{{short description|Australian cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=February 2016}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Sid Hird | image = | country = | fullname = Sydney Frederick Hird | nickname = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|1|10|df=yes}} | birth_place = Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|12|20|1910|1|10|df=yes}} | death_place = Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South Africa | family = | heightft = | heightinch = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = {{ubl|Right-arm leg-spin|Right-arm off-spin}} | club1 = New South Wales | year1 = {{nowrap|1931/32–1932/33}} | club2 = Lancashire | year2 = 1939 | club3 = Eastern Province | year3 = 1945/46–1948/49 | club4 = Border | year4 = 1950/51 | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 32 | runs1 = 1,453 | bat avg1 = 33.02 | 100s/50s1 = 5/4 | top score1 = 130 | deliveries1 = | wickets1 = 59 | bowl avg1 = 28.54 | fivefor1 = 3 | tenfor1 = 0 | best bowling1 = 6/56 | catches/stumpings1 = 8/– | date = 23 April 2018 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5667.html Cricinfo }} '''Sydney Frederick Hird''' (7 January 1910 – 20 December 1980) was an Australian cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1931 to 1951, for New South Wales, Lancashire County Cricket Club, Eastern Province and Border. He was born in the Sydney suburb of Balmain and died in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State.
Hird was educated at Rozelle Junior Technical School in Sydney, where his classmates included the future Test cricket players Archie Jackson and Bill Hunt.<ref>{{cite web|title=Syd Hird|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/5667.html|website=Cricinfo|accessdate=23 April 2018}}</ref> He appeared in 32 first-class matches as a right-handed batsman who bowled right arm leg spin and off spin. He scored 1,453 runs with a highest score of 130, one of five first-class centuries, and held eight catches. He took 59 wickets with a best analysis of six for 56.<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/5/5907/5907.html Sid Hird at CricketArchive]</ref>
In the 1930s, unable to find employment, Hird moved to England, where he played as the professional for Ramsbottom in the Lancashire League from 1933 to 1939. He moved to South Africa after the Second World War and captained Eastern Province.<ref name=WCA/> In the 1946–47 Currie Cup, when Border needed just 42 in their second innings to defeat Eastern Province, Hird and Steytler Thwaits bowled them out for 34, Hird taking 5 for 16 (match figures of 34–14–39–9).<ref name=CC>{{cite web|url=https://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/eastern-province-defend-42-against-border-currie-cup-1946-47-305834 |title=Eastern Province defend 42 against Border, Currie Cup 1946-47, courtesy Sydney Hird |work=Cricket Country |access-date=4 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Border v Eastern Province 1946-47 |url=https://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1940S/1946-47/RSA_LOCAL/CSC/BOR_EPR_CSC_08-11MAR1947.html |publisher=Cricinfo |access-date=31 July 2025}}</ref>
Hird was later a successful coach in Eastern Province and Orange Free State.<ref name=WCA>''Wisden'' 1982, p. 1202.</ref>
Hird's first marriage ended in divorce in England in 1937.<ref>{{cite journal |title='Home Wrecked by English Climate' |journal=The Herald |date=1 July 1937 |page=1 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/244555094}}</ref> He married again in Grahamstown, South Africa, in 1948, where he worked as a hotelier.<ref>{{cite web |title=Albert. Marriage Certificates 1948 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS27-LQ7Q-9 |website=Family Search |access-date=31 July 2025}}</ref> He died in Bloemfontein in 1980, aged 70.<ref>{{cite web |title=Orange Free State. Probate Estate Case Files 1981 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBQ9-8JW |website=Family Search |access-date=31 July 2025}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{cricinfo|id=5667}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hird, Sid}} Category:1910 births Category:1980 deaths Category:Australian cricketers Category:Border cricketers Category:Eastern Province cricketers Category:Lancashire cricketers Category:Australian expatriate cricketers in England Category:New South Wales cricketers Category:Sir L. Parkinson's XI cricketers Category:Cricketers from Sydney Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen Category:Australian emigrants to South Africa Category:South African cricket coaches