Richard Whitington

Richard Smallpeice "Dick" Whitington (30 June 1912 – 13 March 1984) was an Australian first-class cricketer who played for South Australia and after serving in World War II, represented the Australian Services cricket team, which played in the Victory Tests. He became a journalist, writing as R. S. Whitington.

For similarly-named people, see Richard Whittington (disambiguation).

Richard Whitington
Whitington in 1945
Personal information
Full nameRichard Smallpeice Whitington
Born(1912-06-30)30 June 1912
Unley Park, South Australia
Died13 March 1984(1984-03-13) (aged 71)
Sydney, Australia
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
BattingRight-handed
RoleBatsman
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1932/33 – 1939/40South Australia
First-class debut4 November 1932 South Australia v England (MCC)
Last First-class21 January 1946 Australian Services XI v Queensland
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 54
Runs scored 2782
Batting average 32.34
100s/50s 4/14
Top score 155
Balls bowled 128
Wickets 1
Bowling average 91.00
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 1/4
Catches/stumpings 32/–
Source: CricketArchive, 3 June 2009

Early life

Whitington was born in the Adelaide suburb of Unley Park, the younger son of businessman Guy Whitington (c. 1880 – 5 February 1954)[1] and a member of the distinguished Whitington family of South Australia. He attended Scotch College, Adelaide, before studying law at the University of Adelaide and becoming a lawyer.[2]

He married Alison Margaret "Peggy" Dale on 19 December 1939; they divorced in 1942. He served in the Middle East as a captain with the 2/27th Battalion of the Second AIF.[3]

Cricket career

Whitington began his state cricketing career for South Australia at the age of 20 in November 1932 under the captaincy of Victor Richardson as an opening batsman. He was a regular member of the South Australian side until World War II, playing 36 matches and scoring 1728 runs at an average of 30.85, with three centuries.[4] His highest score for South Australia was 125, which he scored twice against Queensland: in 1936–37, batting at number three, he was the highest scorer in a match that South Australia won by 112 runs;[5] in 1938–39, opening, he put on 197 for the first wicket with Ken Ridings in a ten-wicket victory.[6]

He resumed his first-class career after his war service, taking part in the Australian Services tour of England in 1945, the tour of Ceylon and India, and the short tour of Australia. He played 18 matches on the three tours, scoring 1054 runs at an average of 35.13.[4] He scored one century, 155, in the second of the three matches against an Indian XI: opening, he put on 218 in 175 minutes for the second wicket with Jack Pettiford.[7] In his final first-class match, the last match of the tour, he made 84, the Services XI's top score, in the draw against Queensland.[8]

Journalism

Whitington was a prominent journalist and writer, usually writing as "R. S. Whitington", and he balanced this work with his playing career until his retirement. He was known for his collaborations with Services XI teammate Keith Miller; the pair wrote many books together. Whitington wrote for the Sydney Sun. He was sports editor and roving Test reporter for Consolidated Press, owned and managed by the Packer family. For five years, from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, he worked in South Africa. He wrote numerous books on cricket, many of them prefaced by Sir Robert Menzies, and in later years, the official biography of Sir Frank Packer, and a history of Australian cricket.

Books

With Keith Miller
  • Cricket Caravan (1950)
  • Catch: An Account of Two Cricket Tours (1951)
  • Straight Hit (1952)
  • Bumper (1953)
  • Gods or Flannelled Fools? (1954)
  • Cricket Typhoon (1955)
  • A Keith Miller Companion: A Selection from Cricket Caravan, Catch, Straight Hit & Bumper (1955)

With other collaborators

On his own
  • John Reid's Kiwis: New Zealand Cricketers in South Africa, 1961–62 (1962)
  • Bradman, Benaud and Goddard's Cinderellas (1964)
  • Simpson's Safari: South African Test Series 1966–7 (1967)
  • Fours Galore: The West Indians and Their Tour of Australia 1968–69 (1969)
  • The Quiet Australian: The Lindsay Hassett Story (1969)
  • Time of the Tiger: The Bill O'Reilly Story (1970)
  • Sir Frank: The Frank Packer Story (1971)
  • An Illustrated History of Australian Cricket (1972)
  • Captains Outrageous? Cricket in the Seventies (1972)
  • The Courage Book of Australian Test Cricket, 1877–1974 (1974)
  • Great Moments in Australian Sport (1974)
  • An Illustrated History of Australian Tennis (1974)
  • The Champions (1976)
  • The Datsun Book of Australian Test Cricket, 1877–1981 (1981)
  • Keith Miller, the Golden Nugget (1981)
  • Australians Abroad: Australia's Overseas Test Tours (1983)

References
  1. "Death of Mr. Guy Whitington". The Advertiser. Adelaide. 9 February 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 4 November 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 584.
  3. "Whitington, Richard Smallpeice". Department of Veterans' Affairs. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  4. "First-class batting and fielding for each team by Richard Whitington". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  5. "South Australia v Queensland 1936–37". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  6. "Queensland v South Australia 1936–37". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  7. "Indian XI v Australian Services 1945–46". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  8. "Queensland v Australian Services 1945–46". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
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