Robert Niven
Personal information
Full name
Robert Campbell Niven
Born(1859-12-11)11 December 1859
Emerald Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died14 April 1919(1919-04-14) (aged 59)
Wellington, New Zealand
RoleWicketkeeper
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1887/88–1888/89Otago
1890/91–1901/02Wellington
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 18
Runs scored 215
Batting average 10.75
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 42
Catches/stumpings 17/19
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 20 September 2017

Robert Campbell Niven (11 December 1859 – 14 April 1919) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Otago and Wellington between the 1888–89 and 1900–01 seasons.[1]

Niven, who was born at Emerald Hill in Melbourne, Australia in 1859,[2] was regarded as one of New Zealand's best wicket-keepers of his time.[3][4] He kept wicket for New Zealand in the three-day match against the Australians in 1896–97, when New Zealand fielded a side of 15. It was New Zealand's first international match.[5][6]

Niven worked as chief clerk in the Government Insurance Department in Wellington. After contracting influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic he developed severe depression. His body was found in Wellington boat harbour on 14 April 1919. The subsequent inquiry found that he had drowned, but made no finding as to whether his death was the result of accident or suicide.[7] He was aged 59 and left a widow but no other family.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Robert Niven". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  2. ↑ McCarron A (2010) New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 100. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. ISBN 978 1 905138 98 2 (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.)
  3. ↑ "The Doyen of N.Z. Wicketkeepers". Dominion. 7 (1878): 12. 11 October 1913. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Obituary". Press. LV (16500): 7. 17 April 1919. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "New Zealand v Australians 1896-97". CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Don Neely & Richard Payne, Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985, Moa, Auckland, 1986, p. 38.
  7. ↑ "Local and General". Dominion. 12 (173): 6. 16 April 1919. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
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