William Alfred Shalders (12 February 1880 – 19 March 1917) was a Cape Colony

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 12

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from 1899 to 1907.

Early life

Shalders was born in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

, where his parents, John and Emily Shalders, owned the Halfway House inn from 1884 to 1925. He attended

Kimberley Boys' High School Kimberley Boys' High School is a state secondary school or high school situated adjacent to the Honoured Dead Memorial, in the arc between Dalham and Memorial Roads, Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa – a site it has occupied since January 19 ...

Cricket career

He was a stroke-playing opening batsman whose impetuosity often led to his dismissal in the twenties or thirties. Christopher Martin-Jenkins, ''The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers'', Rigby, Adelaide, 1983, p. 312. His highest Test score was 42 in his second Test, when South Africa took a first-innings lead of 65 over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

only to lose by 159 runs. He made a valuable 38 when South Africa beat

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 ...

by one wicket in the 1905-06 series. He toured England with the South African team in

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

and

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. ...

, playing 58 of his 88 first-class matches in England and scoring his two first-class centuries. In 1901 he was the South Africans' second-highest run-scorer, with 782 runs at an average of 30.07, with a top score of 103 against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. In 1907 he scored 105 against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. His highest first-class score in South Africa was 93, the highest score of the match, in an innings victory 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, ...

over Natal in 1903–04. He was also a fine fieldsman and useful bowler.

Life outside cricket

He was a member of the Kimberley Town Guard during the

Siege of Kimberley The siege of Kimberley took place during the Second Boer War at Kimberley, Cape Colony (present-day South Africa), when Boer forces from the Orange Free State and the Transvaal besieged the diamond mining town. The Boers moved quickly to try ...

(October 1899 to February 1900) and was awarded the

Queen's South Africa Medal The Queen's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Altogether twenty-six clasps wer ...

and the

Kimberley Star In the Colonies and Boer Republics which became the Union of South Africa in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The Kimberley Star is an unoffi ...

. He also served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was married to Myra Shalders. He died on 19 March 1917 at Cradock,

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

, and is buried in the Cradock cemetery.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shalders, William 1880 births 1917 deaths Cricketers from Kimberley, Northern Cape Cricketers from Cape Colony Gauteng cricketers Griqualand West cricketers London County cricketers South African military personnel of World War I