William Rodger Playle (1 December 1938 – 27 February 2019) 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 who played eight

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for the

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between 1958 and 1963, making 151 runs as a specialist batsman.

Cricket career

In New Zealand

Bill Playle's first-class career started with

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 1956–57 at the age of 18. After scoring only 355 runs in 13 matches in two seasons he was selected to tour England in 1958 as a 19-year-old, but he made only 56 runs in the five Tests, batting in the middle order. In the second innings of the Third Test at

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, in an attempt to avert defeat, he "gave a remarkable stonewalling display, for he stayed three and a quarter hours for 18, during which time he limited himself to seven scoring strokes". He was the top scorer in the 1961–62 season with 510 runs at 72.85, including 116 not out against Otago. His last three Tests were as an opener against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1962–63, when he made his only Test score above 25, scoring 65 in 202 minutes in a lost cause in the Second Test at

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 Australia

After the 1963–64 season in New Zealand he moved to Australia, where he played as an opening batsman for

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

from 1965–66 to 1967–68, making his highest first-class score of 122 against Queensland and 116 against Victoria, both in 1965–66, when he made 583 runs at 41.64 in the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

Death

Playle died in

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

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 ...

, on 27 February 2019.

References

External links