Vera Esther Burt (; 14 January 1927 – 21 September 2017) 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 and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player, representing her country in both sports. She went on to be hockey umpire, coach, and administrator.

Early life and family

Burt was born in

Patea Patea ( ) is the third-largest town in South Taranaki District, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Pātea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Whanganui on . Hāwera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley 17 km to the east ...

on 14 January 1927, and educated at

Epsom Girls' Grammar School , motto_translation = ''Through difficulties to greatness.'' , coordinates = , type = State Single Sex Girls Secondary (Year 9–13) with Boarding Facilities , established = 12 February 1917 , MOE = 64 , principal = Lorraine Pound , colo ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. She studied at Auckland Teachers' Training College from 1944 to 1945, and then at Dunedin Teachers' College in 1946, becoming a physical education teacher. In 1952, she married Halstead Burt, and the couple went on to have three children.

Sporting career

Cricket

Burt played as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

right-handed and

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

slow left-arm orthodox Left-arm orthodox spin, Left-arm off spin also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of Finger spin, left-arm finger spin bowling (cricket), bowling in the sport of cricket. Left-arm orthodox spin is bowled by a left-arm bow ...

. She played in three

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for

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 ...

between 1948 and 1969. She played domestic cricket for

and North Shore.

Hockey

Beginning her hockey career in

in the mid-1940s, Burt then represented

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 ...

briefly. She subsequently returned to Auckland and represented that province from 1947 to 1958. She gained national honours, playing for

against

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 ...

in 1960. Burt went on to be an umpire for 34 years, and was an A-grade international umpire during the 1970s. During the 1980s she served on the New Zealand Hockey Umpires' Council. She was also a successful coach, taking the North Shore women's hockey team to the K Cup title in 1978. As an administrator, Burt served on the executive of the Auckland Women's Hockey Association for 21 years, and was instrumental in the establishment of the North Shore Women's Hockey Association in 1972.

Honours and awards

Burt was made a life member of Auckland Hockey in 1983, the New Zealand Women's Hockey Association in 1985, the New Zealand Umpires' Federation in 1988, and the North Shore Women's Hockey Association, also in 1988. In the

1990 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1990 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

, Burt was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to sport, especially women's hockey, and the community. In 2009, Burt was an inaugural inductee into Harbour Sport's hall of fame.

Death

Burt died at

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

on 21 September 2017.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burt, Vera 1927 births 2017 deaths People from Patea New Zealand women cricketers New Zealand women Test cricketers Auckland Hearts cricketers North Shore women cricketers New Zealand female field hockey players New Zealand field hockey coaches New Zealand field hockey umpires New Zealand sports executives and administrators New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School New Zealand women referees and umpires