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Sydney William Ward (5 August 1907 – 31 December 2010) was an Australian-born New Zealand cricketer. Ward was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace.

Syd Ward

Syd Ward in December 1933
Personal information
Full name	Sydney William Ward
Born	(1907-08-05)5 August 1907 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	31 December 2010(2010-12-31) (aged 103) Featherston, New Zealand
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1929/30–1937/38	Wellington
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 10 Runs scored 282 Batting average 14.84 100s/50s  –/1 Top score 61 Balls bowled 36 Wickets  – Bowling average  – 5 wickets in innings  – 10 wickets in match  – Best bowling  – Catches/stumpings 9/-
Source: Cricinfo, 9 July 2010

From the death of Frank Shipston on 6 July 2005 until his death, Ward was considered the oldest living first-class cricketer and the second oldest ever, behind Jim Hutchinson.[1] Following his death, Cyril Perkins became the oldest living first-class cricketer.[2]

Ward was born in Sydney, Australia, and moved to New Zealand at some point prior to playing first-class cricket for Wellington in the late 1920s. His first-class debut for Wellington came in the 1929/30 Plunket Shield against Otago.[3] From 1929/30 to 1937/38, he represented Wellington in 10 first-class matches, with his final first-class match coming against Canterbury.[4] In his 20 first-class innings, he scored 282 runs at a batting average of 14.84, with a single half century high score of 61, which came against Auckland in the 1934/35 season.[5] In 1937-38 he was the leading batsman in Wellington senior club cricket, with 642 runs at an average of 64.20 for Kilbirnie, who won the championship.[6][7]

He played representative rugby for Wellington between 1931 and 1934, when a broken leg ended his football career.[8]

Ward served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force in World War II, stationed at Nelson.[9][10] He worked as a jeweller and watchmaker in Wellington until 1982, then retired to the Wairarapa farming village of Kaiwaiwai, between Featherston and Martinborough.

See also

• Oldest first-class cricketers

References

External links

• Syd Ward at ESPNcricinfo
• Syd Ward at CricketArchive (subscription required)
• Syd Ward at Find a Grave

Preceded by Frank Shipston

Oldest living first-class cricketer 6 July 2005 – 31 December 2010

Succeeded by Cyril Perkins

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