Basil Travers

Basil 'Jika' Travers

Full name	Basil Holmes Travers
Date of birth	7 July 1919
Place of birth	Mosman, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death	18 December 1998 (aged 79)
Place of death	Sydney, Australia
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Flanker
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1947-1949	England	6	(4)

Basil Travers

Cricket information
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm medium-pace
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1946–1948	Oxford University
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 24 Runs scored 718 Batting average 25.64 100s/50s –/4 Top score 65 not out Balls bowled 3221 Wickets 48 Bowling average 30.20 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling 4/65 Catches/stumpings 27/–
Source: Cricinfo, 28 May 2014

Basil Holmes 'Jika' Travers, AM, OBE, (7 July 1919 – 18 December 1998) was an Australian sportsman and educator who played in the England national rugby union team and played first-class cricket with Oxford University.

Military career

Travers served with Australian forces in New Guinea in World War II as a brigade major.^[1] He was awarded the OBE for his service.^[2]

Rugby career

Travers, a Shore old boy, went to Oxford University after the war to study on a Rhodes Scholarship. He was capped six times in total for England, the first in the 1947 Five Nations Championship, which England were joint winners of, where he played in their games against both Ireland and Wales. He also played in a friendly against his home country in 1948, as well as making appearances in the 1948 and 1949 Five Nations. The only points of his international career came courtesy of two conversions in a Test against Scotland.^[3]

Cricket career

An all-rounder at cricket, he was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler. Travers scored 718 runs at 25.64 and took 48 wickets at 30.20 from his 24 first-class matches. All but one of those matches were for Oxford University, with the other coming in a match for the Free Foresters Cricket Club when he swapped sides and played against the University.^[4] Although he never scored a century or managed a five wicket haul, Travers made four half centuries and had best figures of 4/65.

One of Travers' biggest tests came on his first-class debut, against India in 1946. Oxford batted first and Travers was dismissed for just 13 by Vinoo Mankad, in what would be his only innings of the match. He had success with the ball though, taking the wickets of middle order players Raosaheb Nimbalkar and Nawab of Pataudi to finish with 2/48.^[5] He finished the season with an impressive 27 wickets at 24.25.^[6]

Education career

Returning to Australia, Travers was the Headmaster of the Launceston Church Grammar School from 1953 to 1958, and later the Headmaster of the Sydney Church of England Grammar School from 1959 to 1984. An Australian Schoolboys rugby trophy has been named in his honour, called the BH Travers Shield.

References

1. Wisden 2000, p. 1561.
2. World War Two Nominal Roll
3. "Jika Travers". Scrum.com.
4. "First-Class Matches played by Basil Travers". CricketArchive.
5. "Oxford University v Indians 1946". CricketArchive.
6. "First-class Bowling in Each Season by Basil Travers". CricketArchive.

External links

• Cricinfo: Jika Travers