Sydney Frank Burke (11 March 1934 – 3 April 2017) was a South African

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 in two Test matches, one in each of 1962 and 1965.

Biography

Born in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

, Burke was a middle to lower order right-handed batsman and a fast-medium right-arm bowler who played

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 ...

mainly for North Eastern Transvaal and

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

between 1954 and 1968. Both of his main first-class sides competed in the weaker B section of the national

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 ...

competition, and Burke's batting and bowling success at that level did not bring recognition until, in the 1961–62 season, injuries to other bowlers and a willingness among the selectors to try new players brought him into the Test team for the third game in a five-match series with

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 ...

. The move was a personal success, though

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

lost the match. Burke took six wickets for 128 runs in New Zealand's first innings and five for 68 in the second to finish with match figures of 11 for 196. These are the second-best match figures in a South African bowler making his Test debut, beaten only by the 11 for 112 of

Alf Hall Alfred Ewart Hall (23 January 1896 in Bolton, Lancashire, England – 1 January 1964 in The Hill, South Africa) was a South African cricketer who played in seven Tests from 1923 to 1931. Alf Hall's appearances in first-class cricket were lim ...

against

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 ...

in 1922–23. Further hampered by injury to fellow fast bowler Godfrey Lawrence, Burke bowled 81 overs in the match.

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 ...

noted that he bowled in the first innings with "commendable steadiness" as New Zealand made 385, and that in the second innings "the accredited batsmen failed to master Burke's in-swinger". It added: "He shouldered a tremendous burden and virtually bowled himself to a standstill." Despite this performance, Burke was dropped for the next Test in favour of

Peter Heine Peter Samuel Heine (28 June 1928 – 4 February 2005) was a South African cricketer who played in fourteen Test matches between 1955 and 1962. On his Test debut, he took five wickets in the first innings against England at Lord's in 1955. Life ...

, who had not played Test cricket for three years, and when that did not prove successful the selectors recalled

Neil Adcock Neil Amwin Treharne Adcock (8 March 1931 – 6 January 2013) was a South African international cricketer who played in 26 Test matches. A tall aggressive fast bowler, he could lift the ball sharply off a length. He was the first South Afri ...

and

Peter Pollock Peter Maclean Pollock (born 30 June 1941) is a retired South African cricketer. He has played a continuing role in the South Africa cricket team as a player and selector. He was voted a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1966. He was primarily a f ...

for the final match of the series. In the 1963–64 season, Burke was not picked for the South African tour to Australia, but as captain of North Eastern Transvaal had his best bowling season in domestic cricket, taking 35 wickets an average of just 8.45 runs apiece. He was mentioned in Wisden among a group of players who had failed to make the Australian tour but "gave indications of their intention to renew their claims". That he was still in the selectors' thoughts was demonstrated by his selection for the Test trial match at the start of the 1964–65 season, when

were the tourists, though in a one-sided match he failed to take a wicket. Exactly three years after his previous triumphant Test appearance, Burke was again picked for the third Test of the series against

. This time, he was not a success, failing to take a wicket in a drawn match which was noted for some dull batting. Again, he lost his place after the single Test match, and this time he did not regain it. He managed the successful South African Universities team that toured England in 1967. The ''

'' report said, "No praise could be too high for Mr S.F. Burke, who combined the onerous managerial duties with those of a shrewd and helpful coach."''

'' 1968, p. 711.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Sydney 1934 births 2017 deaths South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Cricketers who have taken five wickets on Test debut Northerns cricketers Free State cricketers

Biography

See also

References