David Ashby (cricketer)
{{short description|English-born New Zealand cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = David Ashby
| image = File:David A Ashby of Canterbury.gif
| caption =
| imagesize = 160px
| country =
| fullname = David Alexander Ashby
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1852|6|11|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Beddington, Surrey, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1934|6|2|1852|6|11|df=yes}}
| death_place = Christchurch, New Zealand
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Right-arm fast-medium
| family =
| club1 = Surrey
| year1 = 1874
| club2 = Canterbury
| year2 = 1875-76 to 1889-90
| columns = 1
| column1 = First-class
| matches1 = 17
| runs1 = 468
| bat avg1 = 17.33
| 100s/50s1 = 0/2
| top score1 = 59
| deliveries1 = 1894
| wickets1 = 53
| bowl avg1 = 11.05
| fivefor1 = 4
| tenfor1 = 1
| best bowling1 = 6/27
| catches/stumpings1= 12/0
| date = 20 February 2017
| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/21356/21356.html CricketArchive
}}
David Alexander Ashby (11 June 1852 – 2 June 1934) was an English-born cricketer who played first-class cricket for Surrey in England in 1874, and Canterbury in New Zealand from 1876 to 1890.
Life and career
Ashby was born in Surrey and played for the county in 1873 and 1874. He moved to New Zealand, arriving in 1875, and took a job at a Christchurch flour mill operated by William Wood, where he worked for the next 50 years.{{cite journal|last1=Croudy|first1=Brian|title=Some Early New Zealand Identities|url=https://archive.acscricket.com/journals/52/8/index.html|journal=The Cricket Statistician|date=1985|issue=52|pages= 6–9|accessdate=26 February 2017}} He became a regular member of the Canterbury team.
An all-rounder who batted at various positions in the order and opened the bowling, he played a major part in Canterbury's spectacular victory over Auckland at the Auckland Domain ground in 1877-78. Canterbury batted first and made 93 (Ashby 12), Auckland replied with 135 (Ashby 4 for 42), and Canterbury made 163 in their second innings (Ashby 32, the second-highest score in the match). Auckland needed 122 to win, but Ashby took 5 for 2, he and Billy Frith (3 for 3) skittling Auckland for 13, a total that included eight byes.{{cite web | url =https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/2/2157.html| title = Auckland v Canterbury 1877-78| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 26 February 2017}}{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=2 June 1934 | page=5 | title= Old Cricketer Dead| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19340602.2.17| volume=CXXVII | issue=129}}{{cite journal |title=Veteran Cricketers' Record made in 1878 is Still Unbroken |journal=Star |date=3 December 1932 |page=17 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19321203.2.129}}
Ashby was a member of the Canterbury side that inflicted the only defeat on the touring Australian team in 1877-78. A month later he took his best bowling figures, 6 for 27 (all bowled) in Canterbury's annual match against Otago, at the South Dunedin Recreation Ground.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/2/2158.html| title = Otago v Canterbury 1877-78| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 26 February 2017}} He made his highest first-class score in 1879-80 at Dunedin's Caledonian Ground. Captaining the side, he won the toss and batted, and scored 59 out of Canterbury's total of 190. He hit one ball out of the ground; the stroke was later measured at 130 yards.{{cite journal|last1=Fowke|first1=Johnny|title=Reminiscences of the Sporting World|journal=Star|date=10 February 1920|issue=19869|page= 4|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19200210.2.21|accessdate=15 March 2017}} He and Billy Frith's brother Charlie then bowled Otago out for 105 and 99, and Canterbury won by nine wickets.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/2/2339.html| title = Otago v Canterbury 1879-80| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 26 February 2017}}
He took part in New Zealand's first overseas cricket tour, when Canterbury visited Victoria and Tasmania in 1878-79 and played several non-first-class matches.The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 383.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/21/21356/Miscellaneous_Matches.html| title =Miscellaneous Matches played by David Ashby| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 26 February 2017}} After his playing career ended he became an umpire, standing in a first-class match in Christchurch in 1901.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/21/21356/Umpire_in_First-Class_Matches.html| title = David Ashby as umpire in first-class matches | publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 26 February 2017}} He was one of the 14 players chosen in 1927 by the New Zealand cricket historian Tom Reese as the best New Zealand cricketers before the First World War.{{cite journal |title=New Zealand Cricket: Mr. T. W. Reese's book |journal=Otago Daily Times |date=8 April 1927 |page=3 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19270408.2.10}}
Ashby and his wife Mary Jane (née Haddrell), whom he married in Christchurch in April 1882,{{cite journal |title=Marriage |journal=Lyttelton Times |date=8 May 1882 |page=4 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18820508.2.15}} had a son and three daughters.{{cite news | work=Press | date=4 June 1934 | page=6 | title= Mr David Ashby| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19340604.2.41| volume=LXX| issue=21181}} They lived in the Christchurch suburb of Riccarton. At his funeral all the pall-bearers were employees of Wood Brothers flour mill.{{cite news | work=Press | date=5 June 1934 | page=14 | title= Mr D. A. Ashby| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19340605.2.111| volume=LXX| issue=21182}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cricketarchive|id=21356}}
- {{cricinfo|id=36264}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashby, David}}
Category:Canterbury cricketers
Category:English emigrants to New Zealand
Category:Surrey Club cricketers