Oscar Haskell

Oscar Hungerford "Jim" Haskell (24 April 1857 – 3 September 1943) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played six first-class matches for Otago between the 1877–78 and 1889–90 seasons.^[1][2]

Haskell was born at Brighton in the newly founded Colony of Tasmania in 1857.^[3] His father, Thomas Henry Haskell, had been born in England in 1819 and was a senior legal clerk in what was then called Van Dieman's Land, having originally moved to Hobart with his parents in the early 1820s.^[4][5]

As a cricketer, Haskell was well-known in Otago and was considered "one of the best Otago cricketers of his day".^[4] He played in a side of 22 for Otago against the touring Australians in January 1878,^[6] before making his first-class debut later in the season, playing against Canterbury in Dunedin. At the time Otago typically played just one match that has been given first-class status in each season, usually with Canterbury as the opposition, and Haskell played for the representative side in each of the next four seasons.^[7] At this time he was considered a household name in Otago and as "among the votaries of the game.^[8] He and William Crawshaw were considered "a brilliant pair of batsmen and fieldsmen",^[8] Haskell often fielding as long stop.^[9]

By the time of his final first-class match, a fixture against Auckland during the 1889–90 season,^[7] Haskell was being described in the Dunedin press as "the old popular favourite".^[10] In his six first-class matches he scored 78 runs with a highest score of 34 made in 1881–82. He also took three wickets.^[7]

Haskell died 1943 at Southport in Queensland, Australia. He was aged 86.^[1]