holmes 'Jika' Travers, , (7 July 1919 – 18 December 1998) was an Australian sportsman and educator who played in the England national rugby union team and 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 officia ...

with

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. He was Headmaster of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore) from 1959 to 1984. In 1983 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

Military career

Travers served with Australian forces in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

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 opposing ...

as a

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section dire ...

. He was awarded the OBE for his service.

Rugby career

Travers, a Shore old boy, went to New College, Oxford, after the war to study on a Rhodes Scholarship. He was capped six times in total for England, the first in the 1947 Five Nations Championship, which England were joint winners of, where he played in their games against both Ireland and Wales. He also played in a friendly against his home country in 1948, as well as making appearances in the 1948 and 1949 Five Nations. The only points of his international career came courtesy of two conversions in a Test against Scotland. He continued to play rugby after returning to Australia and captained

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

to victory over the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

in 1950.

Cricket career

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

at cricket, he was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler. Travers scored 718 runs at 25.64 and took 48 wickets at 30.20 from his 24 first-class matches. All but one of those matches were for Oxford University, with the other coming in a match for the Free Foresters Cricket Club when he swapped sides and played against the University. Although he never scored a century or managed a five wicket haul, Travers made four half centuries and had best figures of 4/65. One of Travers' biggest tests came on his first-class debut, against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1946. Oxford batted first and Travers was dismissed for just 13 by

Vinoo Mankad Mulvantrai Himmatlal "Vinoo" Mankad (; 12 April 1917 – 21 August 1978) was an Indian cricketer who appeared in 44 Test matches for India between 1946 and 1959. He was best known for his world record setting opening partnership of 413 runs wi ...

, in what would be his only innings of the match. He had success with the ball though, taking the wickets of middle order players Raosaheb Nimbalkar and

Nawab of Pataudi The term Nawab of Pataudi refers to the lineage of rulers of the former princely Pataudi State in Northern India. Pataudi was established in 1804 by the British East India Company, when Faiz Talab Khan, an Afghan Muslim Pashtun of the Barech ...

to finish with 2/48. He finished the season with an impressive 27 wickets at 24.25.

Education career

Returning to Australia, Travers was the Headmaster of the

Launceston Church Grammar School (Unless the Lord is with us, our labour is in vain) , established = , type = Independent, co-educational, day & boarding , denomination = Anglican , slogan = Nurture, Challenge, I ...

from 1953 to 1958, and later the Headmaster of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School from 1959 to 1984. An Australian Schoolboys rugby trophy has been named in his honour, called the BH Travers Shield.

Community

Travers was appointed (1970–1982) as the NSW Chair of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award - Australia and in that capacity also served on the national Board. As Headmaster of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School he introduced the Award to the school in 1959, making it the first body to deliver The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award in Australia. http://www.dukeofed.org.au/

References

External links

Cricinfo: Jika Travers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Travers, Basil 1919 births 1998 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford Australian Army officers Australian cricketers Australian headmasters Australian Rhodes Scholars Australian schoolteachers Chairmen of the Headmasters' Conference of the Independent Schools of Australia Cricketers from Sydney England international rugby union players English rugby union players Free Foresters cricketers Members of the Order of Australia New South Wales Waratahs players Oxford University cricketers Oxfordshire cricketers People educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Sydney Australian Army personnel of World War II