Vic Richardson

{{Other people|Victor Richardson|Victor Richardson (disambiguation){{!}}Victor Richardson}}

{{Infobox cricketer |

name = Vic Richardson |

image = VicRichardsonSigned.jpg |

country = Australia |

fullname = Victor York Richardson |

nickname = The Guardsman, Yorker |

birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|09|7|df=yes}}|

birth_place = Parkside, South Australia|

death_date = {{Death date and age|1969|10|30|1894|09|7|df=yes}}|

death_place = Fullarton, South Australia|

family = Ian Chappell (grandson)
Greg Chappell (grandson)
Trevor Chappell (grandson)|

heightm = 1.83|

batting = Right-handed|

bowling = Right-arm medium|

role = Batsman|

international = true |

testdebutdate = 19 December|

testdebutyear = 1924|

testdebutagainst = England|

testcap = 119|

lasttestdate = 3 March|

lasttestyear = 1936|

lasttestagainst = South Africa|

club1 = South Australia|

year1 = {{nowrap|1918/29–1937/38}}|

deliveries = |

columns = 2|

column1 = Test|

matches1 = 19|

runs1 = 706|

bat avg1 = 23.53|

100s/50s1 = 1/1|

top score1 = 138|

deliveries1 = –|

wickets1 = –|

bowl avg1 = –|

fivefor1 = –|

tenfor1 = –|

best bowling1 = –|

catches/stumpings1 = 24/0|

column2 = First-class|

matches2 = 184|

runs2 = 10,727|

bat avg2 = 37.63|

100s/50s2 = 27/47|

top score2 = 231|

deliveries2 = 811|

wickets2 = 8|

bowl avg2 = 68.12|

fivefor2 = 0|

tenfor2 = 0|

best bowling2 = 3/22|

catches/stumpings2 = 211/4|

date = 15 January|

year = 2008|

source = http://content-www.cricinfo.com/australia/content/player/7346.html CricInfo

}}

Victor York "Yorker" Richardson {{post-nominals|country=AUS|OBE}} (7 September 1894{{spaced ndash}}30 October 1969), nicknamed The Guardsman, was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australia cricket team and the South Australia Australian rules football team, representing Australia in baseball and South Australia in golf, winning the South Australian state tennis title and also being a leading local player in lacrosse, basketball and swimming.

Richardson won the South Australian National Football League's highest individual honour, the Magarey Medal, while captain-coach of Sturt in 1920.

Early life and education

Victor York Richardson was born on 7 September 1894 in Parkside, South Australia, the son of Valentine Yaxley Richardson, who worked as an accountant and painter and decorator, and Rebecca Mary Richardson (née Malloney). He grew up in the Unley area and attended Kyre (later Scotch) College. Naturally athletic, he played many sports, including gymnastics, basketball, cricket, baseball, lacrosse, and Australian rules football.

He worked in the South Australian public service.Gibbs, RM, "[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/richardson-victor-york-8205 Richardson, Victor York (1894–1969)]", Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1988.

Cricket career

Richardson is most famous for his contribution to cricket, representing Australia in 19 Test matches between 1924 and 1936, including five as captain in the 1935–36 tour of South Africa.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

A talented right-handed batsman and rated the best fielder in the world,Sydney Morning Herald, "Vic Richardson dies at 75", 31 October 1969, p. 12. Richardson made his first-class debut for South Australia in the 1918–19 season. In a career that lasted twenty years, he played 184 matches for Australia and South Australia, scoring 10,724 runs, including 27 centuries and averaging 37.63. He took 211 catches (at an average of 1.15 catches per match) and even completed four stumpings as a stand-in wicketkeeper.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

Richardson was Australian vice-captain for the 1932–33 English tour of Australia, known as the Bodyline series for England's tactics of bowling fast short-pitched deliveries at the batsmen's bodies. During the Adelaide Test, English manager Pelham Warner came to the Australian dressing seeking an apology from the player who called Harold Larwood a bastard. Richardson, who had answered the knock on the dressing room door turned to his teammates and asked "Which one of you blokes mistook Larwood for that bastard [Douglas] Jardine?"{{cite book |last1=Fingleton |first1=J.H. |title=Cricket Crisis |date=1947 |publisher=Cassell and Company Ltd |edition=1st}}{{cite news| title=The Ashes 2010: sledging part and parcel of England v Australia battles | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/theashes/8221316/The-Ashes-2010-sledging-part-and-parcel-of-England-v-Australia-battles.html | work=The Daily Telegraph| date=23 December 2010| access-date=12 January 2011}}

