Robert Neill (20 January 1864 – 27 August 1930) 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 who played first-class cricket for Auckland between 1889 and 1906.

Life and career

Neill grew up in Britain, then migrated to New Zealand, where he became a

grain merchant The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

in Auckland. At the time of his death aged 66 in August 1930 he was chairman of the United Permanent Building and Investment Society. His wife Nina predeceased him. They had one daughter. A leg-spin bowler who usually opened the bowling, Neill took 9 for 75 in the first innings against Canterbury in 1891–92, in his second first-class match. He played for New Zealand in two matches in 1896-97: the loss to

the Australians ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

and the victory over the touring Queensland team. He again took nine wickets in an innings in 1897–98, 9 for 86 in the first innings of Auckland's loss to Canterbury. When the cricket historian

Tom Reese Thomas Wilson Reese (29 September 1867 – 13 April 1949) was a New Zealand first-class cricketer who played for Canterbury from 1888 to 1918, and later wrote a two-volume history of New Zealand cricket. Life and career Reese was one of the fir ...

compiled his history of early New Zealand cricket, ''New Zealand Cricket, 1841–1914'', in 1927, he selected a 14-man team of the best New Zealand cricketers of the period from 1860 to 1914. Neill was one of those selected.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neill, Robert 1864 births 1930 deaths Auckland cricketers Cricketers from Greenock New Zealand cricketers Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers New Zealand businesspeople British emigrants to New Zealand