Gordon Whyte (cricketer)

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Gordon Whyte
Personal information
Full name
Gordon Lindsay Whyte
Born(1915-08-13)13 August 1915
Wellington, New Zealand
Died24 June 2007(2007-06-24) (aged 91)
Wellington, New Zealand
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight-arm leg-spin
RoleBowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1939–40Wellington
Source: Cricinfo, 27 October 2020

Gordon Lindsay Whyte BEM (13 August 1915 – 24 June 2007) was a New Zealand cricketer, radio announcer and senior aviation official. He played in one first-class match for Wellington in 1939/40,[1] described cricket and football matches in Wellington for the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation from 1949 to 1972, and worked for the New Zealand National Airways Corporation from 1947 to 1972.[2]

Life and career[edit]

After attending Wellington College, Wellington, from 1929 to 1931, Whyte learned shorthand and typing at a business college and qualified as a Hansard reporter.[2] He married Hilda Milroy in Wellington in May 1941.[3]

Playing for Wellington College Old Boys, Whyte was prominent in senior cricket in Wellington, chiefly for his leg-spin bowling. In a match in November 1941 he took 7 for 9 and 6 for 10.[4] He sometimes represented Wellington, but only once in first-class cricket, when Wellington played Otago in the 1939–40 Plunket Shield, and he made 45 runs and took one wicket.[5] He took 8 for 87 in the first innings when he captained Wellington in a two-day match against Nelson in March 1945.[6] He also played senior soccer in Wellington.

During World War II, Whyte served with a construction unit in Fiji before joining the Royal New Zealand Air Force as an administrative clerk.[2] He served as secretary to Air Vice-Marshal Leonard Isitt when Isitt was the Chief of the Air Staff of the Air Force during the war.[7] He was awarded the British Empire Medal (Military Division) in the 1946 King's Birthday Honours.[8]

Whyte was appointed chairman's secretary of the New Zealand National Airways Corporation in 1947 and remained with the corporation until 1972.[2] In 1949 he began broadcasting cricket and soccer matches at the Basin Reserve in Wellington for radio station 2YA, and kept going until his wife pointed out to him in 1972 that his voice was getting a little raspy.[2] He also commentated during the first live telecast from the Basin Reserve when South Africa played in 1963–64.[2]

Whyte served in senior positions with the New Zealand Football Association in the 1960s, managing teams, liaising with visiting teams, and planning the first national league in 1964.[2][9] His plan was rejected at the time, and soccer continued to be played in regional competitions, but when a national league was eventually established it resembled the one he had proposed.[2]

Whyte wrote his broadcasting memoirs, It's Not All Cricket, in 2005.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Gordon Whyte". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Gordon Lindsay Whyte", The Lampstand, September 2007, p. 58.
  3. ^ "Milroy-Whyte marriage certificate". Ancestry.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  4. ^ "Sensational Play". Evening Post: 10. 1 December 1941.
  5. ^ "Otago v Wellington 1939-40". CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  6. ^ "Holiday Cricket". Nelson Evening Mail: 2. 2 April 1945.
  7. ^ Devon Sutcliffe, Sustained Effort: The Life of Sir Leonard Isitt, PhD thesis, Massey University, 2011, p. 434.
  8. ^ "Birthday Honours". Otago Daily Times: 6. 13 June 1946.
  9. ^ "Soccer on the Wrong Road with Regional Leagues". Press: 9. 14 March 1964.
  10. ^ "It's Not All Cricket". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 11 July 2023.

External links[edit]

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