John Rider Lamason (29 October 1905 – 25 June 1961) was a

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 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 1927–28 to 1946–47, and for

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 ...

, but not in

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

. A hard-hitting middle order batsman and an occasional right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler, Lamason played for seven years for Wellington in the

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 ...

competition before his first century, 103 against Otago in 1934–35. He captained the side from 1935 to 1936 (when Wellington won the

) to 1937–38. In the 1934–35 and 1935–36 seasons, he was close to the top of the domestic batting averages, and he was picked for the 1937 New Zealand tour of England. He was not a success: he made only 395 runs on the tour at an average of 15.80 with a top score of 71, and was not chosen for any of the Test matches. He played occasional first-class cricket for almost 10 years after the tour, but his top score in that period was just 31. His highest first-class score was 127 for Wellington against Auckland in 1935-36 and his best bowling figures were 5 for 67 (followed by 4 for 109 in the second innings) against Auckland in 1934–35. He also captained Wellington at Rugby football. His wife was

Ina Lamason Ina Mabel Lamason (; 2 May 1911 – 30 April 1994) was a New Zealand cricket and field hockey representative. She was also an international hockey umpire, cricket and hockey administrator, and sports journalist. Biography Lamason was born in ...

, who played cricket and hockey for Wellington and New Zealand. They married in Wellington in December 1938. His sister,

Joy Lamason Joyce Grace Lamason (; 19 December 1915 – 16 February 2012) was a New Zealand cricketer who played as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm medium. She appeared in four Test matches for New Zealand between 1948 and 1954. S ...

, also played for Wellington and New Zealand.

References

* ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''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 ...

'', 1938 edition {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamason, Jack 1905 births 1961 deaths Wellington cricketers New Zealand cricketers North Island Army cricketers North Island cricketers