Dirkie de Villiers

Dirk Isaac de Villiers (20 July 1889 – 1 October 1958) was a South African rugby union international and first-class cricketer active in the 1910s and 1920s. He was a lawyer by profession.

Dirkie de Villiers
Personal information
Full name
Dirk Isaac de Villiers
Born(1889-07-20)20 July 1889
Wellington, Cape Province, South Africa
Died1 October 1958(1958-10-01) (aged 69)
Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1912–1913Western Province
1920–1925Orange Free State
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 20
Runs scored 1364
Batting average 41.33
100s/50s 3/7
Top score 200*
Balls bowled 1727
Wickets 29
Bowling average 32.79
5 wickets in innings 1
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 5-44
Catches/stumpings 18/–

Biography

Born into a musical family in Wellington, de Villiers is the son of music institute founders Dirk and Tina de Villiers. His elder brother, the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers, composed Die Stem van Suid-Afrika, which used to be the national anthem of South Africa. Dirkie himself was said to be an accomplished violinist.[1]

A Cambridge-educated lawyer, de Villiers gained blues in rugby and was capped in three Test matches for the Springboks as a centre in the 1910 British Lions tour, scoring a try on debut.[2] As a cricketer, de Villiers was an all-rounder and played at first-class level for Western Province and Orange Free State, the latter after the war. His best score of 200 not out, against Border in the 1923/24 season, was a then record for Orange Free State.[1]

See also

References
  1. Green, Michael (2004). Around and about: Memoirs of a South African Newspaperman. New Africa Books. p. 58. ISBN 9780864866608.
  2. Schoeman, Chris; McLennan, David (15 August 2021). Lions in Africa: The British & Irish Lions and the Hunt for the Springboks. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 1398108294.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.