Desmond Dunnet
New Zealand cricketer
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Desmond Murray Dunnet (20 August 1913 – 24 February 1980) was a New Zealand cricketer. A wicket-keeper, Dunnet played first-class cricket for Canterbury and Otago between the 1942–43 and 1950–51 seasons.[1][2]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Desmond Murray Dunnet | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 20 August 1913 Christchurch, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 24 February 1980 (aged 66) Oxted, Surrey, England | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicket-keeper | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1936/37–1946/47 | Southland | ||||||||||||||
| 1943/44–1944/45 | Canterbury | ||||||||||||||
| 1950/51 | Otago | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Source: Cricinfo, 1 December 2025 | |||||||||||||||
Dunnet was born at Christchurch in 1913 and educated at St Andrew's College, Christchurch.[3] He sustained serious head injuries while coaching young cricketers in Gore in 1938, which necessitated three months in hospital.[4] He returned to play cricket in the 1939–40 season and represented Southland.[5] He served in the armed services in New Zealand during the Second World War, playing three first-class matches for services teams in 1943 and 1944. He played several matches for Canterbury in the mid-1940s, but only one Plunket Shield match, when he represented Otago in 1950–51.[6]
Dunnet moved to England in 1953, where he was manager of the National Mortgage Company in London.[7] He died suddenly at his home in Oxted, Surrey, in 1980, aged 66, leaving a widow and a son.[8] An obituary was published in that year's New Zealand Cricket Almanack.[3]