Harold Bruce Massey (13 April 1906 – 9 July 1994) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

cricketer 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 ...

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

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 ...

from 1927 to 1932. Bruce Massey made his debut in representative cricket in 1923 while still a student at

Palmerston North Boys' High School Palmerston North Boys' High School is a traditional boys school located in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Location Palmerston North Boys' High School has a campus located on Featherston Street between Rangitikei and North Streets in the central ...

. Playing for a combined Manawatu, Rangitikei and Wairarapa side against the touring MCC team, he opened the bowling in the second innings and took 4 for 14 off 11 overs. The MCC team's vice-captain,

Jock Hartley Colonel John Cabourn Hartley (15 November 1874 – 8 March 1963), known as Jock Hartley, was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. Cricket career Hartley was educated at Tonbridge School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He p ...

, considered Massey the most promising young player they had seen in New Zealand. He made his first-class debut in the 1926-27 season, taking five wickets for Wellington against

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 1927-28 he played a match for The Rest against the returning New Zealand touring team. A few weeks later, against

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

, he took 5 for 56, then, batting at number ten in Wellington’s second innings, made 64 and added 123 for the last wicket. Later that season, against the touring Australians, he again made 64. This time he went to the wicket at number eleven, with Wellington’s score 126 for 9, and added 104 for the last wicket with Ken James. He continued to play for Wellington until 1932-33. In December 1935 and January 1936 he captained a team of 15 young New Zealand cricketers, called the Maoriland cricket team, on a tour of Fiji. The team played 10 matches, including three three-day matches against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. None of the matches were first-class.

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Massey, Bruce 1906 births 1994 deaths New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School