Michael Austen

For those of a similar name, see Michael Austin (disambiguation).

Michael Hubert Austen (born 17 May 1964)^[1] is a South African-born cricketer who played for Western Province in South African domestic cricket between the 1982/83 and 1988/89 seasons and for Otago and Wellington between the 1989/90 and 1997/98 seasons.^[2] Austen worked as a doctor throughout his career in New Zealand.^[3]

Michael Austen

Personal information
Full name	Michael Hubert Austen
Born	(1964-05-17) 17 May 1964 (age 61) Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Left-arm medium
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1982/83–1988/89	Western Province
1989/90–1991/92	Otago
1992/93–1995/96	Wellington
1996/97–1997/98	Otago
FC debut	5 March 1983 Western Province B v Border
Last FC	29 March 1997 Otago v Canterbury
LA debut	15 October 1983 Western Province B v Transvaal
Last LA	14 January 1998 Otago v Auckland
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A Matches 66 60 Runs scored 3,619 1,380 Batting average 32.31 23.38 100s/50s 6/16 0/9 Top score 202* 95* Balls bowled 3,836 1,469 Wickets 55 39 Bowling average 32.96 26.87 5 wickets in innings 1 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 5/71 4/47 Catches/stumpings 48/– 14/–
Source: CricInfo, 31 December 2021

Austen was born at Cape Town in South Africa in 1964.^[1] He was educated at Rondebosch Boys High School and worked professionally as a doctor.^[4] He made his senior debut for Western Province B in a SAB Bowl match against Border in March 1983. He played mainly for Western Province B in the Bowl competition, before making four appearances for Western Province in the 1987/88 Currie Cup. He played a single first-class match for a South African Universities side in 1987.^[2]

He moved to New Zealand to play for Otago at the start of the 1989/90 season, moving to Wellington for four seasons before returning to Otago to finish his first-class career.^[2] In total he played in 66 first-class cricket and 60 List A cricket matches, scoring almost 5,000 runs and taking 94 senior wickets.^[1]