Herbert Mendelson McGirr (5 November 1891, in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

– 14 April 1964, in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 who played in two

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in 1930. His father William McGirr played 14 matches for Wellington as an opening bowler from 1883–84 to 1889–90, taking 46 wickets at 11.80.

Domestic career

An all-rounder, McGirr played first-class cricket for

from 1913–14 to 1932–33. He was a middle or lower order batsman who hit the ball hard and a steady medium-paced bowler. He toured England with the

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

under

Tom Lowry Thomas Coleman Lowry (17 February 1898 – 20 July 1976) was a New Zealand Test cricketer. He captained the New Zealand team in its first seven Test matches, in 1930 and 1931. Lowry family Lowry's father, Thomas Henry Lowry, a graduate of ...

in 1927, and scored more than 700 runs and took 49 wickets. No Tests were played on that tour. His best bowling figures (innings and match) came against Canterbury in 1921–22, when he took 7 for 45 and 3 for 47; he also top-scored in Wellington's first innings. He hit his highest score, 141, against Otago in 1930–31, then scored 101 in the next match, against Canterbury.

International career

In the 1929–30 season, when the MCC side under

Harold Gilligan Alfred Herbert Harold Gilligan (29 June 1896 – 5 May 1978) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Sussex and England. Gilligan captained England on their four-Test tour of New Zealand in 1929–30, which England won 1–0. Lif ...

played the first Tests against New Zealand, McGirr played in only the third and fourth Tests, both at

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. The third Test was ruined by rain; McGirr did not bat and, opening the bowling, took no wickets. The fourth, arranged hastily to compensate for the washout, fared little better in terms of weather, but McGirr scored a half-century and took his only Test wicket, that of Stan Nichols. He holds the Test match record for the fewest runs (51) in a complete career to include a half-century.. He also holds the record as the oldest New Zealand player to make his Test debut: 38 years and 101 days.

Late career

Despite suffering severely from varicose veins for much of his career, "he was always looking at his captain and waiting to be given the ball because he always felt he could take a wicket". "The day was never too hot, nor the score too high, for Herb McGirr to want to bowl." He was later the cricket coach at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

. McGirr's obituary in ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' in 1965 records that he played club cricket until he was 67, and gave up then only because "he slipped when taking in the milk" the day after scoring 70.''

'' 1965, p. 969.

References

External links

Herb McGirr at Cricket Archive

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGirr, Herb 1891 births 1964 deaths New Zealand Test cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers New Zealand cricketers Wellington cricketers