Colin McDonald (Australian cricketer)

Colin McDonald
Personal information
Full name Colin Campbell McDonald
Born (1928-11-17) 17 November 1928
Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling unknown
Role Opening batsman, very occasional wicketkeeper
Relations IH McDonald (brother), KE Rigg (cousin)
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 101) 25 January 1952 v West Indies
Last Test 6 July 1961 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1947/48–1962/63 Victoria
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 47 192
Runs scored 3107 11375
Batting average 39.32 40.48
100s/50s 5/17 24/57
Top score 170 229
Balls bowled 8 301
Wickets 0 3
Bowling average – 64.00
5 wickets in innings – –
10 wickets in match – –
Best bowling 0–3 1–10
Catches/stumpings 14/0 55/2
Source: CricketArchive, 1 September 2008

Colin Campbell McDonald AM (born 17 November 1928, Glen Iris, Victoria) is an Australian cricketer. He played in 47 Tests from 1952 to 1961, and 192 first class matches between 1947 and 1963.

An opening batsman, he made his Test debut in the 5th Test against West Indies at Sydney in January 1952, alongside fellow debutants George Thoms, also an opening batsman, and Richie Benaud.[1] Uniquely, Thoms and McDonald also opened the batting for the same state team, Victoria, and the same club team, Melbourne University[2] that season. Thoms retired from cricket to concentrate on his medical career as a gynaecologist, and McDonald formed a successful opening partnership with Jim Burke. McDonald played in two stints for the Melbourne Cricket Club.[3]

McDonald was the top scorer (32 and 89) in both innings of the 1956 Test, Laker's Match at Old Trafford, in which Jim Laker took 19 wickets.[3] His career reached its zenith in the Ashes series against England in 1958/9. This was illustrated by him scoring the most runs of any player in Test cricket in the calendar year of 1959. He reached his highest Test score, 170, in the 4th Test against at Adelaide, although he was retired hurt for much of the second day, and a second century in the 5th Test on his home ground in Melbourne. He was also captain of Victoria in 1958/9 and 1960/1. He retired from Test cricket in 1961, during the tour to England, as a result of a wrist injury.

He attended Scotch College Melbourne and Melbourne University, and was a schoolteacher for a short period. After working as an insurance broker, he was executive director of Tennis Australia where he had a pivotal role in building the National Tennis Centre now known as Rod Laver Arena.[2] He was an ABC cricket commentator[2] in the 1960s and 1970s.[3]

His elder brother, Ian McDonald, and his mother's cousin, Keith Rigg, also played for Australia and first-class cricket for Victoria.[2]

McDonald published his memoirs, CC, The Colin McDonald Story: Cricket, Tennis, Life in 2009[4] with a foreword by Richie Benaud.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "5th Test, West Indies tour of Australia at Sydney, Jan 25-29 1952: Match Summary". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Shearer, Tim (September 2009). "Colin McDonald: a cricket warrior tells his story". Great Scot 51. Scotch College. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Williams, Ken (2000). For Club And Country (PDF). East Melbourne: Melbourne Cricket Club Library. pp. 57–58. ISBN 0 9578074 0 6.
  4. ↑ McDonald, Colin (2009). CC, The Colin McDonald Story: Cricket, Tennis, Life. North Melbourne, Vic.: Arcadia. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-92150-949-0. (at Australian Scholarly Publishing)
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