Rupert George Hickmott (19 March 1894 – 16 September 1916) was a cricketer who played for Canterbury and New Zealand. He died in World War I.[1]
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rupert George Hickmott | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 March 1894 Christchurch, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 16 September 1916 (aged 22) Somme, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm leg-spin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1911-12 to 1914-15 | Canterbury | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: Cricket Archive, 21 October 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Life and career edit
Rupert Hickmott was born in Christchurch and educated at Christchurch Boys' High School, where he excelled at cricket, scoring a century in the Heathcote Williams Challenge Shield against Auckland Grammar School, and captaining the First XI for three years. He also captained the rugby XV.[2]
At the start of the senior club season in Christchurch in 1911–12, in his first three innings he scored 112, 96 and 213 not out.[3] He made his first-class debut for Canterbury in December 1911 at the age of 17, scoring 30 and 39 in a low-scoring match to help Canterbury to victory over Wellington.[4] He made 52 and 33 in another victory over Wellington in his next match, which was his first in the Plunket Shield.[5] In 1912-13 he made 77, the top score of the match, when Canterbury beat Otago by an innings to win the Plunket Shield.[6]
He toured Australia with the New Zealand team in 1913-14, where he succeeded in some of the minor matches, but against the state teams he made only 94 runs at an average of 11.75.[7] He was the outstanding batsman in the 1914-15 Plunket Shield, with 307 runs at 51.16,[8] helping Canterbury to victories in all four matches. He top-scored in each innings against Auckland with 56 and 63; made his only century, 109, the top score of the match, against Hawke's Bay; and wound up both Otago innings with 2 for 7 and 4 for 5.[9]
Hickmott enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and served as a second lieutenant. He embarked from Wellington in March 1916 on the troopship Willochra. He was killed in action on the Somme in September 1916.[10]
Hickmott's obituary in Wisden said he "was probably the most promising young cricketer in the Dominion, and his early death will be felt severely when the game is resumed".[11] Dan Reese, his captain with both Canterbury and New Zealand, later wrote:
Hickmott ... was a fine all-rounder and to my mind would have become a Warwick Armstrong in New Zealand cricket, for he was a beautiful batsman and bowled "straight" leg-breaks like the great Victorian. His glorious outfielding against Harry Trott's team was a feature of the Canterbury match. His character and temperament made it certain that he would one day have been New Zealand's captain.[12]
References edit
- ^ "Cricketers who died in World War 1 – Part 3 of 5". Cricket Country. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- ^ New Zealand Observer, 21 October 1916, p. 10.
- ^ "Canterbury Notes". NZ Truth: 3. 11 November 1911.
- ^ Wellington v Canterbury 1911-12
- ^ Canterbury v Wellington 1911-12
- ^ Canterbury v Otago 1912-13
- ^ Don Neely & Richard Payne, Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985, Moa, Auckland, 1986, pp. 53–56.
- ^ Plunket Shield batting 1914-15
- ^ Plunket Shield 1914-15
- ^ "Rupert George Hickmott". Auckland Museum. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
- ^ "Deaths in the war, 1916". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
- ^ Dan Reese, Was It All Cricket?, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1948, p. 403.