{{Short description|South African cricketer (1886–1924)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Billy Zulch | image = File:JW Zulch.jpg | caption = | fullname = Johan Wilhelm Zulch | birth_date = {{birth date|1886|1|2|df=yes}} | birth_place = Lydenburg, Transvaal | death_date = {{death date and age|1924|5|19|1886|1|2}} | death_place = Umkomaas, Natal, South Africa | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium | club1 = Transvaal | year1 = {{nowrap|1908/09–1923/24}} | columns = 2 | column1 = Test | matches1 = 16 | runs1 = 985 | bat avg1 = 32.83 | 100s/50s1 = 2/4 | top score1 = 150 | deliveries1 = 24 | wickets1 = 0 | bowl avg1 = – | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = – | catches/stumpings1= 4/– | column2 = First-class | matches2 = 53 | runs2 = 3,556 | bat avg2 = 41.83 | 100s/50s2 = 9/17 | top score2 = 185 | deliveries2 = 210 | wickets2 = 5 | bowl avg2 = 24.40 | fivefor2 = 0 | tenfor2 = 0 | best bowling2 = 3/28 | catches/stumpings2= 19/– | international = true | country = South Africa | testdebutagainst = England | testdebutdate = 1 January | testdebutyear = 1910 | lasttestdate = 26 November | lasttestagainst = Australia | lasttestyear = 1921 | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/325/325.html CricketArchive | date = 13 November | year = 2022 }}
'''Johan Wilhelm Zulch''' (2 January 1886 – 19 May 1924) was a South African cricketer who played 16 Test matches for South Africa between 1910 and 1921. His cricket career was interrupted by World War I, but he still managed 985 Test runs at an average of 32.83, with two Test centuries — both against Australia on his first overseas tour in 1910–11. He was a heavy scorer for Transvaal in domestic cricket.
==Career== Zulch was born in Lydenburg, Transvaal, and attended Sea Point High School in Cape Town.<ref name=CI>{{cite web |title=Billy Zulch |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/billy-zulch-48109 |publisher=Cricinfo |access-date=7 April 2026}}</ref> An right-handed opening batsman with a wide range of strokes, a strong defence, and unlimited patience, he made his first-class debut for Transvaal in the 1908–09 season.<ref>Christopher Martin-Jenkins, ''The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers'', Rigby, Adelaide, 1983, p. 324.</ref> He scored his first century in his third match, when he and Archibald Difford set a new South African first-wicket record with a partnership of 190, Zulch scoring 112 retired hurt.<ref name=Globe>{{cite journal |title=Death of J. W. Zulch |journal=Sporting Globe |date=24 May 1924 |page=7 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185065275}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Border v Transvaal 1908-09 |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/7/7780.html |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=7 April 2026}}</ref>
The next season Zulch again set a new South African first-wicket record, when he and Louis Stricker put on 215 for Transvaal against the touring MCC team, Zulch making 176 not out.<ref name=Globe/> He was included in South Africa's Test team during the series against England, and in the final Test he carried his bat through the first innings, making 43 not out in South Africa's total of 103.<ref>{{cite web |title=South Africa vs England, 5th Test at Cape Town, Mar 11 1910 |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-tour-of-south-africa-1909-10-61690/south-africa-vs-england-5th-test-62505/full-scorecard |publisher=Cricinfo |access-date=7 April 2026}}</ref>
Zulch was one of South Africa's leading batsmen on the tour of Australia in 1910–11, scoring 354 runs in the five Tests, with two centuries.<ref name=Globe/> He scored 105 in the Third Test, the only Test South Africa won. Zulch batted for three hours, after which a hundred from Tip Snooke then boosted South Africa to 482; and, despite 214 from Australian batsman Victor Trumper, and a relative failure from Zulch with 14 in the second innings, South Africa went on to win by 38 runs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Australia vs South Africa, 3rd Test at Adelaide, Jan 07 1911 |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/south-africa-tour-of-australia-1910-11-61827/australia-vs-south-africa-3rd-test-62508/full-scorecard |publisher=Cricinfo |access-date=7 April 2026}}</ref> He scored 150 in the second innings of the Fifth Test after South Africa had followed on 204 runs behind, but it was not enough to save the match.<ref>{{cite web |title=Australia vs South Africa, 5th Test at Sydney, Mar 03 1911 |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/south-africa-tour-of-australia-1910-11-61827/australia-vs-south-africa-5th-test-62510/full-scorecard |publisher=Cricinfo |access-date=7 April 2026}}</ref>
