Arnold Williams (cricketer)

Arnold Williams's father, William Butler Williams, brought his family to New Zealand in 1880 when he took up an appointment as a master at Otago Boys' High School. He taught there and at the University of Otago until his death in 1895. Arnold was one of three sons and four daughtersOtago Witness, 11 April 1895, p. 3. and was educated at Otago Boys' High, where he played cricket.McCarron A (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 140. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. {{isbn|978 1 905138 98 2}} ([https://archive.acscricket.com/cricketers_series/new_zealand_cricketers_1863-64_2010/index.html Available online] at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.)Williams, Mr Arnold Butler, Obituaries in 1929, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1930. ([https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/233654.html Available online] at CricInfo. Retrieved 17 February 2024.

Arnold Williams, "entertaining as a batsman of the punishing type and brilliant as a wicket-keeper",Evening Post, 22 August 1929, p. 4. made his first-class debut for Otago against Canterbury in 1886–87 at the age of 17. Playing as a middle-order batsman, he scored 3 and 9. Thereafter he mostly played as a wicketkeeper-batsman. He played regularly for Otago between until 1894–95, but in his first nine first-class matches his highest score was 19.[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/23/23111/23111.html Arnold Williams], CricketArchive. Retrieved 17 February 2024. {{subscription}}

In 1895 he moved to Wellington, where for some years he was one of the highest scorers in Wellington club cricket. On the basis of his club form he was selected in the New Zealand team of 15 to play the Australians in November 1896. After scoring 21 in the first innings of 129, he scored 73 out of 247 in the second innings.[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/131/131809.html New Zealand XV v Australians 1896–97] Writing 50 years later Dan Reese said this innings, "considering the calibre of the bowling, still ranks as one of the finest innings ever played for this country".Dan Reese, Was It All Cricket?, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1948, p. 24. A few weeks later, in his first first-class match for Wellington, he scored 163 against Canterbury, an innings the Evening Post reporter described as "magnificent ... stamps him as being at the present time the best batsman in the colony".Evening Post, 23 January 1897, p. 5. It set a record for the highest first-class score for Wellington.

Williams was selected to tour Australia with the New Zealanders in 1898–99 but had to withdraw when he was unable to obtain leave.Don Neely & Richard Payne, Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985, Moa, Auckland, 1986, p. 40. Dan Reese believed Williams was "the best batsman in New Zealand at this time".Reese, Was It All Cricket?, p. 36.

Williams captained Wellington in seven matches between 1902–03 and 1909–10. In the 13 first-class matches of the 1906–07 season he was the only New Zealander to score a century. For Wellington against MCC he made 100 in just over two hours, with 16 fours, putting on 26 for the last wicket with Ernest Upham to reach his century and pass MCC's first-innings total.Evening Post, 27 December 1906, p. 3. Later that season he captained New Zealand in the second match against MCC after MCC had won the first match. On a difficult pitch, against hostile fast bowling by Johnny Douglas and Percy May, Williams made 72 not out in the second innings, the highest score of the match, putting on 107 for the fifth wicket with Alf Hadden. At one stage a blow to the elbow "disabled him for some minutes",The New Zealand Herald, 11 March 1907, p. 7. but he continued to play "an innings of outstanding courage and skill".R.T. Brittenden, Great Days in New Zealand Cricket, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1958, p. 31. He led New Zealand to victory by 56 runs.[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7210.html New Zealand v MCC, Wellington 1906–07]

When the cricket historian Tom Reese chose the best New Zealand team of all time in 1936, he named Williams as wicket-keeper.{{cite journal |title=The Best N.Z. Eleven: Mr. T. W. Reese's choice |journal=Press |date=3 April 1937 |page=3 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19370403.2.105}} Williams also "enjoyed a high reputation as a rifle shot and as a billiards player".Brittenden, p. 28.

Williams' first wife died in February 1903 after they had been married only 14 months.{{cite journal |title=[Untitled] |journal=Star |date=2 February 1903 |page=3 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19030202.2.30.2}} He died at Wellington in 1929 at the age of 59, survived by his second wife, Edith.Evening Post, 21 August 1929, p. 1.[https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/arnold-williams-38849 Arnold Williams], CricInfo. Retrieved 17 February 2024. An obituary was published in the 1930 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

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Category:1870 births

Category:1929 deaths

Category:People educated at Otago Boys' High School

Category:Cricketers from Swansea

Category:Otago cricketers

Category:Wellington cricketers

Category:New Zealand cricketers

Category:Pre-1930 New Zealand representative cricketers

Category:Welsh cricketers

Category:North Island cricketers

Category:Wicket-keepers