Anthony Lorraine "Lorrie" Wilmot (1 June 1943 – 29 February 2004) was a South African

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 ...

er from

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

who played from 1960–61 to 1988–89.

Career

A big hitting right-handed batsman, Wilmot is said to have once hit a six off New Zealand spinner

John Sparling John Trevor Sparling (born 24 July 1938) is a former New Zealand cricketer who played in 11 Test matches between 1958 and 1964. Domestic career A stocky, fair-haired, off-spinning all-rounder, Sparling was educated at Auckland Grammar School. ...

that went 120 metres. His highest score of 222 not out made against

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

in 1965–66 was at the time the second highest score achieved by an Eastern Province batsman.

Controversy

As acting captain of Eastern Province at

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

during the 1972–73

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

, Wilmot was involved in a walkout. Rhodesia had been set 300 to win and in the final hour of the game they needed six more runs. A minimum of 20 overs had to be bowled in the final hour according to the rules. With

Mike Procter Michael John Procter (born 15 September 1946) is a South African former cricketer. A fast bowler and hard hitting batsman, he proved himself a colossal competitor in English first class cricket. He was denied the international stage by South Af ...

and

Paddy Clift Patrick Bernard Clift (14 July 1953 – 2 September 1996) was a Zimbabwean first class cricketer for Leicestershire County Cricket Club, who was educated at St. George's College, Harare. He was a right-armed medium bowler and right-handed ...

at the crease and 3 wickets in hand, Wilmot led his team off the field while claiming falsely that the 20 overs had been bowled. Wilmot refused to re-enter the field and the umpires were forced to award the match to Rhodesia. The decision however was oddly overturned by the South African authorities and they declared the match a draw. As a result, Rhodesia missed out on winning their maiden Currie Cup title. In 2000 he was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl. After a long appeals process he was sentenced to 12 years behind bars with three of them suspended.

Death

On 29 February 2004, Wilmot committed suicide by shooting himself on his farm near

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. Although it is likely that he committed suicide due to his impending imprisonment, he was also rumoured to be suffering from an incurable disease.Cricinfo Profile
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmot, Lorrie 1943 births 2004 suicides 2004 deaths South African people of British descent Suicides by firearm in South Africa Border cricketers South African cricketers Eastern Province cricketers South African people convicted of rape People from Somerset East Cricketers from the Eastern Cape People convicted of child sexual abuse