Cecil Donovan Dixon - A talented medium-to-fast-medium pace bowler, Cec. Dixon was born in Potchefstroom in the Transvaal, South Africa on 12 February 1891, and died in Johannesburg, South Africa on 9 September 1969, aged 78.
During a first-class career that spanned the years 1913 to 1924, it would be fair to say that his batting was exactly what one would expect from a ‘tailender’. From 39 innings he amassed just 184 runs with a top score of 27 and ended his career with an average below six. But he was a respected bowler who took five wickets in an innings on six occasions and ten wickets in a match once.
His best figures, 7 for 16, were gained at the expense of Griqualand West in a Currie Cup match played at Johannesburg in 1923/24, and in that season Dixon went on to take 33 wickets at an average of exactly 10 runs apiece. He topped the bowling averages that season and significantly helped Transvaal to their eighth domestic title.
Dixon toured England with South Africa during the summer of 1924 but was rather disappointing. His only success of note was against Scotland at Glasgow where he followed an innings of 4 for 14 with one of 6 for 39 to gain his only five wicket haul of the tour and the only ten wicket match collection of his career.
He was left out of all the Test matches whilst in England that year but had already gained his sole Test ten years earlier at Johannesburg. Playing against an England side led by J.W.H.T. Douglas in the third match of the series, Dixon failed to score in either innings and took three wickets for 118 runs in the match, including the great Jack Hobbs twice.
He played just one further first-class match after the 1924 tour and his death in 1969 appeared to go unrecorded at the time. Therefore no obituary appeared within Wisden for him.