Desmond Robert Cristofani (14 November 1920 – 21 August 2002) was an Australian

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 str ...

er who played 18 first-class matches in the 1940s. 14 of those games were for the Australian Services, three for

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 ...

and one for the

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. His best performances were both for the Australian Services side in the 1945

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against

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. In July at Lord's, in the first first-class match since the break forced by the

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, he took 5/49. With the bat, his solitary hundred came a month later at Old Trafford, when he scored an unbeaten 110 from number eight. He also took 5/55 in the first innings of this match, but England won by six wickets. Cristofani's century was mentioned in E. W. Swanton's article "Cricket under the Japs" in the 1946 edition of ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

''. At the end of his piece, Swanton wrote of his experience shortly after the end of the war and his release from his

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camp:

I had, by then, already taken my first walk for three and a half years as a free man. We found ourselves in a Thai village on the edge of the jungle. In the little café our hosts politely turned on the English programme. Yes, we were at Old Trafford, and a gentleman called Cristofani was getting a hundred....

In 1950 Cristofani was employed as a professional by Accrington Cricket Club of the Lancashire League, and turned in some fine performances, for example his return of 6/23 from 8.7 eight-ball overs as Accrington crushed near neighbours

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

Death

There is a discrepancy in the major sources regarding Cristofani's date and place of death. CricketArchive, as used in the infobox in this article, shows his death as occurring in

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on 21 August 2002. This is backed up by UK government death records showing that a Desmond Robert Cristofani, with the correct date of birth, died in Northeast Hampshire (which contains Fleet) on that date. However, his obituary in the 2003 edition of ''

'' gives his death as occurring one day later, and in Canberra, Australia. Cricinfo follows ''Wisden'' in this.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cristofani, Bob Australian cricketers New South Wales cricketers Australian Services cricketers Australian expatriate sportspeople in England 1920 births 2002 deaths Cricketers from Sydney Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Australian Air Force officers Dominions cricketers

Death

See also

References

External links