Sydney William Ward (5 August 1907 – 31 December 2010) was an Australian-born New Zealand cricketer. Ward was a right-handed
batsman who bowled right-arm
medium pace.
From the death of
Frank Shipston
Frank William Shipston (29 July 1906 – 6 July 2005) was an English cricketer. Born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, Shipston's father (also Frank Shipston) had played several matches for the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club in the Second XI ...
on 6 July 2005 until his death, Ward was considered the oldest living
first-class cricketer and the second oldest ever, behind
Jim Hutchinson. Following his death,
Cyril Perkins became the oldest living first-class cricketer.
Ward was born in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
– hence his name – and moved to
New Zealand in 1917 prior to playing
first-class cricket for
Wellington in the late 1920s. Alongside cricket, when he was young he was also proficient at rugby, athletics, and football.
His first-class debut for Wellington came in the 1929/30
Plunket Shield against
Otago
Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...
. From 1929/30 to 1937/38, he represented Wellington in 10 first-class matches, with his final first-class match coming against
Canterbury. In his 20 first-class innings, he scored 282 runs at a
batting average of 14.84, with a single
half century high score of 61, which came against
Auckland in the 1934/35 season. In 1937–38 he was the leading batsman in Wellington senior club cricket, with 642 runs at an average of 64.20 for Kilbirnie, who won the championship.
He played representative
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
for
Wellington between 1931 and 1934, when a broken leg ended his football career.
Ward served in the
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...
in
World War II, stationed at
Nelson.
He worked as a watchmaker – initially as his father's apprentice
– and jeweller in Wellington until 1982, then retired to the
Wairarapa farming village of Kaiwaiwai, between
Featherston
Featherston is a surname of English origin, at least as old as the 12th century. The link with "Featherstone" is probably not traceable, but people researching both spellings (and others such as "de Fetherestanhalgh") contribute to the collection o ...
and
Martinborough.
See also
*
Oldest first-class cricketers
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Syd
1907 births
2010 deaths
Cricketers from Sydney
Australian emigrants to New Zealand
New Zealand cricketers
Wellington cricketers
Wellington rugby union players
Men centenarians
New Zealand rugby union players
New Zealand military personnel of World War II
New Zealand centenarians