Colin Rushmere

Colin Rushmere
Personal information
Full name
Colin George Rushmere
Born(1937-04-16)16 April 1937
Port Elizabeth, Cape Province, South Africa
Died20 January 2017(2017-01-20) (aged 79)
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
RelationsMark Rushmere (son)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1956/57–1958/59Eastern Province
1960/61Western Province
1962/63–1965/66Eastern Province
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 33
Runs scored 1,245
Batting average 23.05
100s/50s 2/4
Top score 153
Balls bowled 1,686
Wickets 20
Bowling average 28.80
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 4/29
Catches/stumpings 19/–
Source: Cricket Archive, 10 August 2014

Colin George Rushmere (16 April 1937 – 20 January 2017)[1] was a South African conservationist and cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1957 to 1965.

Cricket career[edit]

Rushmere made his first-class debut for Eastern Province against Orange Free State in a friendly match in 1956–57, scoring 46 and 55 batting at number five, and taking 3 for 49 and 3 for 27 with his medium-pace bowling.[2] In a friendly match the next season against Griqualand West he scored 147 in an innings victory for Eastern Province.[3] He also played several matches for South African Universities between 1955 and 1959, taking 6 for 32 in a two-day match against Orange Free State in 1956–57.[4]

He toured England in 1961 with the South African Fezela XI of promising young players, taking 4 for 29 and 3 for 16 in the victory over Essex.[5] After the tour, however, he played purely as a batsman, usually opening the innings. Against Western Province in 1962–63 he scored 153, putting on 312 for the first wicket with Geoff Dakin.[6] He captained Eastern Province in two matches in the Currie Cup in 1963–64. After scoring only 48 runs in the first three matches in 1965–66 he retired from first-class cricket.

Later career[edit]

Rushmere worked with the family law firm Rushmere Noach that his father Colin had founded in 1933 in Port Elizabeth.[7] He also held administrative positions in the Eastern Province Cricket Union, serving as president in the 1980s.[8]

In 1989 he bought 660 hectares of land on the Kariega River and began developing it into a game reserve and resort. In subsequent years Kariega Game Reserve expanded to 10,000 hectares, including land on the Bushman's River.[9] The reserve now has several important conservation species, including lion, elephant, giraffe, black and white rhinoceros, hippopotamus and cape leopard.[10]

Rushmere's brother John played first-class cricket in South Africa in the 1960s.[11] Colin's son Mark played Test cricket for South Africa in the 1990s and now helps to run Kariega Game Reserve.[12]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "RIP Colin Rushmere". MyPE News. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  2. ^ Orange Free State v Eastern Province 1956-57
  3. ^ Griqualand West v Eastern Province 1957-58
  4. ^ Orange Free State v South African Universities 1956-57
  5. ^ Essex v South African Fezela XI 1961
  6. ^ Western Province v Eastern Province 1962-63
  7. ^ R190k Raised to Save Kariega's Rhinos Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  8. ^ The Grounds Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  9. ^ History of Kariega Game Reserve Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  10. ^ Kariega wildlife history Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  11. ^ John Rushmere at Cricket Archive
  12. ^ Cricket's Mount Rushmere still Bok for the big game Retrieved 11 August 2014.