Ernest Bock

For the Belgian colonial governor, see Ernest-Camille Bock.

Ernest George Bock (17 September 1908 – 5 September 1961) was a South African cricketer who played in one Test in 1935.^[1]

Ernest Bock

Personal information
Full name	Ernest George Bock
Born	(1908-09-17)17 September 1908 Kimberley, Cape Colony
Died	5 September 1961(1961-09-05) (aged 52) Springs, Transvaal, South Africa
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
International information
National side	South Africa
Only Test	24 December 1935 v Australia
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 1 19 Runs scored 11 281 Batting average – 14.05 100s/50s 0/0 0/1 Top score 9* 78 Balls bowled 138 1,855 Wickets 0 32 Bowling average – 27.78 5 wickets in innings – 1 10 wickets in match – 0 Best bowling – 5/8 Catches/stumpings 0/– 12/–
Source: CricketArchive, 15 November 2022

Bock was born in Kimberley, South Africa. He was a lower-order right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler who played only two full seasons of first-class cricket in South Africa, one for Griqualand West and one for Transvaal. Only a couple of times did he achieve distinction. For Griqualand West against Rhodesia in 1931–32, batting at number 9, he scored 78.^[2] In 1934–35, in the final match of the season for Transvaal against Orange Free State he took five wickets for eight runs as the Free State side were bowled out for 70.^[3]

After that bowling performance, Bock only appeared in three further first-class games. The first of those was the second Test against Australia at Johannesburg in 1935–36, when he batted at number 11 in both innings, scoring 9 and 2, both times not out, and he failed to take a wicket in 23 overs.^[4] After that match he disappeared from first-class cricket for four years until two final matches for North Eastern Transvaal in 1939–40. He died at Springs, Transvaal, in 1961, aged 52.^[5]