# Bill Haig

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Not to be confused with [Bill Hague](/source/Bill_Hague) or [Bill Haigh](/source/Bill_Haigh).

**William Smith Haig** (6 April 1921 – 21 August 1967) was a New Zealand [cricketer](/source/Cricket). He played 31 [first-class](/source/First-class_cricket) matches, almost all of them for [Otago](/source/Otago_cricket_team) between the 1949–50 and 1957–58 seasons.[1]

## Life and career

Haig was born in Scotland. His family emigrated to New Zealand in the 1920s. His brothers [Laurie](/source/Laurie_Haig) and [Jimmy](/source/Jimmy_Haig) represented [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand_national_rugby_union_team) at [rugby union](/source/Rugby_union), and another brother, Bert, represented [Otago](/source/Otago_Rugby_Football_Union).[2]

Haig served as a [captain](/source/Captain) with the [British Commonwealth Occupation Force](/source/British_Commonwealth_Occupation_Force) in Japan after [World War II](/source/World_War_II).[3] He returned to New Zealand in August 1947.[4]

Haig was a right-handed batsman who usually batted at number three, and an occasional off-spinner.[5] After scoring 151 for his club Grange in the opening match of Dunedin cricket in 1949-50 he was selected to play for Otago.[6] In his second first-class match, against [Auckland](/source/Auckland_cricket_team) in 1949–50, batting at number six, he scored 67 and added 266 in 222 minutes for the fifth wicket with [Bert Sutcliffe](/source/Bert_Sutcliffe), who made 355.[7][8][9] It was a record fifth-wicket partnership in New Zealand first-class cricket.[10]

In 1954-55 Haig scored 102, his only century, in Otago's 10-wicket victory over Auckland, adding 199 for the third wicket with Sutcliffe; he also took 3 for 33 in Auckland's second innings.[11] Against Wellington in 1956-57 he top-scored with 10 in Otago's brief first innings of 34, then in Wellington's first innings he set a New Zealand record by bowling 15 consecutive maiden [overs](/source/Over_(cricket)), ending with figures of 20–17–12–4.[12][13]

Haig had his most successful season in 1954–55, scoring 253 runs in the [Plunket Shield](/source/Plunket_Shield) at an average of 42.16.[14] He played in a [Test](/source/Test_cricket) trial for [South Island](/source/South_Island_cricket_team) after the Shield season and before the series against [England](/source/English_cricket_team_in_New_Zealand_in_1954%E2%80%9355), but was unsuccessful.[15]

Haig was a businessman in the frozen-food industry. His family and Bert Sutcliffe's were close friends. When Sutcliffe's sports shop in [Dunedin](/source/Dunedin) failed in the early 1960s, he accepted the offer of a job with Haig's ice-cream company in [Hamilton](/source/Hamilton,_New_Zealand).[16]

## References

1. ["William Haig"](http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/37293.html). *ESPN Cricinfo*. Retrieved 13 May 2016.

1. ["Unique Performance of Haig Brothers"](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19500718.2.142). *[Otago Daily Times](/source/Otago_Daily_Times)*. 18 July 1950.

1. ["William Smith Haig"](https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/143527). *Auckland Museum*. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. ["Draft from Japan Due Home on Thursday Afternoon"](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19470823.2.83). *Evening Star*. 23 August 1947.

1. ["Bill Haig"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22018/22018.html). CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. ["Grange Opens Well in First Game of Season"](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19491031.2.84). *[Otago Daily Times](/source/Otago_Daily_Times)*. 31 October 1949.

1. McMurran, Alistair (25 November 2009). ["Cricket: Pair in sight of record partnership"](https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/cricket/cricket-pair-sight-record-partnership). *[Otago Daily Times](/source/Otago_Daily_Times)*. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. ["Otago v Auckland 1949-50"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/19/19155.html). CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. ["Otago's Large Score"](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19500103.2.76). *[Otago Daily Times](/source/Otago_Daily_Times)*. 3 January 1950.

1. *[Wisden](/source/Wisden_Cricketers'_Almanack)* 1970, p. 207.

1. ["Auckland v Otago 1954-55"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/21/21390.html). CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. *[Wisden](/source/Wisden_Cricketers'_Almanack)* 2021, p. 269.

1. ["Otago v Wellington 1956-57"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/22/22331.html). CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. ["First-Class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Bill Haig"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22018/f_Batting_by_Season.html). CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. ["South Island v North Island 1954-55"](https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/21/21445.html). CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 April 2021.

1. Richard Boock, *The Last Everyday Hero: The Bert Sutcliffe Story*, Longacre, Auckland, 2012, pp. 123, 187, 195.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bill Haig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haig) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haig?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.