10 Facts About Bill Whitty

William James Whitty was an Australian cricketer who played 14 Test matches between 1909 and 1912.

In 1907, at the age of 21, Bill Whitty made his first-class debut for New South Wales against Queensland at the Sydney Cricket Ground, taking 3 wickets.

Bill Whitty was replaced for the second Test, which Australia won, along with the third, in retaining the Ashes.

Bill Whitty took 8 wickets in the first Test, followed by 3 in the first innings of the second Test in Melbourne.

Bill Whitty finished the tour with 109 wickets at 18.08, second only in averages to Charles Macartney.

Bill Whitty continued to play domestically after the War ended, and was still good enough to regularly take 5-wicket hauls in first-class cricket up to the age of 38.

At lower levels, Bill Whitty played for East Torrens in Adelaide from 1908 to 1915, consistently taking over 50 wickets a season, and leading district bowling averages for four consecutive years from 1911.

Bill Whitty played for Glenelg from 1920 to 1927, and continued playing in the Mount Gambier region until 1937.

Bill Whitty was an enthusiastic golfer, and at one stage played off scratch.

From 1938 Bill Whitty lived on his property at Tantanoola, where he died aged 87, the longest surviving of Australia's pre-WWI Test cricketers.