Edward Serrurier "Bob" Newson (2 December 1910 – 24 April 1988) was a South African

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 in three

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in 1930–31 and 1938–39.

Career

Newson was a lower-order right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He had a 20-year

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 ...

career, but as the career included two gaps of more than six years without a single first-class game (one of the gaps being the

Second World War 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 ...

), he totalled only 24 matches in all, including his three Test appearances. Newson had played just three first-class matches for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

when he was picked for the first Test of the 1930–31 series against England at the age of just 20. According to his obituary in the 1989 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 ...

, he had not been notified of his selection and arrived at work on the morning of the Test as normal; his father brought his clothes to the ground in time for the start, but Newson appeared in the official match photograph in borrowed cricket gear. He batted at No 11 and in the first innings scored 10 out of a last-wicket partnership of 45 with

Quintin McMillan Quintin McMillan (23 June 1904 – 3 July 1948) was a South African cricketer who played in thirteen Test matches between 1929 and 1931/32. Early cricket career Born in Germiston, Transvaal Colony, McMillan was a right-handed middle- or lower-o ...

; but he failed to take a wicket in a narrow South African victory by 28 runs, and was dropped for the next game. He did not play again that season and after two matches for Transvaal the following season he dropped out of cricket altogether for more than six years. He reappeared in the Transvaal side at the end of the 1937–38 season and, after a couple of matches the following year, was back in the South African Test team for the fourth and fifth Tests 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 1938–39, having taken only 21 wickets in his career and with best bowling figures to that point of just four wickets for 51 runs. In the fourth Test, which was drawn, he took one wicket in each England innings and scored 16 in South Africa's only innings. The final Test was a

timeless Test A timeless Test is a match of Test cricket played under no limitation of time, which means the match is played until one side wins or the match is tied, with theoretically no possibility of a draw. The format means that it is not possible to play ...

, though it ended as a draw after 10 days' cricket (one of them rained off) when the English team had to leave to catch their ship home; Newson scored 1 and 3 and took two wickets in England's first innings, but failed to take any in the final innings of 654 for five. Newson played two more games for Transvaal in 1939–40 but then first-class cricket was suspended for the war. After the war, Newson played for

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

for four seasons as an all-rounder. Captaining the Rhodesia side in the match against

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

in 1946–47 he scored 114, batting at No 3. And two seasons later, when the 1948–49 England team visited Rhodesia for two matches, he took five wickets in an innings for the only time in his career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newson, Bob 1910 births 1988 deaths South African people of British descent White South African people South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Rhodesia cricketers Gauteng cricketers