In the series against England in 1913–14, Zulch played only three of the five Tests, but still finished second in the South African aggregates, with 239 runs at an average of 39.83. In the Third and Fifth Tests he and Herbie Taylor made century stands for the first wicket, Zulch scoring 82 and 60 respectively.<ref name=Frith/><ref name=Globe/>
Zulch captained South Africa in their two matches against the Australian Imperial Forces XI in 1919–20, scoring 135 in the match in Johannesburg.<ref>{{cite web |title=South Africa v Australian Imperial Forces 1919-20 |url=https://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1910S/1919-20/AIF_IN_RSA_AUS/RSA_AIF_21-25NOV1919.html |publisher=Cricinfo |access-date=7 April 2026}}</ref> During the 1920–21 season, at one stage he scored four centuries in five innings, including 185 and 125 in the match against Orange Free State – the first time anyone had scored two centuries in a match in South African domestic cricket.<ref name=Globe/><ref name=Frith/>
In the Second Test against Australia at the Old Wanderers in Johannesburg in 1921, the Australian fast bowler Ted McDonald dismissed Zulch with a fast delivery that broke his bat and sent fragments back onto the stumps, dislodging a bail, and the Zulch was given out, "hit wicket".<ref>[http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1920S/1921-22/AUS_IN_RSA/AUS_RSA_T2_12-16NOV1921.html 2nd TEST: South Africa v Australia at Johannesburg, 12-16 Nov 1921<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.cricinfo.com</ref><ref>The MCC have clarified this situation though, and in fact nowadays a batsman should not be given out if a splinter, or part of his bat, breaks the wicket, as it must be his whole bat that breaks the wicket. {{cite web |url=http://www.lords.org/data/files/law_35_qanda-9683.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2007-01-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212024456/http://www.lords.org/data/files/law_35_qanda-9683.pdf |archivedate=2006-12-12 }}</ref>
==Personal life== Zulch married Lesbia van der Linde in Johannesburg in June 1911.<ref>{{cite web |title=South Africa, Transvaal, Civil Marriages, 1870-1930 |url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KND3-RG2/johan-wilhelm-zulch-1886-1924 |website=Family Search |access-date=7 April 2026}}</ref> They lived in Johannesburg, where he worked as a motor auctioneer. They had two sons and two daughters.<ref>{{cite web |title=South Africa, Transvaal, Probate Records, 1869-1958 |url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KND3-RG2/johan-wilhelm-zulch-1886-1924 |website=Family Search |access-date=8 April 2026}}</ref>
After six years of illness, resulting in a nervous breakdown, Zulch took his own life in May 1924, in the coastal town of Umkomaas, Natal, where he had gone in the hope of recovering his health.<ref name=Frith>David Frith, ''Silence of the Heart'', Mainstream, Edinburgh, 2001, pp. 111–14.</ref> The inquest into his death determined the cause as "suicide while suffering from nervous breakdown".<ref>{{cite web |title=South Africa, Natal Province, Civil Deaths, 1863-1955 |url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KND3-RG2/johan-wilhelm-zulch-1886-1924 |website=Family Search |access-date=8 April 2026}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{ESPNcricinfo|id=48109}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zulch, Billy}} Category:1886 births Category:1924 deaths Category:People from Lydenburg Category:Cricketers from Mpumalanga Category:Afrikaner people Category:South Africa Test cricketers Category:South African cricketers Category:Gauteng cricketers Category:H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers Category:Suicides in South Africa