Oswald Charles Dawson (1 September 1919 – 22 December 2008) 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 st ...
er who played in 9
Test matches, all against England, in the 1947 and 1948–49 series.
He was a medium pace bowler and a useful late middle order batsman who was an important player for
Natal from 1938–39 to 1949–50 and
Border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political bo ...
from 1951–52 to 1961–62. He also played baseball for Natal. His brother Denis played cricket for Kenya and East Africa.
Before he came to prominence on the cricket field, he had a distinguished record in
World War II
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. He served with the
Royal Durban Light Infantry at the
Battle of El Alamein
There were two battles of El Alamein in World War II, both fought in 1942. The Battles occurred in North Africa, in Egypt, in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein.
* First Battle of El Alamein: 1–27 July 1942
* Sec ...
and later won a
Military Cross
The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries.
The MC i ...
in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.
References
External links
*
1919 births
2008 deaths
South African people of British descent
White South African people
South Africa Test cricketers
South African cricketers
Border cricketers
KwaZulu-Natal cricketers
Recipients of the Military Cross
South African military personnel of World War II
South African Army officers
South African recipients of British honours
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