Hunter Poon

Hunter Robert George Poon (14 May 1894 – 25 January 1980) was an Australian cricketer and the first player of Chinese descent to appear in Australian first-class cricket.^[1]

Hunter Poon

Poon during World War I
Personal information
Full name	Hunter Robert George Poon
Born	(1894-05-14)14 May 1894 Ballina, New South Wales, Australia
Died	25 January 1980(1980-01-25) (aged 85) Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia
Batting	Right-handed
Role	Right arm leg spin
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1923	Queensland
First-class debut	21 December 1923 Queensland v Victoria
Last First-class	1923 Queensland v Victoria
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 1 Runs scored 12 Batting average 6.00 100s/50s 0/0 Top score 10 Balls bowled 0 Wickets - Bowling average - 5 wickets in innings - 10 wickets in match - Best bowling - Catches/stumpings 7/0
Source: CricketArchive, 21 September 2008

Biography

Hunter Robert George Poon was born near Ballina, New South Wales to a Cantonese man, William ("Lam") Poon, who had migrated to Australia to work on the north Queensland goldfields, and his half Chinese, half Anglo-Australian wife, Elizabeth (née Key). Hunter Poon's name appears on his birth certificate as Ander Leppit George Poon as the clerk registering his birth could not understand his father's accent.^[2] Poon moved with his family to Toowoomba, Queensland and was educated at Toowoomba Grammar School, becoming a school teacher after graduation. A right arm leg spin bowler and right-handed batsman, Poon became a leading cricketer around Toowoomba.^[1]

His career was interrupted by World War I, and Poon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 5 September 1916, serving as a Lance Corporal with the 15th Battalion in France, where he was injured.^[3]

Returning from the war, with shrapnel wounds in his right hand and lower back, Poon continued to star in Toowoomba cricket and was chosen to represent Queensland in a first-class match against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting 21 December 1923. While Poon was unable to take a wicket and scored only 10 and two, his selection caused international headlines.^[4]

Although Poon never again played first-class cricket, he did play against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club twice. Representing Toowoomba, Poon played against MCC in December 1924, taking 0/19 and, batting at number four, scoring 11 and 0.^[5] In February 1933, during the Bodyline series, Poon represented Queensland Country against MCC in Toowoomba, taking 2/123 and 0/23 and scoring one with the bat. Poon took the Wickets of Herbert Sutcliffe, stumped by future Test wicket keeper Don Tallon, and Gubby Allen.^[6]

Poon died in Greenslopes, Brisbane in 1980, aged 85. The second cricketer of Chinese background to play first-class cricket in Australia, Richard Chee Quee, would not make his first-class debut until 1993.^[7]

See also

• Richard Chee Quee