| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Murray George Webb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1947-06-22)22 June 1947 (age 78) Invercargill, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | Richard Webb (brother) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 122) | 5 March 1971 v England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 1 March 1974 v Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1969/70–1973/74 | Otago | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1972/73 | Canterbury | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source:Cricinfo,1 April 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Murray George Webb (born 22 June 1947) is a prominent New Zealandcaricature artist and a former New ZealandTest cricketer. He was born atInvercargill in 1947 and educated atTimaru Boys' High School.[1]
Six feet four inches tall,[2] Murray Webb was a fast bowler who playedfirst-class cricket forOtago between 1969–70 and 1973–74 and representedNew Zealand in threeTest matches. He was one of the fastest bowlers ever to play in New Zealand domestic cricket.[3]
On his first-class debut, againstWellington, he took 5 for 34 and 3 for 43, and he finished his first season with 31 wickets at abowling average of 17.25 runs per wicket, helping Otago to win thePlunket Shield. He played one match for New Zealand against the visiting Australian team, andWisden noted the emergence of "a most promising fast bowler".[4] In 1970–71, he took 6 for 56 forSouth Island againstNorth Island in a trial match before the two-match series againstEngland, and made his Test debut in the Second Test, taking two wickets.[5]
His bowling helped Otago to another Plunket Shield in 1971–72, when he took his best first-class figures of 7 for 49 against Wellington. Hetoured the West Indies with New Zealand at the end of the season, but took only eight wickets in six matches, and none in the one Test he played.[6]
After playing only once during the 1972–73 season, he returned to Otago in 1973–74 and took 40 wickets in five matches in the Plunket Shield at 14.65. He took five or more wickets in an innings five times, with best figures of 6 for 49 againstAuckland. He was selected for thefirst Test against Australia, but took only two wickets in a drawn match on a batsmen's pitch.[7] Despite being selected as theNew Zealand Cricket Almanack's Player of the Year, it was his last first-class match, at the age of 26.[1][5]
His youngerbrotherRichard also played apace bowler for Otago. He also represented New Zealand, playing in threeOne Day Internationals in 1982–83.[1][8]
After a brief stint as a teacher in Dunedin, Webb has been a prolific caricaturist since the 1970s.[9] His subjects include politicians, sports people, and other people in the public eye, both in New Zealand and abroad. As well as contemporary figures he also draws people from the past, including six portraits ofKatherine Mansfield.[10]
The Auckland psychology academic Barry Hughes has written: "Why do Murray Webb's caricatures of public figures look, paradoxically, more truthful than their photographs?"[11] TheAlexander Turnbull Library,National Library of New Zealand, holds more than 800 items by Webb in its collection, most of them single digital portraits.
Webb provided the illustrations to the book100 Great Rugby Characters byJoseph Romanos and Grant Harding (Rugby Press, Auckland, 1991). His regular spot in the editorial pages of theOtago Daily Times was called "Webbsight".[12] He now concentrates on private commissions.[9]
Webb has two sisters and a brother, Richard. He was a passenger on theWahine when it sank inWellington Harbour in 1968. He helped save a toddler by gently tossing the child from the sinking ship to its mother in a lifeboat.[9][13]
A graduate of theUniversity of Otago where he studied geography,[14] Webb lives inDunedin.[15] He has been married twice and has three sons and a daughter.[9]