OTD | Former South African allrounder Trevor Goddard was born in 1931

Trevor Goddard, South Africa’s one of the best all-rounders of the 1950s, was born on August 1, 1931. While he had played only 41 Test matches, he had played nearly 200+ first-class games, scoring more than 10000 runs. 

He first came to light for his breathtaking bowling performance. He is mainly remembered for leading South Africa to a drawn series in Australia in 1963-64 after becoming the captain. He was an opening batter who bowled medium-pace and took 123 wickets in Test cricket. 

An unknown fact about Goddard was that he was a football player but left the game in 1954 due to injury. He made his first-class debut in 1952–53, opening the bowling and batting at number seven. Later on, he shifted to opening batting. 

After making his first-class debut, in 23 matches on the 1955 tour, Goddard hit 1163 runs at 30.60 and took 60 wickets at 21.90. Goddard’s magic was less effective against Australia as he couldn’t take many wickets. However, when it came to batting, he gave his best and scored 284 runs at an average of 35.50. 

After being a consistent player, Goddard was handed over the captaincy of South African player for a five-month tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1963–64. In the series against Australia, He scored 454 runs at 64.85 and took 11 wickets at 38.18 in the five Tests. 

Overall, in 41 Test matches, he has played 78 innings and scored 2516 runs at an average of 34.46. In first-class cricket, he played 298 innings and scored 11289 runs at an average of 40.60, including 54 boundaries and 26 sixes. 

Also read: Graham Thorpe, was born in 1969