Richardson played his final Test against South Africa at Durban on 28 February 1936, aged 41 years 178 days. Only ten Australians have played Test cricket at an older age.{{cite news| title=Oldest players| url=http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283722.html|work=Cricinfo| access-date=10 January 2011}} He took five catches in the second innings, setting a Test record that has never been beaten and was not equalled until Yajurvindra Singh took five in 1976–77.Wisden 2007, p. 365.{{cite web|title=5th Test, Australia tour of South Africa at Durban, Feb 28-Mar 3 1936|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17554/scorecard/62637/South-Africa-vs-Australia-5th-Test-australia-in-south-africa-test-series/|website=Cricinfo|access-date=5 November 2017}}

Following his retirement from cricket, Richardson was appointed South Australian coach in September 1949, replacing Arthur Richardson (no relation).The Advertiser (Adelaide), "New State Coach", 9 September 1949, p. 15

Australian rules football career

Richardson made his senior Australian rules football debut for Sturt Football Club in the South Australian National Football League in 1915 and in a career interrupted by World War I, played 114 games for Sturt, kicking 23 goals.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

114 games and 23 goals for Sturt 1915, 1919–1920, 1922–1924, 1926–1927
Captain of Sturt 1920, 1922–1924
Member of premiership teams for Sturt 1915, 1919 and 1926
10 games for South Australia
State Captain 1923
Magarey Medal 1920{{cn|date=August 2024}}
Best and Fairest for Sturt 1922, 1923
Coach of Sturt 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924

Other sports

Richardson was a gifted sportsman and excelled in other sports besides cricket and Australian rules football, including baseball (national and state representative), golf (state representative), tennis (state title winner), lacrosse, basketball, and swimming.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

Media career

After retiring from first-class cricket he went on to become a respected radio commentator, forging a partnership with renowned former English Test captain Arthur Gilligan.{{cite dictionary| title=Richardson, Victor York (1894–1969)| chapter=Victor York Richardson (1894–1969)| publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University| url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110395b.htm|dictionary=Australian Dictionary of Biography| access-date=28 October 2010}}

Political aspirations

In March 1949 Richardson announced that he would seek Liberal and Country League pre-selection for the new federal Division of Kingston, situated in Adelaide's south.The News, "Vic Richardson to seek L.C.L. endorsement", 21 March 1949, p. 1. At the time Richardson lived on Richmond Road, Westbourne Park, which was located in the electorate.

Personal life

On 29 January 1919 Victor Richardson married Vida Yvonne Knapman, daughter of hotelier Alf Knapman (1867–1918).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63760661 |title=Richardson—Knapman |newspaper=The Mail |location=Adelaide |date=1 March 1919 |access-date=2 May 2015 |page=11 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} She died on 25 September 1940; they had one son and three daughters.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78102943 |title=Personal |newspaper=The Border Watch|location=Mount Gambier, SA |date=26 September 1940 |access-date=2 May 2015 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

He was a grandfather to three future Australian Test cricketers Ian Chappell, Greg Chappell (who both also captained Australia at Test level) and Trevor Chappell.

Recognition and honours

Richardson was awarded the Magarey Medal in 1920.{{cite web| title=Victor Y. Richardson| url=https://sanfl.com.au/history/hall-of-fame/victor-y-richardson/|publisher=Hall of Fame - SANFL| date=2003-08-19| access-date=26 December 2024}}

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 10 June 1954 for his services to cricket, including his presidency of the Country Carnival Cricket Association.{{cite news| title=Richardson, Victor York| url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1108055|publisher=It's an Honour| date=1954-06-10| access-date=23 December 2009}}

The Victor Richardson Gates, erected in 1967 at the south-eastern entrance of Adelaide Oval, and the road leading to them, were named after him{{cite web | title=Victor Richardson Gates | website=SA History Hub | date=1 September 2014|first1= Jude |last1=Elton |first2= Bernard| last2= O'Neil| publisher= History Trust of South Australia | url=https://sahistoryhub.history.sa.gov.au/things/victor-richardson-gates | access-date=3 August 2024}} by the South Australian Cricket Association.Richardson, inside back cover.

References

=Source=

{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=Victor|year=1968|title=The Vic Richardson Story|publisher=Angus & Robertson |location=London}}

External links

{{cricinfo|id=7346}}
[https://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerOverview.asp?PlayerID=1478 HowSTAT! statistical profile of Vic Richardson]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060820134410/http://www.sanfl.com.au/default.aspx?s=historydisplay&aid=98180 SANFL Hall of Fame]

{{succession box |

before=Bill Woodfull |

title=Australian Test cricket captains |

years=1935/6 |

after=Don Bradman |

}}