| Wendell Bill | |
| Fullname: | Oscar Wendell Bill |
| Birth Date: | 8 April 1910 |
| Birth Place: | Waverley, Sydney, Australia |
| Death Place: | Sydney, Australia |
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Role: | Opening batsman |
| Club1: | New South Wales |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | First-class |
| Matches1: | 35 |
| Runs1: | 1,931 |
| Bat Avg1: | 37.86 |
| 100S/50S1: | 6/4 |
| Top Score1: | 153 |
| Hidedeliveries: | true |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 20/– |
| Date: | 22 December 2016 |
| Source: | https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/wendell-bill-4148 Cricinfo |
Oscar Wendell Bill (8 April 1910 – 10 May 1988) was an Australian cricketer.[1] He played 35 first-class matches, mostly for New South Wales, between 1929–30 and 1935–36.[2]
Bill was one of the children of George Thomas Bill, an English-born lecturer at the University of Sydney.[3] Before he played first-class cricket, Bill was a substitute fielder for New South Wales in one of their matches against the touring MCC in 1928–29; he ended up fielding for most of the match as both sides lost players to injury.[3]
An opening batsman, Bill made a century on his first-class debut against Tasmania in 1929–30.[4] He made his highest score of 153 in 1930–31 against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield.[5]
Bill toured India and Ceylon with the Australian team in 1935–36, scoring three centuries in the first-class matches, including 101 against Ceylon after Ceylon had been dismissed for 96.[6] In the low-scoring unofficial Test at Calcutta he was the top-scorer on either side with 16 and 45 not out.[7] He was one of the Australians' leading batsmen until the match against Patiala when, on 118, his jaw was broken by a delivery from the fast bowler Mohammad Nissar. It was Bill's last first-class match.[8] He wrote a continuing account of the tour for the weekly Sydney Mail between November 1935 and March 1936.[9]
In November 1931, Bill appeared with his New South Wales teammate Don Bradman for a Blackheath team against a team from Lithgow in a match to celebrate the laying of a new artificial pitch at Blackheath. At one point, in three eight-ball overs, Bradman scored 100 runs while Bill, at the other end, made two singles.[10] [8]
During World War II, Bill was in the Australian Army from May 1943 to March 1946, serving as a private in an anti-aircraft unit.[11] He married Patricia Adams in Sydney in March 1946.[12] He worked in Alan Kippax's sporting goods store in Sydney before becoming a partner in his own sporting goods store.[8]