William C Tait was a

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 three first-class matches in New Zealand for

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 ...

between the 1872–73 and 1874–75 seasons. Tait was a member of Dunedin Cricket Club in

, serving on the committee and acting as the club's treasurer and vice-president. Described as "a fair change bowler"Interprovincial cricket matches, ''Globe'', volume XXI, issue 1708, 11 August 1879, p. 4.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 28 January 2024.) who "could bowl a good 'un at times", Tait played in three representative matches for Otago. He made his first-class debut in Otago's February 1873 match against Canterbiry, taking four wickets in the only innings in which he bowled. He was considered one of the better members of an Otago team weakened by the absence of a number of established players. He played in the same fixture in each of the following two seasons, taking one wicket in each match. His highest first-class score of 21 not out was made in the 1873–74 match, the only one that Otago won. In total he scored 27 runs in the five innings in which be batted. Little is known of Tait's life,McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 128. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) although he is described as "the Victorian 'duffer'" in an 1874 article in '' The Evening Star'', a Dunedin newspaper, suggesting that he may have been born in Australia.Cricket gossip, '' Evening Star'', issue 3632, 13 October 1874, p. 2.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 28 January 2024.)

References

External links

* Year of birth missing Year of death missing New Zealand cricketers Otago cricketers Place of birth missing {{NewZealand-cricket-bio-stub