Dennis William Soga (13 May 1917 — 22 September 2003) was a

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

first-class

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 and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. The son of the physician Alexander Robert Bogue Soga, he was born in May 1917 at Elliotdale, Cape Province. With family connections to Scotland, Soga was educated there at

Selkirk High School Selkirk High School is a high school in Selkirk, Scotland, which serves the town and its surrounding area including the Ettrick and Yarrow valleys and the villages of Midlem and Lilliesleaf. The school's motto is 'Trusty and Leal', taken from ...

. Playing his

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obs ...

for Selkirk, Soga was selected to play for the

Scottish cricket team The Scotland national cricket team represents the country of Scotland. They play their home matches at The Grange, Edinburgh, and also some other venues. Scotland became Associate Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1994

against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1936. Batting from the

middle order In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., i ...

, he was dismissed in the Scottish first innings for a single run by James Graham, while in their second innings he was dismissed for 24 runs by

Eddie Ingram Edward Ingram (14 August 1910 – 13 March 1973) was an Irish cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace/leg spin bowler, he played 48 times for the Ireland cricket team between 1928 and 1953 including nineteen first-class mat ...

. In addition to playing cricket, Soga also played

for

Selkirk RFC Selkirk Rugby Football Club are a rugby union side based in Selkirk in the Borders, Scotland. They play in their home games at Philiphaugh, and compete in the Scottish Premiership (the highest tier of club rugby) and the Border League (the olde ...

.Results of the district. ''Southern Reporter''. 26 October 1933. p. 4 Soga later returned to South Africa, where he became a dentist. He died there at

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

in September 2003. His great-grandfather was Tiyo Soga, the first black South African to be ordained.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soga, Dennis 1917 births 2003 deaths People from Mbhashe Local Municipality South African people of Scottish descent Xhosa people People educated at Selkirk High School South African rugby union players Selkirk RFC players South African cricketers Scotland cricketers South African dentists