Homesdale Carl Nitschke, often misspelt as Holmesdale, and also known as Jack, Sling or Slinger (14 April 1905 – 29 September 1982), was an Australian and

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.

Early life and family

Born on 14 April 1905 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, Homesdale Nitschke was the son of Carl Hermann Wilhelm Luder Richard "C. H." Nitschke (1866–1922). C.H. bought

Hiltaba Hiltaba Nature Reserve is located in the north of the Eyre Peninsula on the western edge of the Gawler Ranges, South Australia. It is situated on a former pastoral lease known as Hiltaba, or Hiltaba Station, that had operated as a sheep stati ...

sheep station in the

Gawler Ranges The Gawler Ranges are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba, South Australia, Kimba and Wudinna ...

in 1918, and Homesdale ran it for some time. He built the current homestead in 1936, before his marriage. His uncle,

Richard Nitschke Richard Carl Wilhelm Nitschke (1863 – 2 June 1944) was a South Australian baritone and in later years a racehorse owner. History Nitschke was born in Adelaide the second son of Wilhelm Nitschke (c. 8 August 1816 – 3 August 1889) and his wife ...

, was a famous

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

. Nitschke's grandfather Wilhelm Nitschke (c. 1817–1889) was the founding owner of the Hackney Distillery.

Career

Described by

E.W. Swanton Ernest William Swanton (11 February 1907 – 22 January 2000) was an English journalist and author, chiefly known for being a cricket writer and Sportscaster, commentator under his initials, E. W. Swanton. He worked as a sports journalist for ...

as "a left-handed bat of belligerent inclinations",Melford, p. 208. Nitschke played in only two

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

; against

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 stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1931, and could probably be considered unlucky to have arrived at his best years at the same time as cricketing greats such as

Don Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has bee ...

Bill Ponsford William Harold Ponsford MBE (19 October 1900 – 6 April 1991) was an Australian cricketer. Usually playing as an opening batsman, he formed a successful and long-lived partnership opening the batting for Victoria and Australia with Bill ...

Bill Woodfull William Maldon Woodfull (22 August 1897 – 11 August 1965) was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victoria and Australia, and was best known for his dignified and moral conduct during the tumultuous bodyline s ...

Archie Jackson Archibald Jackson (5 September 1909 – 16 February 1933), occasionally known as Archibald Alexander Jackson, was an Australian international cricketer who played eight Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1929 and 1931. A teenage prod ...

Stan McCabe Stanley Joseph McCabe (16 July 1910 – 25 August 1968) was an Australian cricketer who played 39 Test cricket, Test matches for Australia from 1930 to 1938. A short, stocky right-hander, McCabe was described by ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, ...

and

Alan Kippax Alan Falconer Kippax (25 May 1897 – 5 September 1972) was a cricketer for New South Wales (NSW) and Australia. Regarded as one of the great stylists of Australian cricket during the era between the two World Wars, Kippax overcame a late sta ...

. He had far more impressive statistics in domestic

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 ...

where he scored 3,320 runs at an average of 42.03, including nine centuries.

Later life and death

Nitschke was a successful

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

breeder, with "Dayana" winning the

Perth Cup The Perth Cup is a Perth Racing Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race run under quality handicap conditions over a distance of at Ascot Racecourse in Perth, Western Australia in January, usually on New Year's Day. The total prize money is $400,000. ...

in 1973, and the derbies of four states in 1972. He died on 29 September 1982 in

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

References

Sources

* Melford, M. (1984) ''Daily Telegraph Cricket Year Book 84'', ''Daily Telegraph'': London. . 1905 births 1982 deaths Australia Test cricketers South Australia cricketers Australian people of German descent Australian cricketers Cricketers from Adelaide {{Australia-cricket-bio-1900s-stub