Bill Thomson

Bill Thomson was a fine cricketer who had a lengthy career with Sydenham Cricket Club in Christchurch, New Zealand, playing in 230 matches across 25 seasons. Thomson was an opening batsman who scored more than 9,300 runs with the club from 1959 to 1985 in the two-day grade league competition alone. By the time he retired in 2004 he had amassed almost 15,000 runs for the club in all competitions. Despite his form and longevity at club level, Thomson only played in two cricket matches with first-class status; the first coming in the 1964–65 season for the New Zealand under-23 team, followed by one match in the Plunket Shield for Canterbury some nine seasons later. His brother, Keith, who played in two Test cricket matches for New Zealand, also captained Canterbury in the same match.

The Thomson brothers also played field hockey, with both selected to represent New Zealand at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Whilst Keith played in eight matches at the Games, scoring three goals, Bill was named as an alternate in the squad and did not feature in any of the team’s fixtures.