David Victor Spence (born 8 January 1930) is a former New Zealand

cricketer 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 ...

who played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Central Districts The Central Stags, formerly known as Central Districts, are a first-class cricket team based in central New Zealand. They are the men's representative side of the Central Districts Cricket Association. They compete in the Plunket Shield firs ...

from 1955 to 1962. Dave Spence played five matches for Central Districts in 1955–56, one in 1960–61, and five more in 1961–62. A middle-order batsman and leg-spin bowler, he took his best bowling figures of 5 for 38 in a victory over

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in the second match of the 1955–56

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 ...

season, then made his highest score of 61 in an innings victory over

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in the next match 11 days later. At the time he was considered a potential

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player. However, after that season he played only six more first-class matches, in which he took five wickets. Spence also played

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 ...

cricket for

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

from 1950 to 1953, and for

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from 1954 to 1967. He was the captain of the Nelson side that held the Hawke Cup during its record title run from 1958 to 1965, and he was named in the Hawke Cup Team of the Century in 2011. In 34 Hawke Cup challenge matches, he scored 1,574 runs at an average of 36.60, and took 110 wickets at an average of 15.42. He now lives in

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. In January 2021, with the death of Doug Bowden, he became Central Districts' oldest surviving player.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Dave 1930 births Living people New Zealand cricketers Central Districts cricketers Cricketers from Hastings, New Zealand