William Vorrath Explained

William Vorrath
Country:New Zealand
Fullname:William Nelson Vorrath
Birth Date:21 October 1904
Birth Place:Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Death Place:Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Batting:Left-handed
Role:Batsman
Club1:Otago
Columns:1
Column1:First-class
Matches1:6
Runs1:172
Bat Avg1:19.11
100S/50S1:1/0
Top Score1:103
Hidedeliveries:true
Catches/Stumpings1:3/–
Date:5 March
Year:2017
Source:https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/23/23036/23036.html CricketArchive

William Nelson Vorrath (21 October 1904  - 7 June 1934) was a New Zealand sportsman. Vorrath played six first-class cricket matches for Otago between the 1927–28 and 1929–30 seasons[1] and represented Otago at rugby league.

Vorrath was born at Dunedin in 1904[2] into a sporting family. His father had played cricket in Australia, one of his brothers was a jockey and another represented the Otago Rugby Football Union, whilst his sister played lawn tennis.[3] William played club cricket for the Albion Cricket Club in Dunedin, captaining the club for four seasons.[3]

Five of Vorrath's six first-class appearances were made during the 1927–28 season when he played in all of Otago's representative matches.[4] He made his debut against Canterbury in December 1927, opening the batting and making scores of 11 and five. A series of low scores resulted in him dropping down the batting order and it was not until the side's final Plunket Shield match of the season that Vorrath made a significant score, making 103 not out batting at number eight against Wellington towards the end of January,[5] [6] an innings which was called "memorable" in an obituary.[3] This was his only first-class century.[5]

After playing against the touring Australians towards the end of the season,[4] Vorrath made only one further appearance for Otago, opening the batting again in a December 1929 match against Auckland.[5] As well as cricket, Vorrath was a notable rugby player. He played rugby union for the Union club in Dunedin before switching codes to play rugby league. He represented Otago and South Island in the code.[4] [7] He played in trials matches for the New Zealand national team and narrowly missed out on selection for the 1926–27 tour of Great Britain.[3] Illness forced his retirement from the sport.[3]

Professionally Vorrath was a plasterer[2] and worked at the Waitaki Hydro Works in 1933, playing some cricket for North Otago before returning to Dunedin.[3] [8] He died at Dunedin Hospital after a week spent as an in-patient.[7] He was aged 29.[1] [4]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: William Vorrath . 26 May 2016 . ESPN Cricinfo.
  2. McCarron A (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.)
  3. Mr William Vorrath, Southland Times, issue 22345, 9 June 1934, p. 9. (Available online at Papers Past. Retrieved 8 February 2024.)
  4. Vorrath, Mr W, Obituaries in 1934, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1935. (Available online at CricInfo. Retrieved 8 February 2024.)
  5. https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/23/23036/23036.html William Vorrath
  6. Web site: Otago v Wellington 1927-28. 5 March 2017 . CricketArchive.
  7. Mr. W. Vorrath. Press. 11 June 1934. LXX. 21187. 19. 5 March 2017.
  8. Obituary: Mr W Vorrath, Otago Daily Times, issue 22284, 9 June 1934, p. 11. (Available online at Papers Past. Retrieved 8 February 2024.)