Donald Watt (15 March 1920 – 20 May 2007) was an Australian
first-class cricketer who played for
Queensland. He also represented his state in
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
and
rugby union.
A
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 ...
batsman and leg spin bowler, Watt made his first appearances in first-class cricket in the 1939/40
Sheffield Shield season. In five matches he struggled with the ball and could only take one wicket at an average of 278 but scored two half centuries. The competition was then suspended due to
the war so Watt never got a chance to improve his Shield record. Up until 1945/46, Watt continued to play for Queensland at first-class level and was easily most successful with the ball against
New South Wales. He never took a wicket against
South Australia, despite conceding 200 runs and only took three wickets at 80.33 in matches against
Victoria. However, when it came to New South Wales he managed 14 wickets at 28.35.
Watt, a key forward, played Australian rules football in the
Queensland Australian National Football League, during the off-season. An interstate player, he had started out at
South Brisbane and then in 1941 was appointed captain of
Coorparoo
Coorparoo is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Coorparoo had a population of 16,282 people.
Geography
Coorparoo is by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Holland Park, Stones Corner, ...
, despite being only 21 years of age. The following year he was also playing
rugby league at the high level, as the full-back for the
Eastern Suburbs Tigers. He however had more success in
rugby union, where his efforts as a lock for Toowoomba got him called up to the
Queensland team for an interstate match against rivals
New South Wales in 1950, as a reserve forward. Throughout the 1950s he continued the play cricket, in the country, and represented a Queensland Country side in matches against
India, the
West Indies and
South Africa.
In 1954 and 1955 he represented Queensland at rugby, including a fixture against
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
in the former year.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, Donald
1920 births
Australian cricketers
Queensland cricketers
Australian rules footballers from Queensland
Coorparoo Football Club players
Australian rugby league players
Australian rugby union players
2007 deaths
Cricketers from Brisbane