Christy Jim Image 1 Transvaal 1931

Description

Pretoria, Transvaal born Jim Christy was a tall, powerful right-handed batsman often used as an opener with a long reach who excelled against fast bowling, and a right-arm medium pace bowler who became an increasingly occasional performer with the ball as his career progressed. He made his first class debut for Transvaal in 1925-26, scoring a century in his second innings. In his first 18 first class innings he scored 6 centuries. Among these was the highest score of his first class career, 175 for Transvaal against Rhodesia at Salisbury in 1927-28, one of three centuries he scored in successive innings.

He toured England with South Africa in 1929, when he made his Test match debut at Edgbaston in June, but after scoring 148 against Nottinghamshire he injured a finger and played in only five more matches. In 1930 he took up a business appointment in London which allowed him to play in only the final Test against England that winter. He tourered Australia and New Zealand under Jock Cameron in 1931-32, when he scored 1,170 runs and headed the averages, making 102 against Western Australia in his first innings in Australia. On that tour he scored his only Test century, making 103 against New Zealand at Christchurch in February 1932, when he and Bruce Mitchell shared an opening stand of 196 in two hours. He also made 62 and 53 at Wellington the following month in what proved to be his final Test for South Africa. In his 10 Tests he scored 618 runs at an average of 34.33 and also took two wickets as an occasional bowler.

After returning to South African domestic cricket, Christy then had two seasons playing for Queensland in Australia, appearing in 12 matches in the Sheffield Shield in 1934-35 and 1935-36 before retiring from first class cricket. In 65 first class matches he scored 11 centuries and 15 half centuries with an aggregate of 3,670 runs at an average of 37.07. He also took 30 wickets at 27.93 apiece with a best performance of 4-19.

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