Hurtle Willsmore

The son of George Arthur Willsmore, a general carrier,[1] and Elizabeth (née Jeanes),[2] Willsmore was the youngest of eight children with two sisters and five brothers.[2]

Willsmore attended Prince Alfred College where, as a hard-hitting right-handed batsman and right arm leg spin bowler, he captained the first XI in 1907 and 1908,[3] and then studied at the University of Adelaide, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in December 1916.[4]

An all-round sportsman, Willsmore made his South Australian Football League (SAFL) debut in 1908 for West Torrens Football Club while still a schoolboy, playing as a centre-half back for three seasons.[3][5][6]

After graduating from Prince Alfred College, Willsmore joined South Australian Grade Cricket League club West Torrens for the 1908/09 season, and in his first match, against Glenelg, made 161 not out.[3] Willsmore led the West Torrens batting averages throughout the season.[7] The next year Willsmore transferred to Adelaide University Cricket Club,[3] which he captained, as well as vice-captaining the University's football club.[8]

Willsmore made his first-class debut for South Australia on 16 January 1914, against the touring New Zealand cricket team at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 57 (his highest first-class score) and eight, and taking one wicket for thirty eight runs (1/38) and 1/46.[9] On the strength of this performance, Willsmore was selected for his Sheffield Shield debut, for South Australia against Victoria at the Adelaide Oval, taking 4/65 in Victoria's second innings, which was to be his best first-class bowling figures.[10] He was reportedly chosen to tour New Zealand with an Australian team but never received his letter of invitation.[11]

Willsmore was chosen for all four of South Australia's first-class matches in the 1914/15 Australian domestic season,[12] the last before the temporary cessation of first-class cricket due to the war. While preliminarily a batsman, Willsmore was also an effective leg-spin bowler, once taking 7/50 in a district match in 1914/15 against East Torrens.[13] Around this time, a journalist wrote "Willsmore bowled splendidly. He flighted the slows with excellent judgment, and dropped them down on a fine length. Most of his runs were made from powerful straight drives."[14]

Following the resumption of cricket at the end of World War One, Willsmore transferred to Adelaide grade club Sturt as captain[3] and returned to the South Australian team. He played in their only first-class match of the 1918/19 season, against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), but injured himself while fielding in the first thirty minutes and was substituted out of the match.[15] In another case of injury-related bad luck, Willsmore was also forced to miss a match against New South Wales in 1919/20 when he had the webbing on his hand split open while fielding during a trial match earlier in the week.[16]

Willsmore played two more first-class matches in the 1920/21 season before being omitted but continued to play for Sturt, including a match in the 1921/22 season against University when he hit each of the first seven deliveries he faced for six, and then boundaries from the next three, reaching his 50 from nine deliveries;[17] an unbeatable record for the quickest half century in terms of deliveries faced. Referring to this innings, a journalist wrote "Hurtle Willsmore was a hard, but not wild hitter, and this demoralising burst of hitting was the result of perfectly timed strokes."[17] Willsmore made 187, his highest score in district cricket.[18]

Willsmore had his best club season in 1924/25, scoring three centuries and two half-centuries from seven innings[3] but did not return to the South Australian side. He retired from Adelaide district cricket in 1929, having scored 5666 runs at 34.97 and taken 245 wickets at 22.66.[18]

Following his university graduation, Willsmore was appointed inaugural senior master in mathematics and physics at Adelaide's then new Scotch College in January 1919.[19] He also coached Scotch's cricket team and saw seven of his pupils play first-class cricket;[17] the most famous being Australian captain Vic Richardson but he also coached Wayne B. Phillips and noted cricket writer Dick Whitington.[20] Willsmore also initiated an annual cricket competition between Scotch, Hale School in Perth, Western Australia and Melbourne's Haileybury College.[21]

Willsmore worked at Scotch until his retirement in 1957, in the process becoming "one of the great cornerstones" of the college.[22] A history of Scotch College declared "Hurtle was one of the most popular masters to ever teach at Scotch, and renowned for his patience, whether working with a class of mathematicians or coaching a group of promising cricketers."[23]

On 28 September 1915, Willsmore married Muriel Winifred Thomas at Woodville Methodist Church.[24] Their daughter Christobel was born on 21 August 1918.[25]

Willsmore died aged 95 on 17 September 1985 after a long illness. Muriel predeceased him but Willsmore was survived by Christobel, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.[26]

• Pollard, J. (1989) Australian Cricket - The Game and The Players, Angus and Robertson: Melbourne. ISBN 0 207 15269 1.
• Read, P. & Pouw-Bray, A. (2010) Ninety Years at Torrens Park: The Scotch College Story, Wakefield Press: Adelaide. ISBN 9781862548893.
• Sando, G. (1997) Grass Roots: 100 Years of Adelaide District Cricket 1897-1997, South Australian Cricket Association: Adelaide. ISBN 1 86254 435 2.