Claude Hickson

{{short description|New Zealand cricketer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date= January 2018}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Claude Hickson

| image = File:Claude Hickson, Free Lance 30 Oct 1909.jpg

| caption = 1909 portrait of Claude Hickson

| country = New Zealand

| fullname = Henry Claude Hickson

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1878|9|4|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Wellington, New Zealand

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1948|7|15|1878|9|4|df=yes}}

| death_place = Wellington, New Zealand

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling =

| family =

| club1 = Wellington

| year1 = {{nowrap|1898/99–1911/12}}

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 25

| runs1 = 973

| bat avg1 = 21.62

| 100s/50s1 = 1/2

| top score1 = 135

| deliveries1 = 432

| wickets1 = 10

| bowl avg1 = 22.50

| fivefor1 = 1

| tenfor1 = 0

| best bowling1 = 7/56

| catches/stumpings1= 26/–

| date = 23 January

| year = 2018

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/bangladesh/content/player/37388.html Cricinfo

}}

Henry Claude Hickson (4 September 1878 – 15 July 1948) was a New Zealand cricketer who played first-class cricket for Wellington from 1898 to 1912, and represented New Zealand in the days before New Zealand played Test cricket.

A batsman who sometimes opened the innings, Claude Hickson was described in 1899 as a steady batsman with a "splendid defence ... a veritable heart-breaker to the opposing trundlers" and a "capital field in the slips".{{cite news |work= Evening Post |date=20 December 1899| page=7 | title= Our representative team|url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP18991220.2.58| accessdate=23 August 2018}} He was selected to play for New Zealand against Lord Hawke's English team in 1902-03 after scoring 73 and 20 for Wellington against them. However, he was not successful, and New Zealand lost heavily.{{cite web | url=http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1900S/1902-03/LORD-HAWKES-XI_IN_NZ/LORD-HAWKES-XI_NZ_27FEB-02MAR1903.html | title=New Zealand v Lord Hawke's XI 1902-03 (I) | publisher=ESPNcricinfo | accessdate=23 January 2018}}

In 1904-05 Hickson again performed well against the touring team, scoring 56 not out in Wellington's second innings to play the leading part in saving the match against the touring Australians.{{cite web | url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/131/131817.html| title=Wellington v Australians 1904-05 | publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=23 January 2018}} He played in the second of New Zealand's two matches against the Australians, but again without success.Don Neely & Richard Payne, Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985, Moa, Auckland, 1986, p. 46.

Hickson made his only first-class century a year later when he scored a chanceless 135 against Auckland. "No chance could be urged against him, and he batted with a welcome freedom that ought to encourage him to abandon his somewhat precise methods in future." Wellington won by 214 runs.{{cite news | work=New Zealand Herald | date=15 January 1906 | page=6 | title= Interprovincial Cricket| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19060115.2.58| access-date=23 January 2018}}{{cite web | url = http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1900S/1905-06/NZ_LOCAL/WELL_AUCK_12-15JAN1906.html| title = Wellington v Auckland 1905-06| publisher = Cricinfo | accessdate =23 January 2018}}

Hickson was also a prominent hockey player who captained the Wellington representative team.{{cite news | work=New Zealand Free Lance | date=12 June 1909 | page=11 | title= Hockey Notes| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/free-lance/1909/6/12/9| accessdate=23 January 2018}} He worked for the Pensions Department in Wellington.{{cite news | work=Manawatu Times | date=5 December 1925 | page=8 | title= Personal Paragraphs| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19251205.2.28| access-date=23 January 2018}}