William Frith (New Zealand cricketer)

William Frith (26 June 1856 – 19 November 1949) was an English-born New Zealand first-class cricketer who played fifteen matches for Canterbury, Otago and Wellington between 1877 and 1894.

Frith was principally an accurate left-arm bowler, but he was also a useful middle-order batsman "with a style of his own", and one of the most brilliant fieldsmen in New Zealand.[1] In 1880–81 he took 8 for 18 for Canterbury against Otago.[2] In 1889–90 he took four wickets in each innings and made 46 in Wellington's victory over Auckland when nobody else in the match exceeded 30.[3] He bowled successfully against touring Test teams, taking three wickets cheaply for Canterbury against the 1878 Australians and five wickets for Otago against the 1882 English team.[4]

Frith was born in England in 1856 and was employed as a printer and, for a time, as a professional cricketer. He married Sophia Skeltan in 1878 and the marriage produced seven children, but she divorced him in 1904 on the grounds of "habitual drunkenness and cruelty [and] failure to maintain [her] and her family".[5] His brother, Charlie Frith, also played cricket for Otago and Canterbury.[6]