Randell McDonnell


Randell Thomas McDonnell or Randall Thomas Macdonnell was a New Zealand cricketer. He played eight matches of first-class cricket for Canterbury [cricket team|Canterbury] and Otago between the 1864–65 and 1875–76 seasons.

Life

McDonnell was born in London into a prominent Irish family. He entered the Royal Navy and served at HMS Excellent (shore establishment)|Excellent] before moving to New Zealand in the 1860s. He served in the Customs Department, first at Lyttelton and then for many years at Port Chalmers, where he was in charge of the port's customs and immigration. He later worked as a saddler.
He died at Dunedin in April 1923, survived by his wife and their two daughters.

Cricket career

Batting third, McDonnell was Otago's highest scorer against Canterbury in 1868–69, with 29 and 24. A season later, now fourth in the batting order, he was the highest scorer in the match on either side when he scored 32 in Otago's second innings. He gave five chances before he was finally out, and Otago went on to win by four wickets.
McDonnell also umpired one first-class match in 1879 as well as the matches between Canterbury and the English [cricket team in Australia and New Zealand in 1881–82|touring English team] in 1882 and between Otago and the touring Australians in 1886.