Edgar Frederick Wykes, OAM, (born 28 April 1921 in

Little Brington Little Brington is a village in Brington and civil parish, in West Northamptonshire, England. It has one little school that currently holds around 50 children. The villages name means 'Farm/settlement connected with Bryni'. Little Brington c ...

Northampton, England Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

) was an Australian cricket Test match umpire. His family emigrated from the UK to Australia in 1925 as assisted immigrants. He was a cricket player until WWII when he enlisted and was sent to Meckering Western Australia, an embarkation point for troops leaving for overseas action. While cleaning a machine gun, he was ordered by a lieutenant to clean it in a way which Wykes knew to be wrong, but he had to obey orders. The gun exploded and Wykes was shot in the ankle and foot, shattering many bones in his foot. An operation removed several of his toes on the left foot and he thereafter had to wear an elevator shoe on it. This injury put paid to his cricket playing career and he then took up umpiring. He umpired one Test match between

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 ...

and

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 ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

on 30 November to 5 December 1962, a match drawn with England requiring 100 runs to win with 4 wickets in hand.

Brian Booth Brian Charles Booth (born 19 October 1933) is a former Australian cricketer who played in 29 Test matches between 1961 and 1966, and 93 first-class matches for New South Wales. He captained Australia for two Tests during the 1965–66 ...

scored a century and there were 13 other scores of at least 50. Wykes’ partner in this match was Colin Egar. Wykes joined the NSW Cricket Umpires’ Association in 1949, became a first-class umpire in 1956, and retired from first-class umpiring in 1972, after 85 appearances. He retained his involvement in umpiring, as President of the NSW Cricket Umpires’ Association from 1967 to 1989, and was still Vice-president in 2000. He received an

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

medal for his services to cricket in 1980, and became a Life Member of the NSW Cricket Association in 1982. He died on 22 November 2008 at

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. His ashes were buried with full honours at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

on 9 February 2009 in two locations near the Test Pitch. The Cricket Umpire's Association Medal, once restricted to umpires officiating in Sydney grade cricket, was renamed as the E F Wykes OAM Association Medal in Wykes' honour

External links

* 1921 births 2008 deaths Australian Test cricket umpires Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia British emigrants to Australia {{Australia-cricket-bio-1920s-stub

See also

External links