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William Frith (26 June 1856 – 19 November 1949) was an English-born New Zealand first-class cricketer who played fifteen matches for Canterbury, Otago and Wellington between 1877 and 1894.

Frith was principally an accurate left-arm bowler, but he was also a useful middle-order batsman "with a style of his own", and one of the most brilliant fieldsmen in New Zealand. In 1880–81 he took 8 for 18 for Canterbury against Otago. In 1889–90 he took four wickets in each innings and made 46 in Wellington's victory over Auckland when nobody else in the match exceeded 30. He bowled successfully against touring Test teams, taking three wickets cheaply for Canterbury against the 1878 Australians and five wickets for Otago against the 1882 English team.

Frith was born in England in 1856 and was employed as a printer and, for a time, as a professional cricketer. He married Sophia Skeltan in 1878 and the marriage produced seven children, but she divorced him in 1904 on the grounds of "habitual drunkenness and cruelty failure to maintain and her family". His brother, Charlie Frith, also played cricket for Otago and Canterbury.

References

1. "Canterbury v. Wellington". New Zealand Mail: 12. 27 March 1891.
2. "Canterbury v Otago 1890-91". CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
3. "Wellington v Auckland 1889-90". CricketArchive. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
4. "Death of Mr. W. Frith: Famous Canterbury Cricketer". Press: 6. 21 November 1949.
5. "Divorce Court". Evening Post: 6. 12 May 1904.
6. McCarron A (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 53. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. ISBN 978 1 905138 98 2

External links

• William Frith at ESPNcricinfo

• 1856 births
• 1949 deaths
• Canterbury cricketers
• Cricketers from the London Borough of Enfield
• English cricketers
• English emigrants to New Zealand
• New Zealand cricketers
• Otago cricketers
• Wellington cricketers
• 19th-century New Zealand sportspeople