Harcourt Dowsley (15 July 1919 – 30 October 2014) was an Australian sportsman who 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 ...

with the

Victorian cricket team The Victoria men’s cricket team is an Australian first-class men's cricket team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The men’s team, which first played in 1851, represents the state of Victoria in the Marsh Sheffield Shield first-class competi ...

and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

for

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL). He was born in

Essendon, Victoria Essendon is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Essendon recorded a population of 21,240 at the 2021 census. Essen ...

, the grandson of William Dowsley, a farmer from St Arnaud, Victoria, and Emily Dowsley née Donnelly. Harcourt Dowsley's parents were Allan Harcourt Dowsley and Kathleen Olive Dowsley née Gaetz. A brother, William Allan Dowsley, predeceased him in March 2014. Dowsley made his first-class debut in a match against

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

in 1937/38 when he opened the batting and made scores of 46 and 72

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. Tasmania would be Dowsley's opponent in all of his five first-class matches, the first three coming before his VFL stint and the other two after. An Old Melburnian, Dowsley played his football as a full-forward and kicked four goals on debut in the

1941 VFL season The 1941 VFL season was the 45th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 26 April until 27 September, and comprised an ...

, against St Kilda at

Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Junc ...

. He kept his spot in the side for the next couple of games, kicking a further three goals, before joining the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

with whom he would serve in the World War II Pacific campaign as a

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pilot with the rank of

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

. When Dowsley returned from war he turned his attention to cricket and in 1946 played two first-class matches to finish his career with 336 runs at 56.00, including three half centuries. He also took two wickets at 37.00 with his right-arm fast-medium bowling. He died in October 2014, aged 95.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowsley, Harcourt 1919 births 2014 deaths Australian cricketers Victoria cricketers Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Carlton Football Club players Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers Old Melburnians Football Club players Cricketers from Melbourne Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Australian Air Force officers Australian World War II pilots People from Essendon, Victoria Military personnel from Melbourne