Gordon Lindsay Weir (2 June 1908 – 31 October 2003) 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 str ...
er who played 11
Test matches 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 ...
from 1930 to 1937. He lost his hair early, and looked older than his teammates, so became known as Dad Weir.
['']Wisden
''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 ...
'' 2004, pp. 1562–63. He was the world's oldest Test cricketer upon his death.
Domestic career
Weir was born in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
. He was a right-hand batsman and a right-arm medium-paced bowler. He also made nine first-class appearances for the
Auckland rugby union team, playing mainly at
fly-half
In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...
.
[
He played first-class cricket for ]Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
from 1927–28 to 1946–47, scoring 10 centuries and taking 107 wickets. An accomplished stroke-player, he achieved his highest first-class score, 191, against Otago in December 1935.
International career
Weir was not selected for New Zealand's first Test match 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)
...
, against the touring England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
side in 1930, but played in the three other Tests of the series. He also played in all three Tests in New Zealand's tour to England in 1931, scoring 1,035 runs on the tour at a batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
of 25.87, including 96 runs at 24.00 in the Tests. Back home, he played two Tests against South Africa in 1932, and two against England in 1933. He did not play in the 1935–36 series against the MCC, but recalled for a last Test at The Oval
The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...
in 1937. He scored three Test half-centuries, and took seven Test wickets.[
]
Late career
After the Second World War, Weir was the selector-coach of the Auckland teenage Brabin Cup team for 12 years.[ He taught English at Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland, where he also coached rugby and cricket.
Weir became the oldest living Test cricketer in 2001, after the death of English cricketer ]Alf Gover
Alfred Richard Gover (29 February 1908 – 7 October 2001) was an English Test cricketer. He was the mainstay of the Surrey bowling attack during the 1930s and played four Tests before and after the Second World War. He also founded and ran ...
, against whom Weir had played in the Test at the Oval in 1937. He died in Auckland in 2003, and was succeeded as the world's oldest Test cricketer by Indian cricketer M. J. Gopalan.[
]
See also
* List of Auckland representative cricketers
References
'Dad' Weir, world's oldest Test cricketer, dies in Auckland
ESPNcricinfo, 31 October 2003
ESPNcricinfo, 10 October 2001
Obituary: Gordon Lindsay Weir
New Zealand Herald, 8 November 2003
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weir, Lindsay
1908 births
2003 deaths
Auckland cricketers
New Zealand Test cricketers
New Zealand cricketers
New Zealand Army cricketers