Selwyn Eric Belsham (28 September 1930 – 11 March 2016) was a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at the 1957 World Cup. His position of preference was at . He also played cricket for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. His brother

Vic Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...

was also a

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

representative. Vic later became a referee, controlling his brother's team in the 1957 World Cup. Their father Alf represented Auckland in rugby union.

Sporting career

Rugby league

representative, Belsham played for the Richmond club in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

competition. He represented the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

on three occasions, in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Belsham represented the

, playing 10 consecutive test matches between 1955 and 1957. He was first selected for the 1955 tour of Great Britain and France, but began the trip with a broken collarbone, suffered in New Zealand. He played in only two games during the England leg of the trip before making his test debut in the first test against France. Belsham played for the Rest of the World against Australia after the 1957 World Cup. His final test match was for New Zealand against a combined Great Britain-France side.

Cricket

Belsham played six

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 ...

matches for

as a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

, taking 13 catches and four

stumping Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping crease ...

s. With the bat, he scored 105 runs at an average of 11.66 and a high score of 41.

Death

Belsham died in

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 , established_ ...

, Australia, on 11 March 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belsham, Sel 1930 births 2016 deaths New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players Auckland rugby league team players New Zealand cricketers Auckland cricketers North Island rugby league team players Richmond Bulldogs players Rugby league halfbacks Wicket-keepers

Sporting career

Rugby league

Cricket

Death

See also

References