Ted Pickett
Encyclopedia
Edward Arthur "Ted" Pickett, OAM
(2 April 1909 – 29 January 2009) was a leading Australian sportsman of the twentieth century, playing representative cricket
, Australian rules football
, tennis
, badminton
, golf
, billiards
, snooker
and athletics. He has been called "probably the greatest all-round sportsman Tasmania has produced".
Born in Ulverstone, Tasmania
, Pickett was a leading sportsman while still at school, winning tennis's Pardey Shield, the most prestigious trophy in Tasmanian junior tennis, in 1926, and representing Northern Tasmania in tennis.
. His skill behind the stumps led Pickett to his first-class debut for Tasmania aged nineteen on 19 February 1929 against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
, scoring three runs and claiming two dismissals.
Pickett became Tasmania's first choice wicketkeeper but due to Tasmania not being a part of the Sheffield Shield, his first-class opportunities were limited and in six years played only eleven matches for Tasmania, scoring 86 runs at 7.16 and taking seven catches and five stumpings. However, Pickett is considered one of the best wicketkeepers to play for Tasmania with his stumping ability particularly impressive.
In a match against the 1930 Australian side
enroute to England, Pickett, who worked on the front counter of the Launceston Examiner newspaper, sought time off to play. Pickett's boss agreed on the condition that the paper got a photo of Don Bradman batting while Pickett was keeping. Unfortunately for Pickett, Nash got Bradman out lbw for 22 before the Examiner's photographer arrived.
At lunch, Pickett approached Bradman and asked for a photograph. Bradman agreed to help out as long as he did not have to put his pads back on. Bradman and Pickett strode out to the middle, Bradman took strike and Pickett crouched behind the stumps and a picture was taken, leaving Pickett to spend the next few weeks explaining to everyone that Bradman had not started a trend for batting without pads.
in the Northern Tasmania Football Association
and winning the Tasman Shields Trophy for the NTFA best and fairest in 1935. He also played for Northern Tasmania for six years against visiting VFL sides.
Following his retirement from football, Pickett became a bookmaker in Launceston in 1938 and held a licence for 37 years.
and was posted to the 12/50 Australian Infantry Battalion. Pickett served with the 12/50 in Darwin
and surrounding areas. He was discharged on 16 November 1943.
Pickett was Walter Lindrum
's opponent in a series of charity exhibition matches held around Tasmania.
and Latrobe
quarter miles and finishing second in the Latrobe Gift.
That fact that Pickett did not concentrate on one sport is considered to have cost him national representation.
Pickett was inducted into the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame in 1994 and awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia
on 11 June 2007 "for service to a range of sports as a player and coach at state and national levels, and through support for young sports people"
Ted Pickett's age of 99 years and 302 days places him third among the longest-lived of Australian first-class players and his living 79 years and 345 days after his first-class debut is a record in Australian cricket.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(2 April 1909 – 29 January 2009) was a leading Australian sportsman of the twentieth century, playing representative 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...
, Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
, snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
and athletics. He has been called "probably the greatest all-round sportsman Tasmania has produced".
Born in Ulverstone, Tasmania
Ulverstone, Tasmania
Ulverstone is a town on the northwest coast of Tasmania, Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Leven River, on Bass Strait. It is on the Bass Highway, west of Devonport and east of Penguin....
, Pickett was a leading sportsman while still at school, winning tennis's Pardey Shield, the most prestigious trophy in Tasmanian junior tennis, in 1926, and representing Northern Tasmania in tennis.
Cricket
A wicket-keeper, Pickett began playing for Tamar Cricket Club in the Northern Tasmania Cricket Association alongside Laurie NashLaurie Nash
Laurence John "Laurie" Nash was a Test cricketer and Australian rules footballer. An inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Nash was a member of South Melbourne's 1933 premiership team, captained South Melbourne in 1937 and was the team's leading goal kicker in 1937 and 1945...
. His skill behind the stumps led Pickett to his first-class debut for Tasmania aged nineteen on 19 February 1929 against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
, scoring three runs and claiming two dismissals.
