[CRICKET] Silhouette portrait of Bert Oldfield, Australia and New South Wales. Dated 22 February 1934.

Black card on white paper, 110 x 80 mm (image), 275 x 190 mm (sheet); captioned and dated in brown ink by the artist at lower left: ‘W. A. Oldfield / 22nd February 1934’; very well preserved.

William Albert Stanley “Bert” Oldfield MBE (1894-1976) played representative cricket for New South Wales and Australia as a wicket-keeper. His Test career spanned almost 17 years between December 1920 and March 1937. Oldfield’s extraordinary feat of 52 stumpings in just 54 Tests is a record that still stands. He also took 78 Test catches and was a handy lower-order batsman, scoring 1,427 runs at an average of 22.65. In later life, Oldfield was a successful cricket coach and for many years ran his extremely popular Bert Oldfield’s Sports Store in Sydney’s Pitt Street.

If done from life, this fine silhouette of the legendary cricketer must have been made in Sydney, where in February 1934 the Australian cricketers were attending a round of farewell functions prior to embarking on the Ashes tour of England. On 27 February 1934, for example, Oldfield was the guest of honour at a smoke social at Chatswood Town Hall organised by his old club, Gordon.