Harold Watson (New Zealand cricketer)
New Zealand cricketer (1879–1958)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harold Cooper Watson (24 December 1879 – 2 July 1958) was an English-born cricketer and cricket coach. He played first-class cricket in New Zealand for Otago, Canterbury, and Wellington between the 1907–08 and 1923–24 seasons.[1]
Calverton, Nottinghamshire, England
Auckland, New Zealand
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Harold Cooper Watson |
| Born | 24 December 1879 Calverton, Nottinghamshire, England |
| Died | 2 July 1958 (aged 78) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Batting | Right-handed |
| Relations | Leo Watson (brother) |
| Domestic team information | |
| Years | Team |
| 1907/08–1914/15 | Otago |
| 1917/18 | Canterbury |
| 1923/24 | Wellington |
Source: CricInfo, 26 May 2016 | |
Watson was born at Calverton in the English county of Nottinghamshire in 1879.[2] He grew up in Lancashire where his father was a groundsman and the younger Watson played for Clifton Cricket Club in Salford. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1905 and after living at Huntly south of Auckland for a year, was employed as groundsman at the Carisbrook ground in Dunedin, replacing George Mills. He arrived in the city in mid-1906.[3][4]
Considered a "fine batsman" who played club cricket for Carisbrook, Watson made his representative debut for the Otago provincial side during the 1907–08 season. Other than a score of 40 made on debut, his batting was disappointing, although the innings against Canterbury was praised as "splendid".[5] The Press, a Christchurch paper, described the innings as "capital all-round batting" with many "first-class" strokes and considered him "one of Otago's best batsmen".[6] The innings was part of an Otago eighth-wicket record partnership of 75 with Alfred Eckhold.[6][7]
Despite his reputation, Watson only played one match for the side the following season and did not appear again for Otago until 1913–14. In total he played nine first-class matches for the side, scoring 198 runs and taking three wickets. The 40 runs he scored on debut remained his highest first-class score.[8]
The wickets Watson prepared at Carisbrook were soon considered "excellent",[9][10] and by 1910 he had begun to coach Carisbrook club sides.[11][12] In 1916 he left Dunedin to take up a position as the cricket coach at Christ's College in Christchurch,[13][14] coaching amongst others future New Zealand Test match captain Tom Lowry and batsman Roger Blunt.[15][16] He played for the West Christchurch club and made a single first-class appearance for Canterbury in a December 1917 match against Otago.[8][17] By December 1918 he was taking charge of coaching the Canterbury representative side[18] and in the winter of 1919 he set up an indoor cricket school in Christchurch, something considered "quite a novelty" in the city.[19]
By the end of 1921, Watson had moved to Wellington where he coached the representative side.[20][21][22] He visited England to visit sports manufacturers during 1922[23] and played a single first-class match for the Wellington representative side during the 1923–24 season, scoring 29 runs against Otago at Carisbrook.[8]
Watson later moved to farm on the North Island.[16] He died at Auckland in 1958 aged 78.[1] An obituary was published in the 1958 edition of the New Zealand Cricket Almanack.[2] His brother, Leo Watson, also played cricket, making a single first-class appearance for Otago during the 1911–12 season.[2][24]