{{short description|New Zealand cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = George Burnes | image = File:G G Burnes Press 16 Feb 1933.gif | imagesize = 160 px | caption = | country = | fullname = George Gordon Burnes | birth_date = {{Birth date|1866|7|11|df=yes}} | birth_place = St Kilda, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1949|2|9|1866|7|11}} | death_place = Christchurch, New Zealand | batting = | bowling = | family = | club1 = Wellington | year1 = {{nowrap|1883/84–1886/87}} | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 6 | runs1 = 90 | bat avg1 = 9.00 | 100s/50s1 = 0/0 | top score1 = 32 | hidedeliveries = true | catches/stumpings1 = 2/– | date = 27 September | year = 2015 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/36549.html Cricinfo }} '''George Gordon Burnes''' (11 July 1866 – 9 February 1949) was a businessman and first-class cricketer in New Zealand.
==Personal life and business career== The son of Adam Burnes, who was the first general manager of the National Bank of New Zealand, George Burnes had five brothers and a sister.<ref>''Evening Post'', 20 May 1914, p. 7.</ref> He attended Wellington College, Wellington.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Old boys meet in London |journal=Press |date=12 January 1933 |page=11 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19330112.2.91}}</ref>
Burnes was the Australian Mutual Provident Society's district manager in Invercargill, and then served as manager in Christchurch for 13 years until his retirement in 1930 after 49 years' service with the company.<ref>''The Press'', 30 March 1935, p. 13.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Forty-nine years' service: Mr G. G. Burnes retires |journal=Press |date=8 May 1930 |page=13 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19300508.2.111}}</ref> After retiring, he spent most of the rest of his life travelling the world. He served as an air raid warden in London during World War II.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Obituary: Mr. G. G. Burnes |journal=Press |date=19 February 1949 |page=2 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19490219.2.20}}</ref> He and his wife Anna had one child, a daughter who died in her teens.<ref>{{cite web |title=George Gordon Burnes |url=http://www.burness.ca/g0/p119.htm#i1190 |website=Burness Genealogy and Family History |accessdate=5 July 2018}}</ref>
==Cricket career== Burnes played six first-class matches for Wellington between 1884 and 1887. His highest score was 32, when he top-scored against Auckland in his last first-class match in 1887.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/3/3184.html| title = Auckland v Wellington 1886-87| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 September 2015}}</ref>
After moving to Invercargill in 1887 he immediately became the district's best player: in the 1887–88 season he was the top run-scorer in Invercargill (331 runs), with the highest batting average (41.37), took 33 wickets at the best bowling average (3.69), and made the first century in Invercargill cricket.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Notes by Slip |journal=Otago Witness |date=5 October 1888 |page=26 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18881005.2.98.1}}</ref> He was one of the founders of the Southland Cricket Association in 1892.<ref>''Southland Times'', 18 November 1892, p. 2.</ref> He captained the Southland representative team in the 1890s. In Southland's first representative match after the formation of the association, he top-scored with 34 against Otago.<ref>''Southland Times'', 22 February 1894, p. 2.</ref> The match against Otago remained an annual event until the 1980s. In 1895-96 Burnes captained Southland to their first victory in the series.<ref>''Southland Times'', 21 February 1896, p. 2.</ref>
Against the Australian touring team in 1896–97, his innings of 18 was the only double-figure score made by any of the Southland XXII.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/131/131807.html | title = Southland v Australians 1896-97| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 September 2015}}</ref> Still the captain, he also top-scored with 47 for a Southland XIII against Queensland two months later.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/109/109263.html| title = Southland v Queensland 1896-97| publisher = CricketArchive| accessdate = 27 September 2015}}</ref>
He was selected to tour Australia with the New Zealand team in 1898-99 but was unable to make the trip.<ref>Don Neely & Richard Payne, ''Men in White: The History of New Zealand International Cricket, 1894–1985'', Moa, Auckland, 1986, p. 40.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnes, George}} Category:1866 births Category:1949 deaths Category:People educated at Wellington College, Wellington Category:New Zealand cricketers Category:Wellington cricketers Category:New Zealand businesspeople Category:Australian emigrants to New Zealand Category:Cricketers from Melbourne Category:Cricketers from Wellington City