{{short description|New Zealand cricketer (1908–1986)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Ray Buchan | image = | caption = | country = New Zealand | fullname = William Rae Buchan | birth_date = 19 October 1908 | birth_place = Thames, Waikato, New Zealand | death_date = September 1986 (aged 77) | death_place = Wellington, New Zealand | batting = | bowling = Right-arm medium | club1 = Wellington | year1 = {{nowrap|1943/44–1945/46}} | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 6 | runs1 = 136 | bat avg1 = 15.11 | 100s/50s1 = 0/0 | top score1 = 37 | deliveries1 = 1,533 | wickets1 = 22 | bowl avg1 = 24.22 | fivefor1 = 1 | tenfor1 = 0 | best bowling1 = 7/66 | catches/stumpings1 = 2/– | date = 4 September | year = 2018 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/newzealand/content/player/36541.html Cricinfo }} '''William Rae Buchan''' (19 October 1908 – September 1986), known as '''Ray Buchan''', was a New Zealand cricketer who played first-class cricket for Wellington from 1943 to 1946.<ref name=CA>{{cite web |title=William Rae Buchan |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/21/21552/21552.html |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=21 January 2026}}</ref>
==Personal life== Ray Buchan was born in Thames, in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, and studied at the Thames School of Mines.<ref name="MH">{{cite web | url = https://www.myheritage.com/names/florence_buchan| title = Florence Buchan| publisher = MyHeritage | access-date =21 September 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | work=New Zealand Herald | date=25 January 1927 | page=8 | title= Mining examinations| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19270125.2.18}}</ref> He married Florence Dixon (1907–1983) of Wellington in 1940.<ref>{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=27 July 1940 | page=16 | title= Engagements| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19400727.2.181.1}}</ref><ref name="MH"/> They had one child.<ref name="MH"/> Ray died in 1986. Florence is buried in Akatarawa Cemetery, Upper Hutt.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://billiongraves.com/grave/William-Rae-Buchan/27728833| title = William Rae Buchan| publisher = BillionGraves | access-date =21 September 2018 }}</ref>
==Cricket career== ===Early days=== A right-arm medium-pace bowler and lower-order batsman, Buchan played for Karaka in the Thames cricket competition and played for the Thames Cricket Association in representative matches.<ref>{{cite news | work=Waihi Daily Telegraph | date=7 January 1928 | page=2 | title= The cricket season| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WHDT19280107.2.11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | work=Auckland Star | date=17 December 1929 | page=17 | title= Thames Association| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19291217.2.185}}</ref> After some time in Auckland, in early 1937 he moved to Wellington, where he played for the Institute club in the Wellington Cricket Association. In the first match of the 1937–38 season he took 8 for 47.<ref>{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=6 November 1937 | page=23 | title= The cricket field| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19371106.2.205.4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=1 November 1937 | page=15 | title= Wiren reaches the century mark| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19371106.2.205.4}}</ref> He was elected captain of Institute in 1938–39.<ref>{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=10 September 1938 | page=11 | title= Institute Old Boys| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19380910.2.91.5}}</ref>
He transferred to Hutt, another club in the Wellington Cricket Association, before the 1939–40 season, and took 7 for 21 in his first match, bowling with "good length and plenty of life".<ref>{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=28 October 1939 | page=20 | title= The cricket field| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19391028.2.168}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | work=Hutt News | date=25 October 1939 | page=5 | title=Cricket | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HN19391025.2.43}}</ref> He was selected for Town in the Town v Country trial match in December 1939, but the match was spoilt by rain.<ref>{{cite news | last="Not Out"|work=Evening Post | date=9 December 1939 | page=22 | title=The Cricket Field | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/evening-post/1939/12/9/22 }} (includes team photo).</ref> In 1942-43 Hutt went through the season undefeated and won the championship, Buchan taking 60 wickets at an average of 6.48 to head the competition averages.<ref>{{cite news | work=Hutt News | date=29 September 1943 | page=8 | title=Hutt Cricket Club | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HN19430929.2.40}}</ref> Hutt won the championship again in 1943–44, Buchan taking 48 wickets at 9.62, including a hat trick in the last match.<ref>{{cite news | work=Hutt News | date=19 April 1943 | page=5 | title= Cricket | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HN19440419.2.20}}</ref>
===First-class cricket=== Buchan made his first-class debut in 1943–44 at the age of 35, taking four wickets in two matches for Wellington. He missed most of the 1944–45 season after an operation for appendicitis.<ref>{{cite news | work=Hutt News | date=8 November 1944 | page=5 | title= Cricket opening | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HN19441108.2.19}}</ref>
When the Plunket Shield resumed in the 1945–46 season after its wartime suspension, Buchan was 37 years old. He was not initially selected in Wellington's team, but in a one-day practice match on 22 December, playing for The Rest against the Wellington team at Basin Reserve, he took 6 for 45 off 27 overs and was largely responsible for the defeat of the Shield team.<ref>{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=24 December 1945 | page=7 | title= Practice cricket: Shield XI in action: Buchan's good bowling | url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19451224.2.103.1}}</ref> He replaced Don Beard, who had not fully recovered from burns he had received while fighting a fire, in Wellington's team for the Plunket Shield match against Otago that began two days later.<ref>{{cite news | work=Evening Post | date=24 December 1945 | page=6 | title= Plunket Shield: Cricket at the Basin| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19451224.2.82}}</ref> (Beard did not play Plunket Shield cricket until 1950–51, when he played for Central Districts in their inaugural match. He later played Test cricket.)<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/922/Plunket_Shield_Matches.html| title = Plunket Shield matches played by Don Beard| publisher = CricketArchive | access-date =21 September 2018}}</ref>
Buchan took 3 for 57 and 3 for 70 against Otago (match figures of 66–21–127–6), and made 37 batting at number 10 in the first innings, but Otago won by three wickets.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17529.html| title = Wellington v Otago 1945-46| publisher = CricketArchive| access-date =21 September 2018}}</ref> In the second match of the Shield a few days later, he took 7 for 66 off 39.1 overs in Canterbury's first innings, but again Wellington lost.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17536.html| title = Canterbury v Wellington 1945-46| publisher = CricketArchive| access-date =21 September 2018}}</ref> It was the only seven-wicket haul in that season's Plunket Shield.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/3/Plunket_Shield_1945-46/Bowling_by_Average.html| title = Bowling in Plunket Shield 1945-46| publisher = CricketArchive| access-date =21 September 2018}}</ref> When the touring Australians played Wellington later in the season, Buchan took 4 for 99 off 42.1 overs. All four of his victims – Lindsay Hassett, Keith Miller, Colin McCool and Bruce Dooland – were bowled.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/17/17587.html| title = Wellington v Australians 1945-46| publisher = CricketArchive| access-date =21 September 2018}}</ref> He was the only New Zealander to take more than three wickets in an innings in the four provincial matches against the Australians.<ref>''Wisden'' 1947, pp. 628–29.</ref> Despite his successful season, he played no further first-class cricket.<ref name=CA/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{cricinfo|id=36541}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchan, Ray}} Category:1908 births Category:1986 deaths Category:New Zealand cricketers Category:Wellington cricketers Category:Cricketers from Thames, New Zealand