Misplaced Pages

Louis Henry Fletcher Balmain (17 January 1858 – 1904) was a cricketer who played one match of first-class cricket for Nelson in New Zealand during the 1880–81 season.

Batting at number three, Balmain made 50 and 40, the two highest scores on either side in the drawn match against Wellington on the last two days of 1880. One newspaper described Balmain’s 50 as "the best innings seen on the Wellington ground for a long time". It was one of only two individual scores of 50 or more for Nelson in their 17 first-class matches. In February 1881 Balmain played in a Nelson team of 22 players against the touring Australians.

A professional soldier, Balmain was born in Somerset in 1858. He was stationed in New Zealand for a short time, during which he played his only known cricket. He married Laura Harris in Dereham, Ontario, Canada, on 10 September 1884. She died of tuberculosis in Oxford, Ontario, on 7 July 1897. He is believed to have died in Canada in 1904.

References

1. ^ "Louis Balmain". CricketArchive. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
2. "Wellington v. Nelson". Nelson Evening Mail. 30 December 1880. p. 2.
3. "Wellington v Nelson 1880-81". CricketArchive. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
4. McCarron A (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 15. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. ISBN 978 1 905138 98 2 (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.)
5. "Lewis Henry Fletcher Belmain". Ancestry. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
6. "Laura A Balmain". Ancestry. Retrieved 23 October 2020.

External links

• Louis Balmain at ESPNcricinfo

• 1858 births
• 1904 deaths
• Nelson cricketers
• Cricketers from Bath, Somerset
• British emigrants to New Zealand
• 19th-century New Zealand sportspeople
• Immigrants to Canada