Oscar Wendell Bill (8 April 1910 – 10 May 1988) was an Australian cricketer.[1] He played 35 first-class matches, mostly for New South Wales, between 1929–30 and 1935–36.[2]

Wendell Bill
Personal information
Full name
Oscar Wendell Bill
Born(1910-04-08)8 April 1910
Waverley, Sydney, Australia
Died10 May 1988(1988-05-10) (aged 78)
Sydney, Australia
BattingRight-handed
RoleOpening batsman
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1929/30–1935/36New South Wales
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 35
Runs scored 1,931
Batting average 37.86
100s/50s 6/4
Top score 153
Catches/stumpings 20/–
Source: Cricinfo, 22 December 2016

Life and career

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Bill was one of the children of George Thomas Bill, an English-born lecturer at the University of Sydney.[3] Before he played first-class cricket, Bill was a substitute fielder for New South Wales in one of their matches against the touring MCC in 1928–29; he ended up fielding for most of the match as both sides lost players to injury.[3]

An opening batsman, Bill made a century on his first-class debut against Tasmania in 1929–30.[4] He made his highest score of 153 in 1930–31 against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield.[5]

Bill toured India and Ceylon with the Australian team in 1935–36, scoring three centuries in the first-class matches, including 101 against Ceylon after Ceylon had been dismissed for 96.[6] In the low-scoring unofficial Test at Calcutta he was the top-scorer on either side with 16 and 45 not out.[7] He was one of the Australians' leading batsmen until the match against Patiala when, on 118, his jaw was broken by a delivery from the fast bowler Mohammad Nissar. It was Bill's last first-class match.[8] He wrote a continuing account of the tour for the weekly Sydney Mail between November 1935 and March 1936.[9]

In November 1931, Bill appeared with his New South Wales teammate Don Bradman for a Blackheath team against a team from Lithgow in a match to celebrate the laying of a new artificial pitch at Blackheath. At one point, in three eight-ball overs, Bradman scored 100 runs while Bill, at the other end, made two singles.[10][8]

During World War II, Bill was in the Australian Army from May 1943 to March 1946, serving as a private in an anti-aircraft unit.[11] He married Patricia Adams in Sydney in March 1946.[12] He worked in Alan Kippax's sporting goods store in Sydney before becoming a partner in his own sporting goods store.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "Wendell Bill". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Wendell Bill". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b Jack Pollard, Australian Cricket: The Game and the Players, Hodder & Stoughton, Sydney, 1982, pp. 141–42.
  4. ^ "New South Wales v Tasmania 1929-30". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Queensland v New South Wales 1930-31". Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  6. ^ "All Ceylon v Australians 1935-36". Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  7. ^ "India v Australians Calcutta 1935-36". Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b c The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 61.
  9. ^ Bill, Wendell (18 March 1936). "With the Australians in India". The Sydney Mail: 27.
  10. ^ Williamson, Martin. "Bradman blitz at Blackheath". Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  11. ^ "World War Two Service". DVA. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  12. ^ "Archbishop Officiates at Test Cricketer's Wedding". The Daily Telegraph: 18. 6 March 1946.
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