Lawrence Eckhoff

Lawrence Raymond James Eckhoff (born 19 May 1952) is a former New Zealand cricketer. He was born at Dunedin in Otago in 1952 and educated at Otago Boys' High School where he played cricket.^[1][2]

An "energetic" right-arm fast-medium bowler who was described by The Press as "an interesting recruit" ahead of his senior debut in November 1975,^[3][4] Eckhoff played one first-class and one List A cricket match for Otago during the 1975–76 season. On debut, in a List A match against Canterbury, he took the only two Canterbury wickets to fall, those of Barry Hadlee and Peter Coman,^[5] his "explosive action" generating out-swing which caused the opposing batsmen difficulties, although he was "plagued by no balls, and sometimes erred in length and line".^[6]

Writing in The Press after the match Dick Brittenden considered that "more, surely, will be heard of him",^[6] but in the event Eckhoff only played in one more representative match for Otago. After taking a single wicket opening the bowling against Canterbury in mid-December in his first-class debut,^[5] he was injured and unable to play in the following match against Wellington, his place taken by Philip Morris,^[7] and Eckhoff did not regain his place in the team. He had previously played age-group and Second XI cricket for the team during the 1972–73 season.^[5]

In ten years of A grade cricket in Dunedin, he took 427 wickets at a bowling average of 17.20 runs per wicket. He moved to Australia after accepting an offer from the Sturt Cricket Club in Adelaide and was a member of the Sturt team that won the premiership in 1979. He left Sturt in 1981 to take up a playing coach position at Port Adelaide Cricket Club but returned to Sturt in 1985.