Colin George Rushmere (16 April 1937 – 20 January 2017) was a South African conservationist and

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

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 ...

from 1957 to 1965.

Cricket career

Rushmere made his first-class debut for Eastern Province against

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

in 1956–57, scoring 46 and 55 batting at number five, and taking 3 for 49 and 3 for 27 with his medium-pace bowling. In a friendly match the next season against Griqualand West he scored 147 in an innings victory for Eastern Province. He also played several matches for South African Universities between 1955 and 1959, taking 6 for 32 in a two-day match against Orange Free State in 1956–57. He toured England in 1961 with the

South African Fezela XI The South African Fezela XI (often known simply as the Fezelas) was a team of young South African cricketers who toured England in 1961 under the captaincy of the Test player Roy McLean. Several of the team later went on to play leading parts in t ...

of promising young players, taking 4 for 29 and 3 for 16 in the victory over

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. After the tour, however, he played purely as a batsman, usually opening the innings. Against Western Province in 1962–63 he scored 153, putting on 312 for the first wicket with Geoff Dakin. He captained Eastern Province in two matches in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

in 1963–64. After scoring only 48 runs in the first three matches in 1965–66 he retired from first-class cricket.

Later career

Rushmere worked with the family law firm Rushmere Noach that his father Colin had founded in 1933 in Port Elizabeth. He also held administrative positions in the Eastern Province Cricket Union, serving as president in the 1980s. In 1989 he bought 660 hectares of land on the

Kariega River The Kariega River ( af, Kariegarivier) is situated in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. This river, which starts 24 km west of Grahamstown, is characterized by its intermittent flow and empties into the ocean through an estuary. The Ka ...

and began developing it into a game reserve and resort. In subsequent years Kariega Game Reserve expanded to 10,000 hectares, including land on the

Bushman's River The Bushman's River ( af, Boesmansrivier) is an east to north-easterly flowing tributary of the Tugela River, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg Mountain range, with its upper catchment in the Giant's Cast ...

. The reserve now has several important conservation species, including

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

and white rhinoceros,

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

and cape leopard. Rushmere's brother John played first-class cricket in South Africa in the 1960s. Colin's son

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

played

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in the 1990s and now helps to run Kariega Game Reserve.Cricket's Mount Rushmere still Bok for the big game
Retrieved 11 August 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rushmere, Colin 1937 births 2017 deaths South African cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Western Province cricketers South African Universities cricketers South African conservationists Cricketers from Port Elizabeth