Ray Watson-Smith

Ray Watson-Smith
Personal information
Full name Raymond Watson-Smith
Born (1940-02-20) 20 February 1940
Mowbray, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm medium-pace
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1969-70 Border
Career statistics
Competition FC List A
Matches 5 1
Runs scored 444 47
Batting average 88.80 47.00
100s/50s 2/1 0/0
Top score 183* 47
Balls bowled 12 0
Wickets 0 –
Bowling average – –
5 wickets in innings – –
10 wickets in match – –
Best bowling – –
Catches/stumpings 4/– 3/–
Source: CricketArchive, 9 July 2016

Raymond Watson-Smith (born 20 February 1940) is a former South African cricketer. Playing for Border in 1969-70, he scored a not-out century in each of his first two first-class matches, and reached 310 runs before being dismissed.

Cricket career

Ray Watson-Smith made his first-class debut for Border against Orange Free State in November 1969 in the B Section of the Currie Cup. In a drawn match in Bloemfontein, in which 1258 runs were scored in three days for the loss of only 17 wickets, Watson-Smith, batting at number seven, scored 183 not out, the highest of five centuries in the match.[1] In the next match, against Griqualand West in East London two weeks later, he batted at number six and made 125 not out in 145 minutes. Border won by an innings.[2] He was finally dismissed for the first time in the next match against Natal B, when he made 2 and 19, and Border lost by an innings.[3] In the fourth and last match of the Currie Cup season he made 25 and 53 not out in a draw with North Eastern Transvaal.[4]

He finished the Currie Cup season at the top of the competition's batting averages, with 407 runs at an average of 135.66.[5] He then played for Border against the Australians, scoring 28 and 9.[6] At the end of the season he played one match in South Africa's first List A cricket tournament, top-scoring with 47 in a losing Border team.[7]

His captain at Border, Gordon Minkley, said Watson-Smith was a talented player but "He hit a lot of balls in the air and I think the word quickly got around among the other teams." Watson-Smith moved away from Border after the 1969-70 season and played no further first-class cricket.[8]

Watson-Smith's 310 career runs before being dismissed remained a world record until 2015, when the Victorian batsman Travis Dean made 347 runs before being dismissed. Dean was dismissed in his second first-class match.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Orange Free State v Border 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  2. ↑ "Border v Griqualand West 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "Natal B v Border 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Border v North Eastern Transvaal 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "Batting and fielding in Currie Cup 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Border v Australians 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "RG Pollock's XI v GA Minkley's XI 1969-70". CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  8. ↑ Colin Bryden, All-Rounder: The Buster Farrer Story, Aloe Publishing, Kidd's Beach, 2013, pp. 103-104.
  9. ↑ "Sheffield Shield: Victoria captain Matthew Wade and WA all-rounder Hilton Cartwright on opening day". Daily Telegraph. 14 November 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
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