Jim Atkinson

James Archibald "Snowy" Atkinson (4 April 1896 – 11 June 1956) was an Australian rules footballer and first class cricketer.

Jim Atkinson
Born
James Archibald Atkinson

(1896-04-04)4 April 1896
Fitzroy North, Victoria
Died11 June 1956(1956-06-11) (aged 60)
Beaconsfield, Tasmania
NationalityAustralian
Australian rules football career
Personal information
Height 175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 72 kg (159 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1917–1925 Fitzroy 112 (0)
1926–1930 Lefroy (TFL)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1925.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com
The Tasmanian cricket team in 1932.
Atkinson is seated third from left.
Cricket information
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off-break
RoleBatsman, occasional wicket-keeper
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1921-22 – 1925-26Victoria
1926-27 – 1933-34Tasmania
Career statistics
Competition FC
Matches 26
Runs scored 1408
Batting average 32.74
100s/50s 2/8
Top score 144*
Balls bowled 428
Wickets 4
Bowling average 74.50
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 2/35
Catches/stumpings 33/2
Source:
cricinfo.com, 1 December 2008

Family

The son of Michael James Atkinson, and Margaret Atkinson, née Markland, James Archibald Atkinson was born in Fitzroy North, Victoria on 4 April 1896. He married Mary Agnes McLoughlin in 1919.

Football
Atkinson in 1922.

Atkinson played his football with Fitzroy in the VFL from 1917 to 1925. He was a defender, and in 1922 was a member of Fitzroy's premiership side as well as winning their Club Champion award. Atkinson was club captain in 1924 and 1925.

He moved to Tasmania in 1926 and finished his footballing career with Lefroy. He represented Tasmania at the interstate football carnival in Melbourne in 1927. He broke "virtually every bone in his body" during his career, and his injuries finally forced him out of the game in 1930.[1]

Cricket

In cricket, Atkinson played 26 first-class games for Victoria and Tasmania between 1921–22 and 1933–34. "Probably Tasmania's greatest cricket captain"[2] in the years before it entered the Sheffield Shield, he led the team in 19 first-class matches from 1928–29 to 1932–33.

An opening batsman, in 1927-28 he carried his bat for 144 not out against Victoria,[3] and in 1929-30 he did it again, with 104 not out.[4] Nevertheless, Tasmania lost each time.

In the two matches against the touring MCC in 1928-29 he scored 17, 47,[5] 20 and 30,[6] the last three innings of which were Tasmania's top scores. Against the South Africans in 1931-32 he scored 90, 1,[7] 48 and 55,[8] again top-scoring three times.

The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket described him as an "uncompromising opening batsman, capable of thunderous hooks and drives, as well as delicate late cuts, and a fine close-to-the-wicket fieldsman".[9] In Tasmania's victory over Victoria in Melbourne in 1928-29 he took seven catches – five in the first innings and two in the second – as well as scoring 54, the second-highest score in the match.[10]

Tasmanian Cricket Association record

Playing with the South Hobart Cricket Club in the Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA) competition he scored 1,000 runs in four seasons out of five, including 1,000 runs in three successive seasons.[11][12]

Publican

After he retired from senior club cricket in 1935 he became a publican in Launceston.[13]

Death

He died at Beaconsfield, Tasmania on 11 June 1956.[14]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Jim Atkinson at AustralianFootball.com
  2. Wisden 1957, p. 942.
  3. Tasmania v Victoria 1927-28
  4. Tasmania v Victoria 1929-30
  5. Tasmania v MCC, Launceston 1928-29
  6. Tasmania v MCC, Hobart 1928-29
  7. Tasmania v South Africans, Launceston 1931-32
  8. Tasmania v South Africans, Hobart 1931-32
  9. Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford UP, Melbourne, 1996, p. 36.
  10. Victoria v Tasmania 1928-29
  11. Atkinson's Feat: Third Successive Thousand,The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 13 April 1932), p.9.
  12. Sportsmen in the Public Eye: "Snowy's" New Venture, The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 28 September 1932), p.7.
  13. Wisden 1957, p. 942.
  14. Legal Notices, The Age, (Monday, 27 May 1957), p.9.

References
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