Richard Smallpeice Whitington (30 June 1912 – 13 March 1984) was an Australian

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 ...

er who played for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

and after serving in World War II, represented the

Australian Services cricket team The Australian Services XI was a cricket team comprising solely military service personnel during World War II. They became active in May 1945 after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The team played matches against English cricket sides of both milita ...

, which played in the

Victory Tests The Victory Tests were a series of cricket matches played in England from 19 May to 22 August 1945, between a combined Australian Services XI and an English national side. The first match began less than two weeks after the end of World War I ...

. He became a journalist, writing as R. S. Whitington.

Early life

Whitington was born in the

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

suburb of

Unley Park Unley Park is a southern suburb of Adelaide in the City of Unley. Its postcode is 5061. It is located on the north side of Cross Road and east of the Belair railway line. Access via public transport is from the Unley Park railway station, Mill ...

, the younger son of businessman Guy Whitington (c. 1880 – 5 February 1954) and a member of the distinguished

Whitington family William Smallpeice Whitington was an early English settler in South Australia, founder of the shipping company Whitington & Co. He emigrated on his own ship ''New Holland'' (Captain P. Bussell), arriving in South Australia in July 1840. That cargo, ...

of South Australia. He attended

Scotch College, Adelaide Scotch College is an independent, Uniting Church, co-educational, day and boarding school, located on two adjacent campuses in Torrens Park and Mitcham, inner-southern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1919 out of the earlie ...

, before studying law at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

and becoming a lawyer. He married Alison Margaret "Peggy" Dale on 19 December 1939; they divorced in 1942. He served in the Middle East as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

with the 2/27th Battalion of the

Second AIF The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial ...

Cricket career

Whitington began his state cricketing career for South Australia at the age of 20 in November 1932 under the captaincy of Victor Richardson as an opening batsman. He was a regular member of the South Australian side until World War II, playing 36 matches and scoring 1728 runs at an average of 30.85, with three centuries. His highest score for South Australia was 125, which he scored twice against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

: in 1936–37, batting at number three, he was the highest scorer in a match that South Australia won by 112 runs; in 1938–39, opening, he put on 197 for the first wicket with Ken Ridings in a ten-wicket victory. He resumed his first-class career after his war service, taking part in the Australian Services tour of England in 1945, the tour of Ceylon and India, and the short tour of Australia. He played 18 matches on the three tours, scoring 1054 runs at an average of 35.13. He scored one century, 155, in the second of the three matches against an Indian XI: opening, he put on 218 in 175 minutes for the second wicket with Jack Pettiford. In his final first-class match, the last match of the tour, he made 84, the Services XI's top score, in the draw against Queensland.

Journalism

Whitington was a prominent journalist and writer, usually writing as "R. S. Whitington", and he balanced this work with his playing career until his retirement. He was known for his collaborations with Services XI teammate

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

; the pair wrote many books together. Whitington wrote for the Sydney ''Sun''. He was sports editor and roving Test reporter for Consolidated Press, owned and managed by the Packer family. For five years, from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, he worked in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. He wrote numerous books on cricket, many of them prefaced by Sir Robert Menzies, and in later years, the official biography of

Sir Frank Packer Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (3 December 19061 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was a patriarch of the Packer family. Early life Frank Packer was born in K ...

, and a history of Australian cricket.

Books

With Keith Miller

*''Cricket Caravan'' (1950) *''Catch: An Account of Two Cricket Tours'' (1951) *''Straight Hit'' (1952) *''Bumper'' (1953) *''Gods or Flannelled Fools?'' (1954) *''Cricket Typhoon'' (1955) *''A Keith Miller Companion: A Selection from Cricket Caravan, Catch, Straight Hit & Bumper'' (1955)

With other collaborators

*''Perchance to Bowl'' (1961) (with John Waite) *''The

Vic Richardson Victor York Richardson (7 September 189430 October 1969) was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australia cricket team and the South Australia Australian rules football team, representing Australia in basebal ...

Story: The Autobiography of a Versatile Sportsman'' (1967) *''Bodyline Umpire'' (1974) (with

George Hele George Alfred Hele (16 July 1891 – 28 August 1982) was an Australian cricket Umpire (cricket), umpire who umpired 16 Test cricket, Test matches between 1928 and 1933. He was most famous for his role in the infamous Bodyline, Bodyline series, ...

)

On his own

*''John Reid's Kiwis: New Zealand Cricketers in South Africa, 1961–62'' (1962) *''Bradman, Benaud and Goddard's Cinderellas'' (1964) *''Simpson's Safari: South African Test Series 1966–7'' (1967) *''Fours Galore: The West Indians and Their Tour of Australia 1968–69'' (1969) *''The Quiet Australian: The Lindsay Hassett Story'' (1969) *''Time of the Tiger: The Bill O'Reilly Story'' (1970) *''Sir Frank: The Frank Packer Story'' (1971) *''An Illustrated History of Australian Cricket'' (1972) *''Captains Outrageous? Cricket in the Seventies'' (1972) *''The Courage Book of Australian Test Cricket, 1877–1974'' (1974) *''Great Moments in Australian Sport'' (1974) *''An Illustrated History of Australian Tennis'' (1974) *''The Champions'' (1976) *''The Datsun Book of Australian Test Cricket, 1877–1981'' (1981) *''Keith Miller, the Golden Nugget'' (1981) *''Australians Abroad: Australia's Overseas Test Tours'' (1983)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitington, Richard 1912 births 1984 deaths People educated at Scotch College, Adelaide Adelaide Law School alumni Australian Services cricketers South Australia cricketers Australian cricketers Cricket historians and writers Australian sportswriters Australian biographers Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers