Jim Atkinson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | James Archibald Atkinson (1896-04-04)4 April 1896 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 11 June 1956(1956-06-11) (aged 60) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Australian rules footballer
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| Cricket career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 The Tasmanian cricket team in 1932. Atkinson is seated third from left. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cricket information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm off-break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Batsman, occasionalwicket-keeper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1921-22 – 1925-26 | Victoria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1926-27 – 1933-34 | Tasmania | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: cricinfo.com,1 December 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
James Archibald "Snowy" Atkinson (4 April 1896 – 11 June 1956) was anAustralian rules footballer andfirst classcricketer.
The son of Michael James Atkinson, and Margaret Atkinson, née Markland, James Archibald Atkinson was born inFitzroy North, Victoria on 4 April 1896. He married Mary Agnes McLoughlin in 1919.
Atkinson played his football withFitzroy in theVFL from 1917 to 1925. He was a defender, and in 1922 was a member of Fitzroy's premiership side as well as winning their Club Champion award. Atkinson was club captain in 1924 and 1925.
He moved toTasmania in 1926 and finished his footballing career withLefroy. He represented Tasmania at the interstate football carnival in Melbourne in 1927. He broke "virtually every bone in his body" during his career, and his injuries finally forced him out of the game in 1930.[1]
In cricket, Atkinson played 26 first-class games forVictoria andTasmania between 1921–22 and 1933–34. "Probably Tasmania's greatest cricket captain"[2] in the years before it entered theSheffield Shield, he led the team in 19 first-class matches from 1928–29 to 1932–33.
An opening batsman, in 1927-28 hecarried his bat for 144 not out against Victoria,[3] and in 1929-30 he did it again, with 104 not out.[4] Nevertheless, Tasmania lost each time.
In the two matches against the touringMCC in 1928-29 he scored 17, 47,[5] 20 and 30,[6] the last three innings of which were Tasmania's top scores. Against the South Africans in 1931-32 he scored 90, 1,[7] 48 and 55,[8] again top-scoring three times.
The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket described him as an "uncompromising opening batsman, capable of thunderous hooks and drives, as well as delicate late cuts, and a fine close-to-the-wicket fieldsman".[9] In Tasmania's victory over Victoria in Melbourne in 1928-29 he took seven catches – five in the first innings and two in the second – as well as scoring 54, the second-highest score in the match.[10]
Playing with theSouth Hobart Cricket Club in theTasmanian Cricket Association (TCA) competition he scored 1,000 runs in four seasons out of five, including 1,000 runs in three successive seasons.[11][12]
After he retired from senior club cricket in 1935 he became a publican in Launceston.[13]
He died atBeaconsfield, Tasmania on 11 June 1956.[14]