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Norman Leslie Gooden[1] (27 December 1889 – 5 July 1966) was an Australian cricketer and missionary. He played in two first-class matches for South Australia between 1912 and 1914.[2]

Leslie Gooden

Personal information
Full name	Norman Leslie Gooden
Born	(1889-12-27)27 December 1889 Norwood, South Australia
Died	5 July 1966(1966-07-05) (aged 76) Unley Park, South Australia
Batting	Right-handed
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1912/13–1913/14	South Australia
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 2 Runs scored 196 Batting average 65.33 100s/50s 1/0 Top score 102 Catches/stumpings 1/–
Source: Cricinfo, 8 June 2021

The son of Henry Alfred Gooden[3] and Kate Askew Gooden (nee Whitridge), Gooden was one of eleven children.[4] He attended the Grote Street Church of Christ where he captained the Australian rules football side and led the Bible class.[5]

Cricket career

Playing for West Torrens Cricket Club against Glenelg Cricket Club at Hindmarsh Oval in November 1911, Gooden scored 162.[6] Early in the innings, Gooden hooked a ball out of the ground and onto the roof of a passing tram on the way to the city. Later, he played a similar shot that landed on the same tram on its return trip to the Hindmarsh terminus.[6]

Gooden made his debut for South Australia on 25 October 1912, against Western Australia at the Adelaide Oval, where, batting at number three, he scored 49 and 102.[7] He reached his century in 145 minutes, and he and Algy Gehrs added 174 for the third wicket in an hour.[8]

In spite of scoring a century in his maiden first-class match, Gooden did not represent South Australia again until 16 January 1914, against the touring New Zealanders at the Adelaide Oval, scoring nine and 36 not out.[9]

Gooden did not play another first-class match, ending his career with a batting average of 65.33. He did play one match for South Australian Colts, against Victorian Colts, in Melbourne from 13 February 1914, scoring nine and 130.[10]

Missionary life

Outside of cricket, Gooden worked for the South Australian Gas Company for many years while heavily involved with the Hindmarsh Baptist Church and the YMCA.[11] He was treasurer of the South Australian YMCA Army Depot during the First World War.[12] He "always had a leaning towards foreign mission work", and joined the evangelical Poona and Indian Village Mission[13] (of which his uncle Henry Gooden was the long-serving Adelaide secretary)[14] and in 1920 moved to Nasrapur, India, to work and preach in small villages in the Bombay Presidency.[13]

Gooden eventually rose to the position of Chairman of the Board of Control of the Poona and Indian Village Mission[15][16] before relocating to London[17] in 1933 to act as Secretary of the Ceylon and India Mission.[18][11]

Gooden met and married Elise Violet Moores in India.

Part of an well-known extended cricketing family,[19] Gooden's uncles Henry and James Gooden represented South Australia[20] uncle George Gooden, was the first curator of the Adelaide Oval[21] and his brother Sydney played for West Torrens Cricket Club.[22]

References

Sources

• Beach, H.P. (ed.) (1925) World Missionary Atlas, Edinburgh House Press: London.
• Page, R. (1984) South Australian Cricketers 1877–1984, Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians: Retford, Nottinghamshire.
• Piesse, K. & Davis, C. (2012) Encyclopedia of Australian Cricket Players, New Holland Publishers: Sydney. ISBN 9781742572802.
• Sando, G. (1997) Grass Roots: 100 Years of Adelaide District Cricket 1897-1997, South Australian Cricket Association: North Adelaide. ISBN 1862544352.
• Taylor, H.R. (1960) The History of Churches of Christ in South Australia 1846-1959, The Churches of Christ Evangelistic Union Incorporated South Australia: Adelaide.

External links

• Leslie Gooden at ESPNcricinfo

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