Jim Atkinson

Jim Atkinson
Personal information
Date of birth 4 April 1896
Place of birth North Fitzroy, Victoria
Date of death 11 June 1956(1956-06-11) (aged 60)
Place of death Beaconsfield, Tasmania
Height / weight 175cm / 72 kg
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1917–1925 Fitzroy 112 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1925.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

James Archibald "Snowy" Atkinson (4 April 1896 – 11 June 1956) was an Australian rules footballer and first class cricketer.

Football career

Atkinson played his football with Fitzroy in the VFL from 1917 to 1925. He was a defender, and in 1922 was a member of Fitzroy's premiership side as well as winning their Club Champion award. Atkinson was club captain in 1924 and 1925.

He moved to Tasmania in 1926 and finished his footballing career with Lefroy. He represented Tasmania at the interstate football carnival in Melbourne in 1927. He broke "virtually every bone in his body" during his career, and his injuries finally forced him out of the game in 1930.[1]

Cricket career

The Tasmanian team that played the South Africans at Hobart in January 1932. Jim Atkinson, the captain, is seated third from left.
Jim Atkinson
Cricket information
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm off-break
Role Batsman, occasional wicket-keeper
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1921-22 – 1925-26 Victoria
1926-27 – 1933-34 Tasmania
Career statistics
Competition FC
Matches 26
Runs scored 1408
Batting average 32.74
100s/50s 2/8
Top score 144*
Balls bowled 428
Wickets 4
Bowling average 74.50
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 2/35
Catches/stumpings 33/2
Source:
cricinfo.com, 1 December 2008

In cricket, Atkinson played 26 first-class games for Victoria and Tasmania between 1921–22 and 1933-34. "Probably Tasmania's greatest cricket captain"[2] in the years before it entered the Sheffield Shield, he led the team in 19 first-class matches from 1928-29 to 1932-33.

An opening batsman, in 1927-28 he carried his bat for 144 not out against Victoria,[3] and in 1929-30 he did it again, with 104 not out.[4] Nevertheless, Tasmania lost each time.

In the two matches against the touring MCC in 1928-29 he scored 17, 47,[5] 20 and 30,[6] the last three innings of which were Tasmania's top scores. Against the South Africans in 1931-32 he scored 90, 1,[7] 48 and 55,[8] again top-scoring three times.

The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket described him as an "uncompromising opening batsman, capable of thunderous hooks and drives, as well as delicate late cuts, and a fine close-to-the-wicket fieldsman".[9] In Tasmania's victory over Victoria in Melbourne in 1928-29 he took seven catches – five in the first innings and two in the second – as well as scoring 54, the second-highest score in the match.[10]

After he retired from senior club cricket in 1935 he became a publican in Launceston.[11]

See also

References

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