Vernon Seymour Ransford (20 March 1885 – 19 March 1958) was an Australian

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 str ...

er who played in 20 Test matches between 1907 and 1912. Ransford was a smooth and stylish left-handed batsman who could score with ease all round the wicket or defend patiently as the situation required. He played for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

from 1904 to 1928. He was also an outstanding fieldsman, who could pick up and throw the ball in one movement and with great accuracy. Ransford's best Test series was the 1909 tour of England when he topped the Australian batting averages, helped by a career best score of 143 not out, finishing with 353 runs at an average of 58.83. On the whole tour he made 1783 runs at an average of 43.48, and hit six

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 ...

. The following year he was a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

. He toured New Zealand with Australian teams in 1913-14 and in 1920-21, when he captained the side. He also toured New Zealand with Victoria in 1924-25. After retiring from playing Ransford served as President of the Melbourne Football Club in 1927/28, and secretary of the

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, ...

(where he had played his domestic cricket) from 1939 to 1957, ably steering the club and its ground, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, through the ground's use as a military camp in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and its later use as the chief venue for the 1956 Summer Olympics.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 440–41.

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Vernon Seymour Ransford (1885–1958)
Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery (Vic) 1885 births 1958 deaths Australia Test cricketers Victoria cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers Melbourne Football Club presidents Australian cricketers Cricketers from Melbourne Australian cricket administrators People from South Yarra, Victoria {{AFL-bio-1885-stub