Ray McNamee

Ray McNamee
Personal information
Full name Raymond Leonard Alphonsus McNamee
Born (1895-08-26)26 August 1895
Orange, New South Wales
Died 18 September 1949(1949-09-18) (aged 54)
Little Bay, New South Wales
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm medium-pace, off-spin
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1926-27 to 1928-29 New South Wales
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 19
Runs scored 87
Batting average 5.80
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 14
Balls bowled 6049
Wickets 72
Bowling average 30.27
5 wickets in innings 5
10 wickets in match 1
Best bowling 7/21
Catches/stumpings 11/0
Source: Cricket Archive, 4 May 2015

Raymond Leonard Alphonsus McNamee (26 August 1895 – 18 September 1949) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for New South Wales from 1926 to 1929.

Early life and career

Born in Orange, Ray McNamee went to school at Waverley College in Sydney,[1] and played cricket for Randwick in the Sydney grade competition.

A medium-pace bowler, McNamee was a member of the New South Wales practice squad in 1925-26, and made his first-class debut for New South Wales in the 1926-27 Sheffield Shield, when he was 31. His first match was also Queensland's first Shield match. He opened the bowling throughout the season, finishing as the team's leading bowler, with 27 wickets at an average of 29.81, and conceding just over two runs per eight-ball over.[2]

In the fourth match in 1926-27 he took no wicket for 124 as Victoria made the world record score of 1107. In the final match of the competition in Sydney he took 7 for 21 to dismiss Victoria for 35.[3] On a damp pitch, "He kept a splendid length, turning the ball sharply from the off, and at times making it get up very awkwardly ... at one stage he took five wickets without a run being scored off him."[4] At the end of the season he played for The Rest against an Australian XI, taking five wickets.

1927-28

He had two outstanding matches to start the 1927-28 Sheffield Shield season. In Adelaide he took 5 for 53 off 29.2 overs as South Australia made 189 for 9 to win the match.[5] A week later, after Bill Ponsford and Bill Woodfull had put on 227 for the first wicket for Victoria in Melbourne, he took 7 for 77 and Victoria were dismissed for 355. The Argus noted that on a perfect pitch, McNamee bowled with both "an out swing and an in turn" and that his performance "marks him as the most promising bowler in Australia, and the importance to Australian cricket is very great".[6] Ponsford thought "it may be that he will prove to be the man for whom Australia is looking. He more than most bowlers today resembles the old type of medium paced trundler, who gained their successes by accuracy of length, spin, and a direct attack on the batsmen's defences."[7]

Although he had suffered from ill health during the season,[8] he was selected in the 13-man Australian team to tour New Zealand at the end of the season. He was Australia's main pace bowler on the tour, taking 15 wickets at 16.46 in the first-class matches, including seven wickets at 17.71 in the two matches against New Zealand. The New Zealand Herald described his performance against Auckland, when he took 5 for 12 off 21 six-ball overs, as "one of the finest bowling performances ever seen in New Zealand", describing his bowling thus: "a peculiar run up to the wickets, with rather a low delivery ... a little faster than medium pace ... it is the manner in which he makes the ball fizz off the pitch that upsets the calculations of the batsmen".[9]

Later career

Despite his success in 1927-28, he lost form in 1928-29[10] and played only two matches, with little success, and that was the end of his first-class career. Slowness in the field may also have hampered his advancement.[11] He continued to play successfully for Randwick, bowling mostly off-spin.[12] He was the leading wicket-taker in Sydney grade cricket for three consecutive seasons: 1931-32 (62 wickets), 1932-33 (56) and 1933-34 (50).[13]

He died in 1949 at the age of 54. He was survived by his wife and their son.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Sporting memories of Waverley College". Catholic Weekly. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Sheffield Shield bowling averages 1926-27". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "New South Wales v Victoria 1926-27". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald, 29 January 1927, p. 16.
  5. ↑ "South Australia v New South Wales 1927-28". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  6. ↑ The Argus, 24 December 1927, p. 13.
  7. ↑ The Recorder, 19 January 1928, p. 4.
  8. ↑ Charlie Kelleway, "Introducing Ponsford, Kippax & Co.," New Zealand Truth, 2 February 1928, p. 1.
  9. ↑ The New Zealand Herald, 12 March 1928, p. 11.
  10. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald, 12 February 1929, p. 11.
  11. ↑ The Arrow, 12 October 1928, p. 12.
  12. ↑ Sydney Sportsman, 9 February 1935, p. 16.
  13. ↑ NSWCA Year Book, NSWCA, Sydney, 1967, p. 225.
  14. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September 1949, p. 12.
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