Arthur Sims

Arthur Sims

Arthur Sims in 1910
Personal information
Full name	Sir Arthur Sims
Born	(1877-07-27)27 July 1877 Spridlington, Lincolnshire, England
Died	27 April 1969(1969-04-27) (aged 91) East Hoathly, Sussex, England
Batting	Right-handed
Role	Batsman
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1896/97–1912/13	Canterbury
First-class debut	8 January 1897 Canterbury v Queensland
Last First-class	27 March 1914 Australia v New Zealand
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 53 Runs scored 2182 Batting average 26.28 100s/50s 2/8 Top score 184* Balls bowled 730 Wickets 19 Bowling average 21.52 5 wickets in innings 1 10 wickets in match 0 Best bowling 5/36 Catches/stumpings 51/0
Source: CricketArchive, 13 October 2011

Sir Arthur Sims (27 July 1877 – 27 April 1969) was a New Zealand first-class cricketer, businessman and philanthropist.

Sims was born in 1877 in Lincolnshire, England, the second son of Samuel and Louisa Sims, who were farmers. In 1880 they migrated to New Zealand, where Samuel managed a farm near Kaitangata in South Otago that belonged to James Rutherford, a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. In 1884, after Rutherford died, the family moved to Canterbury, where Samuel managed the farm near Ashburton owned by another politician, John Grigg, one of the founders of the New Zealand frozen meat industry.

Arthur attended his local school until he won a scholarship to Christchurch Boys' High School. He moved to Christchurch in 1890, boarding with family friends during the school term and returning home during the holidays. He played for the school First XI for several years, scoring over 1000 runs and taking over 100 wickets in his last two years and captaining the team in his final year, 1895. After he left school, John Grigg helped him find a clerical position with the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company in Christchurch.

While working at the meat works Sims studied in the evenings at Canterbury College. He gained his BA and continued on to an MA. After that he studied accountancy and became a qualified accountant.

He played cricket for Canterbury, New Zealand and, in 1914, for Australia. In 1913–14 he captained an Australian XI in New Zealand, putting on 433 runs for the 8th wicket in 181 minutes with Victor Trumper in the match against Canterbury, which remains the world record for that wicket in first-class cricket.