| Intro | South African cricketer |
| Was |
Athlete Cricketer |
| From | South Africa |
| Type | Sports |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
21 February 1908 |
| Death |
5 August 1934 |
Neville Anthony Quinn (21 February 1908 – 5 August 1934) was a cricketer who played in 12 Test matches for South Africa from 1929 to 1931-32.
Early cricket career
A left-handed lower-order batsman and a left-arm medium fast bowler, Quinn played first-class cricket for Griqualand West from 1927-28. The following season, in only his third first-class game, he took eight Border first-innings wickets for 37 runs, and this remained his best innings bowling performance. He followed that with six for 19 in 24 overs against Transvaal in the next match, and that secured his place on the 1929 South African tour to England.
Tour to England
He made his Test debut on the tour to England in 1929. He found the bowling conditions of a dry English summer suited his swing bowling, and played in four of the five Tests. He took 6-92 in England’s first innings in the 3rd Test at Headingley, the only 5-wicket haul in his short Test career, and came second in the tourists’ bowling averages behind Tuppy Owen-Smith.
Quinn played in one Test of the series at home against England in 1930-31, the drawn 3rd Test at Durban which was dominated by the English bowlers, and then toured to Australia and New Zealand in 1931-32, also finishing second in the tourists’ bowling averages, this time behind Sandy Bell. He dismissed Donald Bradman for only 2 in the 3rd Test in Melbourne, the only time that Bradman was out for less than 100 in that series. Bradman wrote later: “In the First Test, Neville Quinn … had me sorely puzzled, and I was missed off him twice in my innings, then went on to make 226 … Quinn worried me more than any of their bowlers, and appeared to come off the pitch faster than any medium fast bowler I have met in this country with the possible exception of Maurice Tate.”
The matches on the Australasian tour proved to be his last Test cricket. He died suddenly at the age of 26 of heart failure.
His older brother Michael played first-class cricket for Rhodesia in 1931-32.