Bert Oldfield

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Bert Oldfield Australia (Aus)
Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	N/A
	Tests	First-class
Matches	54	245
Runs scored	1427	6135
Batting average	22.65	23.77
100s/50s	0/4	6/21
Top score	65*	137
Balls bowled	0	0
Wickets	0	0
Bowling average	-	-
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0
Best bowling	-	-
Catches/stumpings	78/52	399/263
Test debut: 17 December 1920 Last Test: 3 March 1937 Source: [1]

William Albert Stanley "Bert" Oldfield (9 September 1894, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - 10 August 1976, Sydney, New South Wales) was an Australian cricket player. He played for New South Wales and the Australian cricket team as wicket-keeper.

Oldfield made his first-class cricket debut in the 1919-20 season, and played his first Test match against England in his hometown of Sydney the next season. He was dropped for several matches over the next few years, but established himself as Australia's automatic selection for wicket-keeper in the 1924-25 Ashes series against England.

He missed only one other Test in his career, that being the fourth Test of the 1932-33 Bodyline series. In the notorious third Test at Adelaide, the English Bodyline tactic of bowling fast balls directed at the Australian batsmen's bodies reached its most dramatic moment when fast bowler Harold Larwood hit Oldfield in the head, fracturing his skull (although this was from a top edge off a traditional non-Bodyline ball and Oldfield admitted it was his fault). Oldfield was carried from the ground unconscious. He recovered in time for the fifth Test of the series.

Always an easy-going personality, Oldfield immediately forgave Larwood for the incident, and the two eventually became firm friends when Larwood later emigrated to Australia.

Oldfield played Test cricket for four more years, ending his career in 1937. He was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1927.

Oldfield played 54 Tests for Australia, scoring 1,427 runs at an average of 22.65, and taking 78 catches and 52 stumpings. His tally of 52 stumpings remains a Test career world record. In first-class cricket he played 245 matches, scoring 6,135 runs at an average of 23.77, and taking 399 catches and 263 stumpings.

Persondata
NAME	Oldfield, William Albert Stanley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bert
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Cricketer
DATE OF BIRTH	9 September 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sydney, New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH	10 August 1976
PLACE OF DEATH	Sydney, New South Wales