| Albie Keast | |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Fullname: | Albert Victor Ernest Manley Keast |
| Birth Date: | 2 July 1895 |
| Birth Place: | Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand |
| Club1: | Otago |
| Club2: | Southland |
| Year2: | 1927/28–1929/30 |
| Date: | 15 May |
| Year: | 2016 |
| Source: | http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/37546.html ESPNcricinfo |
Albert Victor Ernest Manley Keast (2 July 1895 - 20 April 1969) was a New Zealand sportsman and journalist. He played four first-class cricket matches for Otago between the 1917–18 and 1922–23 seasons as well as playing Hawke Cup cricket for Southland.[1]
Born at Dunedin in 1895, Albie Keast was the son of Albert E. A. Keast and his wife Laura Ann. He had two sisters.[2] He played club cricket for Grange and Albion Cricket Clubs,[3] [4] [5] and was described as "well known in local cricket circles" in 1924[6] and "an important personage in Southland cricket" in 1926.[7]
Keast made his first-class debut for Otago in a December 1917 match against Canterbury at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. He recorded a pair on debut but was retained in the side for the next representative match, the annual fixture against Southland, a match that had first-class status at the time. He played once the following season, again against Southland, and was recalled to the side for a final time in January 1923, playing in Otago's Plunket Shield side. In total he scored only 23 runs with a highest first-class score of seven.[8]
Professionally Keast worked initially in the commercial department of the Otago Daily Times.[9] He moved to Christchurch in 1924 to work for Whitcombe and Tombs in the city,[10] before moving to Invercargill in 1926, taking up a position as a journalist with the Southland Times.[11] He retained an involvement in cricket as a player and administrator,[7] and played for Southland against the touring Australians in February 1928 and in the team's Hawke Cup side against Manawatu in February 1930.[8]
As a journalist, Keast enjoyed a "national reputation" with an "encyclopaedic knowledge" of sport. He was the sports diarist and rugby union correspondent at the Southland Times writing under the pen name "Onlooker".[11] He played lawn bowls to a high level, representing Southland, and was involved is sports administration, including acting as the manager of a New Zealand bowls side visiting Adelaide in 1951.[11]
Keast died after a long illness at Christchurch in 1969. He was aged 73.[11] [12]