Thomas Leather
Thomas William Leather (2 June 1910 – 10 May 1991) was an Australian first-class cricketer who represented Victoria. He also played Australian rules football with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Thomas William Leather | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 June 1910 Rutherglen, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 May 1991 (aged 80) Prahran, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast-medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1933/34–1934/35 | Victoria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 8 October 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Family
Thomas William Leather was born at Rutherglen, Scotland on 2 June 1910.[1]
He married Edith Dorothy Ponsford (1904–1984), the sister of Bill Ponsford in 1939.[2] They had two children; a daughter and a son. Their son, John Ponsford Leather, died suddenly in 1950, at the age of seven.[3]
Education
He attended Caulfield Grammar School in 1925 and 1926.[4][5]
Football
North Melbourne (VFL)
Leather played 16 games and kicked 11 goals for North Melbourne in a brief career which encompassed the 1932 and 1933 VFL seasons.
Williamstown (VFA)
Granted a permit by the VFA to transfer from St Kilda to Williamstown on 12 April 1939,[6] he played in 8 games for the Williamstown Football Club, in the VFA, in 1939.[7][8]
Cricket
He appeared in four first-class cricket matches for Victoria in 1934 and 1935, taking 14 wickets at 26.07. On the back of these performances, he was picked to tour Ceylon and India with the Australian cricket team in 1935–36. Australia's Test team was touring South Africa at the time so this was a second string side. As a result, the matches against India, which Leather took part in, were given first-class status but were not Test matches.
After going wicket-less in their match against Ceylon, Leather went to India and played in all four 'Tests'. He took 21 wickets in those matches, taking five wicket hauls in Calcutta and Lahore to finish the Indian tour with an impressive 47 first-class wickets at 17.25. This made him Australia's most successful bowler for the tour after Frederick Mair and Ron Oxenham.[9]
Although Leather was only 25 when he returned to Australia, he played just one more first-class match in his career. This was for the Don Bradman's XI in the Bardsley-Gregory Testimonial Match against the Victor Richardson's XI at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[10][11][12]
Military service
He enlisted in the Second AIF on 4 June 1940, and was discharged on the grounds of "being medically unfit for service not occasioned by his own defaults" on 6 August 1940.[13]
Footnote
- [https://collection.australiansportsmuseum.org.au/persons/8072/tom-leather Tom Leather Australian Sports Museum
- Cricket Romance: Indian Tour Bowler to Wed Ponsford's Sister, The Herald, (Monday, 26 August 1935), p.1.
- Deaths: Leather, The Herald, (Tuesday, 24 October 1950), p.8.
- Webber (1981), p.302.
- Wilkinson (1997), p.84.
- South's Ban on Faul Disegarded, The Argus, (Thursday, 13 April 1939), p.20.
- Cricketer to Play, The Argus, (Wednesday, 15 March 1939), p,28.
- Good Recruits at V.F.A. Practice: Williamstown, The Dporting Globe, (Saturday, 1 April 1939), p.4.
- "First-class Bowling for Australians in India 1935/36". CricketArchive.
- "DG Bradman's XI v VY Richardson's XI 1936/37". CricketArchive.
- Bardsley-Gregory Testimonial Match, The (Wagga) Daily Advertiser, (Friday, 9 October 1936), p.8.
- 'Rambler', "Frenzied Batting Display in Testimonial Game", The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 14 October 1936), p.8.
- Tom Leather Enlists, The Herald, (Monday, 3 June 1940), p.10.
References
- A Speedy Scot: Leather's Good Bowling, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 4 February 1933), p.3.
- Webber, Horace (1981). Years May Pass On... Caulfield Grammar School, 1881–1981. Centenary Committee, Caulfield Grammar School, (East St Kilda). ISBN 0-9594242-0-2.
- Wilkinson, Ian R. (1997). The Fields At Play – 115 years of sport at Caulfield Grammar School 1881–1996. Playright Publishing. ISBN 0-949853-60-7.
- World War Two Nominal Roll: Gunner Thomas William Leather (VX18841), Department of Veterans' Affairs.
- World War Two Service Record: Gunner Thomas William Leather (VX18841), National Archives of Australia.
External links
- Thomas Leather's playing statistics from AFL Tables
- Thomas Leather at AustralianFootball.com
- Thomas Leather, at The VFA Project.
- Thomas Leather at ESPNcricinfo
- Australian Sports Museum: Tom Leather.