Murray Hofmeyr

Murray Bernard Hofmeyr (9 December 1925 – 17 May 2018) was a South African sportsman who played international rugby union for England and first-class cricket in both England and South Africa.

After growing up in South Africa and attending Pretoria Boys High School,[1] Hofmeyr moved to England in 1948 as a Rhodes Scholar at Worcester College, Oxford. He represented Oxford University in both cricket and rugby union. From 1949 to 1951, Hofmeyr, an opening batsman, made 35 first-class appearances for the university and scored 2495 runs.

In the 1949 Varsity Match, Hofmeyr ‘played a dogged and courageous innings and carried his bat’—the first player from Oxford University to have done so in an intervarsity for sixty-eight years. He scored an unbeaten 64 (out of 169) and 54 in the unexpected defeat.[2] He had his most prolific year in 1950 when he scored 1063 runs at 55.94 and brought up four centuries.[3] His highest score, 161, came against Gloucestershire, in an innings where the next highest score was his opening partner Brian Boobbyer's 28.[4] Boobbyer would also partner Hofmeyr in the England rugby union team.

Playing as a full-back, Hofmeyr appeared in three of England's four Tests in the 1950 Five Nations Championship, against Wales, France and Scotland.[5] He played his club rugby for Harlequins and also represented the Barbarians.[6]

He captained the Oxford University Cricket Club in the 1951 season and then returned to South Africa. In the 1951/52 and 1952/53 Currie Cup competition, Hofmeyr was captain of North Eastern Transvaal and played a total of nine first-class matches, from which he made 683 runs at 48.78.[7]