William Nelson Vorrath (21 October 1904 – 7 June 1934) was a New Zealand sportsman. Vorrath played six first-class cricket matches 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 1927–28 and 1929–30 seasons and represented Otago at rugby league. Vorrath was born at Dunedin in 1904McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010''. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) into a sporting family. His father had played cricket in Australia, one of his brothers was a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

and another represented the Otago Rugby Football Union, whilst his sister played lawn tennis.Mr William Vorrath, '' Southland Times'', issue 22345, 9 June 1934, p. 9.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 8 February 2024.) William played club cricket for the Albion Cricket Club in Dunedin, captaining the club for four seasons. Five of Vorrath's six first-class appearances were made during the 1927–28 season when he played in all of Otago's representative matches.Vorrath, Mr W, Obituaries in 1934, '' Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 1935.
Available online
at

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 8 February 2024.) He made his debut against Canterbury in December 1927, opening the batting and making scores of 11 and five. A series of low scores resulted in him dropping down the batting order and it was not until the side's final Plunket Shield match of the season that Vorrath made a significant score, making 103 not out batting at number eight against Wellington towards the end of January,William Vorrath
CricketArchive. Retrieved 8 February 2024. an innings which was called "memorable" in an obituary. This was his only first-class

century 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 ...

. After playing against the touring Australians towards the end of the season, Vorrath made only one further appearance for Otago, opening the batting again in a December 1929 match against Auckland. As well as cricket, Vorrath was a notable rugby player. He played rugby union for the Union club in Dunedin before switching codes to play rugby league. He represented

and

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

in the code. He played in trials matches for the

New Zealand national team New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

and narrowly missed out on selection for the 1926–27 tour of Great Britain. Illness forced his retirement from the sport. Professionally Vorrath was a plasterer and worked at the Waitaki Hydro Works in 1933, playing some cricket for

North Otago North Otago in New Zealand covers the area of Otago between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre for astronomy and for glid ...

before returning to Dunedin.Obituary: Mr W Vorrath, ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'', issue 22284, 9 June 1934, p. 11.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 8 February 2024.) He died at Dunedin Hospital after a week spent as an in-patient. He was aged 29.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vorrath, William 1904 births 1934 deaths Cricketers from Dunedin New Zealand cricketers New Zealand rugby league players Otago cricketers Otago rugby league team players category:Rugby league players from Dunedin South Island rugby league team players