David Charles Collins (1 October 1887 – 2 January 1967) was a New Zealand

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. He played 53 first-class matches between 1905–06 and 1926–27, the bulk of these being 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 ...

in New Zealand and

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in England; he won a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

for Cambridge and headed their

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

s in 1910.

Life and career

Collins' father William Collins and his uncle John Collins had brief first-class careers. His cousin

A. E. J. Collins Arthur Edward Jeune Collins (18 August 1885 – 11 November 1914) was an English cricketer and soldier. He held, for 116 years, the record of highest score in cricket: as a 13-year-old schoolboy, he scored 628 not out over four afternoons in Ju ...

held the world batting record for 116 years to January 2016 for his innings of 628 not out at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

. Collins was educated at

Wellington College, Wellington Wellington College, is a state-run boys secondary school in Wellington, New Zealand. It is situated in 12 hectares of green belt land in the suburb of Mount Victoria, in the vicinity of the Basin Reserve and Government House. The school was fou ...

, before going on to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. In 1912 he became the first Cambridge student for more than 40 years to win blues at both cricket and rowing. After completing his studies at Cambridge, Collins returned to New Zealand, where his most successful cricketing years were with Wellington in the 1920s. During this decade he scored four of his six first-class centuries, including the largest (and his last), 172 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 the 1924–25

Plunket Shield New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

. He also represented

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

in the

Hawke Cup The Hawke Cup is a non-first-class cricket competition for New Zealand's district associations. Apart from 1910–11, 1912–13 and 2000–01 the competition has always been on a challenge basis. To win the Hawke Cup, the challengers must beat t ...

in the 1920s, and was captain and sole selector for the

Minor Associations cricket team The Minor Associations cricket team, representing the Minor Associations in New Zealand, appeared once at first-class level, playing against the touring Australians at the Basin Reserve in March 1921. The Australians batted first and made 271, th ...

when it played its only first-class match, against the Australian touring team in March 1921. Collins represented

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 ...

during the MCC tour of 1922–23. In the match at

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

he scored 102, while at the Basin Reserve, as captain, he hit a second-innings 69. Collins married Sybil Abraham in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

in June 1915. They lived on Collins'

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

near

Featherston Featherston is a surname of English origin, at least as old as the 12th century. The link with "Featherstone" is probably not traceable, but people researching both spellings (and others such as "de Fetherestanhalgh") contribute to the collection o ...

in the

. They had two sons and three daughters.''Who's Who in New Zealand and the Western Pacific'', Wellington, 1938, p. 102. One of their daughters, Susie Collins, was the New Zealand women's golf champion in the late 1930s.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, David 1887 births 1967 deaths New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers People educated at Wellington College, Wellington Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Cambridge University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Free Foresters cricketers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers North Island cricketers