Dennis Victor Dyer was a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who played in 3 Tests

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 in 1947.

Dyer was an opening right-hand batsman who announced himself with an innings of 185 for Natal against Western Province in 1939-40, but then lost the next six years to the Second World War. He re-established himself in 1946 with further centuries and much was expected of him on the 1947 South African cricket team

South African cricket team

The South African national cricket team represent South Africa in international cricket. They are administrated by Cricket South Africa.South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council, also known as ICC, with Test and One Day International, or ODI, status...

 tour to England, when he was slated to open with Bruce Mitchell

Bruce Mitchell (cricketer)

Bruce Mitchell was a South African cricketer who played in 42 Tests from 1929 to 1949. He was a right-handed opening batsman and played in every Test South Africa played in that period.By the end of his career he had 3471 Test runs to his name which at the time was a national record...

. But he began the tour so badly that captain Alan Melville

Alan Melville

Alan Melville was a South African cricketer who played in 11 Tests from 1938 to 1949. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year ....

 opened in the first two Tests himself. When Dyer finally came into the side for the third Test at Manchester

Old Trafford (cricket)

Old Trafford is a cricket ground situated on Talbot Road in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester. It has been the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club since its foundation in 1864, having been the ground of Manchester Cricket Club from 1857...

, he scored 62, and retained his place for the final two matches, but did little else. At the end of the tour, he had an emergency operation for appendicitis

Appendicitis

Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...

 and it was revealed he had felt ill for much of the tour.

Dyer played for Natal against the English cricket

English cricket team

The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 tourists in 1948-49, but retired at the end of that season.

Dyer's two sons, David and Graham, also played first-class cricket

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

for Natal and for other South African teams.