Ian Shaw Billcliff (born 26 October 1972) is a Canadian

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. Though born in Canada, he grew up in New Zealand. Billcliff made his debut in

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 ...

in 1991 for

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 New Zealand domestic cricket, and in 1992 he played twice for the New Zealand Under-19 team. He later played for

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 ...

from 1995 to 1997, and then for

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 ...

from 1997 to 1999. After leaving Auckland, he played club cricket in England in the Surrey League. Billcliff became interested in playing a season in Canada and got in contact with the Canadian cricket president via an ICC Development Manager. Having revealed his place-of-birth, he was immediately chosen for Canada's squad in the

2001 ICC Trophy The 2001 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Ontario, Canada in 2001. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Three spots in the World Cup were on offer and the Netherlands, host nation Canada ...

, and was an important part of the team who achieved a third-place finish, thus progressing to the World Cup. He made important contributions in the World Cup matches, including a 42 in the match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, and a 71 in the match against

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. Since the 2003 World Cup he has played just two

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, against

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

in August 2006. He has played in other tournaments for Canada though, including the

2005 ICC Trophy The 2005 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Ireland between 1 July and 13 July 2005. It was an international one-day tournament played over 50 overs per side between 12 Associate Members of the International Cricket Council. It served a ...

, the

ICC Americas Championship The ICC Americas Championship is a one-day cricket tournament organised by ICC Americas for non-Test national cricket teams in the Americas affiliated with the International Cricket Council. As well as providing the opportunity for national teams ...

in 2004 and 2006, and three

ICC Intercontinental Cup The ICC Intercontinental Cup was a first-class cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of its cricket development programme. It was designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first ...

matches. He has also captained Canada on occasion. Billcliff continued to play cricket in New Zealand, but only in club cricket in Auckland where he has played for Cornwall. In the 2006–07 season, he played for the newly formed University/Ellerslie club, a merger between

Auckland University The University of Auckland is a public university, public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest, most comprehensive and highest-ranked university in New Zealand and consistently places among the top 100 universit ...

Cricket Club and Ellerslie Cricket Club.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Billcliff, Ian 1972 births Auckland cricketers Canada One Day International cricketers Canada Twenty20 International cricketers Canadian cricketers Cariboo people Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup People educated at Otago Boys' High School Living people Canadian emigrants to New Zealand Otago cricketers Cricketers from British Columbia Wellington cricketers New Zealand cricketers