Tal Austin
{{short description|New Zealand cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox rugby biography
| name = Tal Austin
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Thomas Talbert Leon Austin
| birth_date = {{birth date|1857|3|9|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Melbourne, Colony of Victoria
| death_date = {{death date and age|1941|2|11|1857|3|9|df=yes}}
| death_place = Russell, New Zealand
| height =
| weight =
| ru_position = Forward
| ru_province = {{Rut|Otago}}
| ru_provinceyears = 1879–1883
| ru_provincecaps = 5
| ru_provincepoints =
| spouse = {{marriage|Clara Bertha Westwood|1893}}
| relatives = Gerald Austin (brother)
| occupation = Warehouseman, orchardist
| school = Otago Boys' High School
| module = {{Infobox cricketer |embed = yes
| batting =
| bowling =
| role = All-rounder
| club1 = Otago
| year1 = {{nowrap|1877/78–1888/89}}
| columns = 1
| column1 = First-class
| matches1 = 9
| runs1 = 186
| bat avg1 = 12.40
| 100s/50s1 = 0/0
| top score1 = 36
| deliveries1 = 862
| wickets1 = 17
| bowl avg1 = 17.82
| fivefor1 = 1
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 6/63
| catches/stumpings1 = 5/–
| date = 29 January
| year = 2021
| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/21/21367/21367.html CricketArchive
}}
}}
Thomas Talbert Leon Austin (9 March 1857 – 11 February 1941), commonly known as Tal Austin, was a New Zealand cricketer and rugby union player. He played nine first-class cricket matches for the Otago cricket team, including one as captain, between 1878 and 1889, and made five appearances for the {{Rut|Otago}} rugby union team between 1879 and 1883.
Biography
Born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 9 March 1857,{{Cricinfo|id=36276|name=Thomas Austin|access-date=29 January 2021}} Austin was from a well-known cricketing family in Dunedin.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19470724.2.48 |title=Death of Mr E. J. Austin, well-known cricketer |date=24 July 1947 |work=Evening Star |page=6 |access-date=29 January 2021}} Along with his three brothers—Gerry, Ernest James ("Tern"), and Bob—he was a member of the Carisbrook cricket club in Dunedin for many years from the early 1870s. He moved with his family to Dunedin while a young boy, but was sent to school in Hobart, Tasmania, before completing his education at Otago Boys' High School.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19410215.2.88 |title=Obituary: Mr T. T. L. Austin |date=15 February 1941 |work=Evening Star |page=12 |access-date=29 January 2021}}
Remembered as a "fine all-round player",{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19420102.2.59 |title=Cricket: notes and comments |date=2 January 1942 |work=Evening Star |page=8 |access-date=29 January 2021}} Austin made his cricketing debut for Otago playing against the touring England side in 1877. The following year, he was a member of the Otago XXII that played out a draw against the visiting Australian team at the Caledonian Ground. During a career that stretched over 12 seasons from 1877/78 to 1888/89, Austin played nine first-class matches for Otago, scoring a total of 186 runs, at an average of 12.40 and with a high score of 36. As a bowler, he took 17 wickets, with an average of 17.82 and best bowling figures of 6 for 63. In the field, he took five catches. Austin captained the Otago side in one first-class match, against Canterbury at Carisbrook in the 1885/86 season,{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18851230.2.17 |title=Cricket: Canterbury v. Otago |date=30 December 1885 |work=Otago Daily Times |page=3 |access-date=30 January 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/3/3037.html |title=Otago v Canterbury: first-class matches in New Zealand 1885/86 |website=CricketArchive |access-date=30 January 2021}} and played as wicket-keeper in the first innings of a first-class game against Canterbury in 1883/84, taking three catches.{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/2/2786.html |title=Otago v Canterbury: other first-class matches in New Zealand 1883/84 |website=CricketArchive |access-date=30 January 2021}}
Austin was a member of the Dunedin Rugby Football Club, and played five matches as a forward for the Otago provincial team from 1879 to 1883.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19410405.2.103 |title=Obituary: Mr T. T. L. Austin |date=5 April 1941 |work=Nelson Evening Mail |page=7 |access-date=29 January 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18820923.2.17 |title=The football tour |date=23 September 1882 |work=Evening Star |page=2 |access-date=29 January 2021}}
On 15 November 1893, Austin married Clara Bertha Westwood at St Mark's Church, in the Auckland suburb of Remuera.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18931201.2.47 |title=Marriages |date=1 December 1893 |work=Auckland Star |page=4 |access-date=29 January 2021}} After working as a warehouseman in Dunedin, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for many years, in 1911 Austin took up a {{convert|20|acre|ha|0|adj=on}} block at Tasman, between Māpua and Motueka, and planted {{convert|15|acre|ha|0}} of apple and pear trees in the first year.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19120224.2.117.1 |title=Breaking in a waste |date=24 February 1912 |work=The Dominion |page=15 |access-date=29 January 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TC19130415.2.33.2 |title=Tasman |date=15 April 1913 |work=The Colonist |page=6 |access-date=29 January 2021}} He was the inaugural president of the Hills Fruitgrowers' Union, and a founding member and secretary of the Bluffs Fruitgrowers' Company Limited.
Austin died at his daughter's home in Russell on 11 February 1941, and he was buried at Russell Cemetery. His wife, Clara, died in 1954.{{cite web |url=https://webdata.fndc.govt.nz/OC_Cemetery/CRinterredHTML.php?warrant=2908 |title=Record of interment |publisher=Far North District Council |access-date=29 January 2021}}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Tal}}
Category:Cricketers from Melbourne
Category:Australian emigrants to New Zealand
Category:People educated at Otago Boys' High School
Category:New Zealand cricketers
Category:New Zealand rugby union players
Category:Otago rugby union players
Category:New Zealand orchardists