Pickett became Tasmania's first choice wicketkeeper but due to Tasmania not being a part of the Sheffield Shield, his first-class opportunities were limited and in six years played only eleven matches for Tasmania, scoring 86 runs at 7.16 and taking seven catches and five stumpings. However, Pickett is considered one of the best wicketkeepers to play for Tasmania with his stumping ability particularly impressive.
In a match against the 1930 Australian side
Australian cricket team in England in 1930
Australia won the 1930 Ashes series against England, winning two of the matches and losing one, with the other two tests drawn:*1st Test — England won by 93 runs - *2nd Test — Australia won by 7 wickets -...
enroute to England, Pickett, who worked on the front counter of the Launceston Examiner newspaper, sought time off to play. Pickett's boss agreed on the condition that the paper got a photo of Don Bradman batting while Pickett was keeping. Unfortunately for Pickett, Nash got Bradman out lbw for 22 before the Examiner's photographer arrived.
At lunch, Pickett approached Bradman and asked for a photograph. Bradman agreed to help out as long as he did not have to put his pads back on. Bradman and Pickett strode out to the middle, Bradman took strike and Pickett crouched behind the stumps and a picture was taken, leaving Pickett to spend the next few weeks explaining to everyone that Bradman had not started a trend for batting without pads.
Australian rules football
Pickett was also a leading Australian rules footballer, playing for the City clubSouth Launceston Football Club
The South Launceston Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Tasmanian Football League. They were formed through a merger between City-South and East Launceston in 1986, former Northern Tasmanian Football Association clubs...
in the Northern Tasmania Football Association
Northern Tasmanian Football Association (1886 - 1986)
The Northern Tasmanian Football Association was an Australian rules football competition which ran from 1886 to 1986. In its time it was one of the three main leagues in Tasmania, with the Tasmanian Football League and North West Football Union representing the rest of the state...
and winning the Tasman Shields Trophy for the NTFA best and fairest in 1935. He also played for Northern Tasmania for six years against visiting VFL sides.
Following his retirement from football, Pickett became a bookmaker in Launceston in 1938 and held a licence for 37 years.
World War II
Pickett enlisted in the Australian Army on 16 December 1942, gaining the rank PrivatePrivate (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
and was posted to the 12/50 Australian Infantry Battalion. Pickett served with the 12/50 in Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
and surrounding areas. He was discharged on 16 November 1943.
Billiards and Snooker
Pickett played in the Australian billiards championship four times and in 1955 was the first player to win the Tasmanian billiards and snooker titles in the one year. He played in three Australian snooker championships, and won the national title in 1955, becoming the first Tasmanian to do so. He had backed ₤100 on himself to win, ensuring his celebration expenses were adequately covered.Pickett was Walter Lindrum
Walter Lindrum
Walter Albert Lindrum, OBE , often known as Wally Lindrum, was an Australian professional player of English billiards who held the World Professional Billiards Championship from 1933 until his retirement in 1950. He was named Walter Albert to have the initials of the state where he was born - W.A....
's opponent in a series of charity exhibition matches held around Tasmania.
Other sports
Pickett also represented Northern Tasmania in badminton and was one of the state's leading golfers. Additionally, as an athlete, he won numerous quarter mile events at carnivals around Tasmania, including winning the 1928 SmithtonSmithton, Tasmania
Smithton is a town in the far north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It lies on the Bass Highway, 85 km north-west of Burnie. At the 2006 census, Smithton had a population of 3,361. Smithton is the administrative centre of the Circular Head Council...
and Latrobe
Latrobe, Tasmania
Latrobe is a town in northern Tasmania, Australia, situated on the Mersey River. It lies 8 km south-east of Devonport on the Bass Highway. It is main centre of the Latrobe Council. At the 2006 census, Latrobe had a population of 2,843....
quarter miles and finishing second in the Latrobe Gift.
That fact that Pickett did not concentrate on one sport is considered to have cost him national representation.
Honours and legacy
The Ted Pickett Shield, awarded to the winner of the Tasmanian snooker championships, is named in his honour.Pickett was inducted into the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame in 1994 and awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
on 11 June 2007 "for service to a range of sports as a player and coach at state and national levels, and through support for young sports people"
Ted Pickett's age of 99 years and 302 days places him third among the longest-lived of Australian first-class players and his living 79 years and 345 days after his first-class debut is a record in Australian cricket.