Dick Houston

{{short description|Australian cricketer and footballer (1863–1921)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=July 2015}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Dick Houston

| image = Richard Houston.png

| country =

| fullname = Richard Shinnock Houston

| birth_date = {{birth date|1863|6|30|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Brighton, Victoria, Australia

| death_date = {{death date and age|1921|11|27|1863|6|30|df=yes}}

| death_place = Williamstown, Victoria, Australia

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling =

| role = Batsman, occasional wicket-keeper, occasional bowler

| club1 = Victoria

| year1 = 1885-1898

| clubnumber1 =

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 23

| runs1 = 762

| bat avg1 = 20.05

| 100s/50s1 = 0/4

| top score1 = 72

| deliveries1 = 200

| wickets1 = 2

| bowl avg1 = 57.50

| fivefor1 = 0

| tenfor1 = 0

| best bowling1 = 1/13

| catches/stumpings1 = 17/0

| date = 21 January 2020

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5881.html Cricinfo

}}

Richard Shinnock Houston (30 June 1863 – 27 November 1921) was an Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer. He played 23 first-class cricket matches for Victoria between 1885 and 1898.{{Cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5881.html |title=Richard Houston |accessdate=24 July 2015 |work=ESPN Cricinfo}}

Dick Houston was a right-handed batsman who also sometimes bowled and kept wicket. He was an early exponent of the switch hit, changing suddenly from right-handed to left-handed in order to play the ball more effectively.{{cite journal |last1=J. W. |title=Curious Cricket Decision |journal=Australasian |date=6 December 1924 |page=31 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140766210}} His highest first-class score was 72, when he captained Victoria to victory over Tasmania in 1893–94.{{cite web |title=Victoria v Tasmania 1893-94 |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/4/4074.html |website=CricketArchive |accessdate=21 January 2020}} In the 1880s he won the batting average for North Melbourne for five consecutive seasons, including two seasons when he also won the bowling average.{{cite journal |title=Dick Houston Mourned |journal=Sporting Globe |date=6 September 1922 |page=10 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184798502}} He set a record for the Williamstown Cricket Club in 1902-03 when he scored 213 not out against Brighton.A. G. Moyes, Australian Cricket: A History, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1959, p. 39.

Houston was also an Australian rules footballer, playing 133 matches for North Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) between 1881 and 1890, and also playing three matches for St Kilda in 1889 when the team were short of players, before crossing to Geelong.{{cite web |title=Dick Houston |url=https://australianfootball.com/players/player/dick%2Bhouston/17767 |website=Australian Football |accessdate=21 January 2020}} From 1891 to his retirement from football in 1894, he was the caretaker at Corio Oval in Geelong, and also captained both the Geelong cricket and football teams.{{cite journal |title=Late "Dick" Houston |journal=Geelong Advertiser |date=6 December 1921 |page=4 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/19586065}} He played 71 matches with Geelong, for a career total of 207 VFA matches.

Houston and his wife Marion had four children. At the time of his death, he was the caretaker of the Williamstown Cricket Ground, where he died, aged 58.{{cite journal |title=A Cricketer's Demise |journal=Williamstown Chronicle |date=3 December 1921 |page=2 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69513566}}{{cite journal |title=Deaths |journal=Argus |date=3 December 1921 |page=17 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4616265}}