Ronald Henry Fox MC (23 January 1880 – 27 August 1952) was a New Zealand cricketer and British army officer.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Ronald Henry Fox | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 January 1880 Dunedin, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 27 August 1952 (aged 72) Bloxham, Oxfordshire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicketkeeper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 20 November 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ronald Fox was born in Dunedin. His father worked for the Bank of New Zealand in the nearby town of Milton.[1] After attending Haileybury and Imperial Service College in England from 1893 to 1898,[2][3] he played club cricket in England, usually as a wicketkeeper, including a few games for Kent Second XI.[4] He had played only four first-class matches for various teams between 1904 and 1906 when he was selected in the Marylebone Cricket Club side that toured New Zealand in 1906–07.[5]
Fox played 10 of the 11 first-class matches on the tour, including the two unofficial Tests against New Zealand at the end of the tour. He made his highest first-class score in the second match against Otago, when he made 54 and put on 134 for the opening partnership with Peter Randall Johnson.[6]
He continued to play for MCC in England until the First World War. He served as a captain in the Royal Field Artillery from 1914 to 1919. He was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in despatches.[3]
In 1927, when the New Zealand cricket team were touring England for the first time, they invited him to play in one of their first-class matches.[7] Aged 47, and 17 years after his previous first-class match, he opened the batting and made 4. The New Zealanders nevertheless beat the Civil Service cricket team, who were playing what turned out to be their only first-class match, by an innings.[8]
References
edit- ^ "Omnium Gatherum". Otago Daily Times. No. 11809. 11 August 1900. p. 12.
- ^ Wisden 1953, p. 940.
- ^ a b "MC – Haileybury 1862–1912". Haileybury. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ "Miscellaneous matches played by Ronald Fox". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ "First-class matches played by Ronald Fox". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ "Otago v MCC 1906-07". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ Don Neely & Richard Payne, Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985, Moa, Auckland, 1986, p. 85.
- ^ "Civil Service v New Zealanders 1927". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 November 2017.