deliveries columns catches/stumpings year tenfor bowling country fivefor batting image name lasttestyear caption column international testdebutdate source date runs testdebutyear wickets lasttestdate s/s matches article_title
1667 9590 2 4 / - 22 / - 1950 0 2 right-arm fast south african 2 6 right-hand bat michael_melle_1952 . jpg michael melle 1953 michael melle in 1952 tests first-class true 10 february http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/46219.html cricinfo 10 february 68 544 1950 26 160 24 january 0/0 0/2 7 52 michael melle

michael melle

michael george melle -lrb- 3 june 1930 in johannesburg , transvaal -- 28 december 2003 in betty 's bay , south africa -rrb- was a south african cricketer who played in seven tests from 1950 to 1953 .
melle was educated at hilton college .
a `` genuinely fast right-arm bowler '' , melle made his first-class debut for transvaal at the age of 18 against the touring mcc in johannesburg in 1948 -- 49 , opening the bowling and taking one wicket .
for his next match he was selected to play for a south african xi against the touring australians in 1949 -- 50 and took 4 for 82 .
after two matches for transvaal against the australians he was selected to open the bowling with cuan mccarthy in the fourth test in johannesburg , having taken just six first-class wickets at 38.33 .
still only 19 years old , he took 5 for 113 and 1 for 58 in a drawn match , then 2 for 132 in the fifth test in port elizabeth , which australia won by an innings .
he played his first currie cup matches the following season , 1950 -- 51 .
in the first , for transvaal against rhodesia in salisbury , batting at number eight he scored 50 , his highest score to date , and took 2 for 13 and 2 for 30 in an innings victory .
in his next match , against griqualand west in johannesburg in 1950 -- 51 he took 2 for 22 and 8 for 8 -lrb- match figures of 24 -- 8 -- 30 -- 10 -rrb- , bowling griqualand west out for 29 in the second innings .
in six matches he took 27 wickets at 14.40 , and was selected to tour england in 1951 .
despite missing several weeks of the tour owing to a hernia operation he headed the tour averages with 50 wickets at 20.28 .
however , he played only the fifth test -lrb- when he took figures of 10 -- 6 -- 9 -- 4 in the first innings -rrb- the tour selectors preferring to use a two-man pace attack of mccarthy and geoff chubb for the first four tests .
he took his best innings and match figures for the tour after the test series had finished : 2 for 22 and 6 for 71 against t.n. pearce 's xi at scarborough .
his form fell away somewhat in 1951 -- 52 but in six matches he took 17 wickets at 27.35 , and as mccarthy was unavailable and chubb had retired melle was selected to tour australasia in 1952 -- 53 as the most experienced of the four pace bowlers in the team .
-lrb- of the others , eddie fuller and anton murray had played no tests , and john watkins had played three tests and taken three wickets . -rrb-
melle took seven expensive wickets in the five matches leading up to the first test , but then at brisbane , bowling 46.5 eight-ball overs in the test , he took 6 for 71 and 3 for 95 , he and his opening partner watkins `` maintainan admirable consistency of length and hostility '' in a match that australia won narrowly .
however , he took only five wickets for 365 in the next three tests and lost his place , despite a remarkable performance against tasmania in launceston : 3 for 34 in the first innings and , bowling unchanged in the second innings , 9 for 22 .
after two matches in the 1953 -- 54 season he played no more first-class cricket .
he was only 23 when he played his last match , hitting his highest first-class score of 59 and taking 2 for 56 and 3 for 28 to help western province to victory against natal at the end of december 1953 .
his father basil played for western province , oxford university , hampshire and transvaal between 1909 and 1923 .
