Dudley Arthur Theophilus (12 May 1911 – 12 May 1936) holds the record as South Africa's youngest first-class cricketer. Dudley Theophilus was born in Baroe, a small settlement in eastern Cape Province on the railway line between

Klipplaat Klipplaat is a town in Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town is some 185 km north-west of Port Elizabeth and 75 km south-east of Aberdeen. It takes its name from large slabs of rock on the s ...

and

Kleinpoort Kleinpoort is a small village station in the Eastern Cape province of 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 stretc ...

, about 150 kilometres inland from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

. Aged 15 years and 309 days, and while attending

Grey High School Grey High School is a semi-private English speaking high school (grades 8 - 12) for boys situated in the suburb of Mill Park in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the top sporting schools in the country, ...

in Port Elizabeth, he made his first-class debut for Eastern Province against Western Province in the 1926–27 Currie Cup. Keeping wickets, he conceded no

byes In cricket, a bye is a type of extra. It is a run scored by the batting team when the ball has not been hit by the batter and the ball has not hit the batter's body. Scoring byes Usually, if the ball passes the batter without being deflected, th ...

in the match."Obituaries in 1936"
'' Wisden'' 1937. Theophilus played regularly for Eastern Province over the next few seasons, and also represented South African Schools against the touring MCC in 1927–28. He died on his 25th birthday.

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Dudley Theophilus
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Theophilus, Dudley 1911 births 1936 deaths People from Sarah Baartman District Municipality South African cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Alumni of Grey High School