| Hunter Poon | |
| Country: | Australia |
| Fullname: | Hunter Robert George Poon |
| Birth Date: | 14 May 1894 |
| Death Place: | Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia |
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Role: | Right arm leg spin |
| Club1: | Queensland |
| Year1: | 1923 |
| Type1: | First-class |
| Debutdate1: | 21 December |
| Debutyear1: | 1923 |
| Debutfor1: | Queensland |
| Debutagainst1: | Victoria |
| Lastyear1: | 1923 |
| Lastfor1: | Queensland |
| Lastagainst1: | Victoria |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | First-class |
| Matches1: | 1 |
| Runs1: | 12 |
| Bat Avg1: | 6.00 |
| 100S/50S1: | 0/0 |
| Top Score1: | 10 |
| Deliveries1: | 0 |
| Wickets1: | - |
| Bowl Avg1: | - |
| Fivefor1: | - |
| Tenfor1: | - |
| Best Bowling1: | - |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 7/0 |
| Date: | 21 September |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Source: | http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/5/5818/5818.html CricketArchive |
Hunter Robert George Poon (14 May 1894 – 25 January 1980) was an Australian cricketer and the first player of Chinese descent to appear in Australian first-class cricket.[1]
Hunter Robert George Poon was born near Ballina, New South Wales to a Cantonese man, William ("Lam") Poon, who had migrated to Australia to work on the north Queensland goldfields, and his half Chinese, half Anglo-Australian wife, Elizabeth (née Key). Hunter Poon's name appears on his birth certificate as Ander Leppit George Poon as the clerk registering his birth could not understand his father's accent.[2] Poon moved with his family to Toowoomba, Queensland and was educated at Toowoomba Grammar School, becoming a school teacher after graduation. A right arm leg spin bowler and right-handed batsman, Poon became a leading cricketer around Toowoomba.[1]
His career was interrupted by World War I, and Poon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 5 September 1916, serving as a Lance Corporal with the 15th Battalion in France, where he was injured.[3]
Returning from the war, with shrapnel wounds in his right hand and lower back, Poon continued to star in Toowoomba cricket and was chosen to represent Queensland in a first-class match against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting 21 December 1923. While Poon was unable to take a wicket and scored only 10 and two, his selection caused international headlines.[4]
Although Poon never again played first-class cricket, he did play against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club twice. Representing Toowoomba, Poon played against MCC in December 1924, taking 0/19 and, batting at number four, scoring 11 and 0.[5] In February 1933, during the Bodyline series, Poon represented Queensland Country against MCC in Toowoomba, taking 2/123 and 0/23 and scoring one with the bat. Poon took the Wickets of Herbert Sutcliffe, stumped by future Test wicket keeper Don Tallon, and Gubby Allen.[6]
Poon died in Greenslopes, Brisbane in 1980, aged 85. The second cricketer of Chinese background to play first-class cricket in Australia, Richard Chee Quee, would not make his first-class debut until 1993.[7]