Dave Elder

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David Alexander Elder (born 29 April 1865 at Melbourne, Victoria); died 22 April 1954 at Deepdene, Victoria) was a cricket Test match umpire.

He umpired twelve Test matches, all between Australia and England. He made his debut in the match played at Melbourne on 30 December 1911 to 3 January 1912, won by England by 8 wickets. All Elder’s other matches were after the First World War. His last match was played at Adelaide on 1 February to 8 February 1929, won narrowly by England in spite of Archie Jackson’s 164 on debut. His colleagues were Bob Crockett and George Hele.

His most controversial decision was to give Alan Kippax out bowled from square-leg in the second Test of the 1928-29 series. Kippax tried to glance a ball and missed, and the bails were seen to fall off. Hele, at the bowler’s end, gave it not out, and an appeal was made to Elder, who made a decision he had no right to. This decision, the absence of the young Don Bradman who had been dropped, a serious injury to Bill Ponsford and 251 to Wally Hammond of England, made this a miserable game for Australia. Perhaps it affected Elder, as his Test career ended later that season.

Johnnie Moyes thought that, after Crockett, “Elder was probably the best. He was of the same kindly disposition as Crockett and equally soft-spoken, entirely without any mannerisms, giving his decisions clearly, and making few mistakes.”

Off the field, Elder was a brassworker. He was married twice and had one son. He died of heart failure, aged 88.