Cyril Legh Winser (27 November 1884 — 20 December 1983) was an Anglo–Australian

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 str ...

er,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er, colonial secretary and orchardist. Born in England, Winser briefly played

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for Staffordshire, before emigrating to Australia, where he played

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

cricket for

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 ...

. He also excelled as an amateur golfer, winning several tournaments in Australia, and was the secretary to the Governor of South Australia.

Early life in England

Born at

High Legh High Legh is a village, civil and ecclesiastical parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is north west of Knutsford, east of Warrington and south west of Manchester City Centre. Th ...

, Cheshire, Winser was educated at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

. He made his debut in

for Staffordshire against the Lancashire Second XI in the 1906 Minor Counties Championship, playing a total of 21 Minor Counties Championship matches from 1906 to 1909. He was a part of the Staffordshire team which won the Minor Counties Championship in 1908. In his capacity as

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. ...

, Winser would have kept wicket to one of the best bowlers in the world at the time,

Sydney Barnes Sydney Francis Barnes (19 April 1873 – 26 December 1967) was an English professional cricketer who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He was right-handed and bowled at a pace that varied from medium to fast-medium wit ...

, who played much of his domestic career at minor counties level.

Move to Australia

Winser emigrated to Australia in 1909, becoming an orchardist at Blackwood, South Australia. He soon began playing cricket for

, making 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 officia ...

in the 1913/14

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 ...

. He played in three Shield matches that season and was a strong candidate to be a part of the Australia team to tour South Africa, which was cancelled due to the onset of World War I. He became the Private Secretary to Sir

Henry Galway Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Lionel Galway, (25 September 1859 – 17 June 1949) was a British Army officer and the Governor of South Australia from 18 April 1914 until 30 April 1920. His name was Henry Lionel Gallwey until 1911. Early lif ...

, the Governor of South Australia, in 1915. He would serve in his capacity as Private Secretary to a succession of governors. He made his final appearances in first-class cricket in 1920, playing two matches for South Australia in the 1920–21 Sheffield Shield. He was the

Australian Amateur The Australian Amateur is the national amateur golf championship of Australia. It has been played annually since 1894, except for the war years, and is organised by Golf Australia. Having traditionally been a match play event, from 2021 it has b ...

golf champion in 1921. By the time of the infamous bodyline tour of 1932-33, Wisner was serving as the Private Secretary to

Alexander Hore-Ruthven Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, (; 6 July 1872 – 2 May 1955) was a British Army officer who served as the 10th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1936 to 1945. He was previously Governor ...

, who was in England at the time. Following the third Test match at Adelaide and the controversy that arose from it, Winser arranged for an urgent cable to be sent to Hore-Ruthven in England, urging him to make contact with the

Dominions Office The position of Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs was a British cabinet-level position created in 1925 responsible for British relations with the Dominions – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa South Africa, officially t ...

in order to avoid a full-scale diplomatic incident. He later retired to

Barwon Heads, Victoria Barwon Heads (previously known as Point Flinders) is a coastal township on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the west bank of the mouth of the Barwon River below Lake Connewarre, while it is bounded t ...

, where he died on 20 December 1983. At the time of his death he was the oldest living Sheffield Shield cricketer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winser, Legh 1884 births 1983 deaths People from the Borough of Cheshire East People educated at Oundle School English emigrants to Australia English cricketers Australian cricketers Staffordshire cricketers South Australia cricketers English male golfers Australian male golfers Amateur golfers Members of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Cricketers from Cheshire