William Victor Stone Ling (3 October 1891 – 26 September 1960) 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 six

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) ...

from 1921 to 1923.

Cricket career

A middle-order batsman and leg-spin bowler, Ling 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 ...

for

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, wh ...

from 1911 to 1930, except for a season with Eastern Province in 1928–29. He was the second-highest scorer in the

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 ...

in 1920–21, with 434 runs at an average of 48.22, and was selected for all three Tests against the touring Australians late in 1921.

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for ''Test Match Special'' (TMS) on B ...

, ''The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers'', Rigby, Adelaide, 1983, p. 294. He scored 33 and 28 in the First Test and finished the series with 115 runs at an average of 19.15. Ling was the third-highest scorer in the Currie Cup in 1921–22, with 407 runs at an average of 58.14, and was selected for the first three Tests against England in 1922–23. He was less successful this time, and after missing most of the Third Test when he was summoned home to

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

to be with his seriously ill mother, he played no further Tests. Although Ling was a wicket-taking leg-break and googly bowler in domestic cricket, he bowled only three overs in his six Tests. His best bowling performances in first-class cricket were 7 for 60 from 94 balls in Griqualand West's victory over

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

in January 1926, and 6 for 77 off 90 balls in an innings loss to

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 ...

in March 1911. The highest of his three

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

in first-class cricket was 187 in a drawn match against Orange Free State in December 1923.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ling, William 1891 births 1960 deaths South Africa Test cricketers South African cricketers Eastern Province cricketers Griqualand West cricketers Cricketers from Kimberley, Northern Cape