John Nicholls Fowke (23 October 1859 – 25 April 1938) was a New Zealand

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, born in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He 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

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 ...

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

between 1881 and 1907. A

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

, in 1893-94 Fowke played 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 ...

against

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 New Zealand's first international first-class match. He was notable among wicket-keepers for always standing up to the stumps. He was also a useful lower-order batsman, noted for his strong defence in adversity. He was 47 years old when he played his last first-class match, in which Canterbury defeated the touring

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

on New Year's Day 1907. He played club cricket in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

into his fifties. Fowke continued to work for cricket in Canterbury after his playing days were over. In 1910–11, when Canterbury were struggling to find funds to send their team to

to contest 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 ...

, he began a public appeal, which raised the required money. Canterbury won the match, taking the Shield from

for the first time since 1907. A bootmaker by trade, Fowke also worked as a tally clerk at the Lyttelton wharf. He married Emma Elizabeth Wagstaff in Christchurch in December 1883. In January and February 1920, Fowke contributed an 11-part series of cricketing reminiscences to the ''

Christchurch Star ''The Star'' is a newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was published daily from 1868 to 1991. It became the ''Christchurch Star-Sun'' in June 1935 after merging with a rival newspaper, ''The Sun'', and at the time it ceased dai ...

'', under the title "Reminiscences of the Sporting World: 'Johnny' Fowke Talks of Cricket".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fowke, John 1859 births 1938 deaths New Zealand cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers Auckland cricketers Canterbury cricketers People from Tenby Cricketers from Pembrokeshire British emigrants to New Zealand 19th-century New Zealand sportspeople

See also

References

External links