John Cordner (sportsman)

John Cordner
Personal information
Full name
John Pruen Cordner
Born(1929-03-20)20 March 1929
Diamond Creek, Victoria
Died10 December 2016(2016-12-10) (aged 87)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingLeft-arm fast-medium
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1951/52Victoria
1952Warwickshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 4
Runs scored 13
Batting average 6.50
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 8*
Balls bowled 612
Wickets 3
Bowling average 78.66
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 2/37
Catches/stumpings 3/–
Source: CricketArchive, 10 April 2023

John Pruen Cordner (20 March 1929 – 10 December 2016) was an Australian sportsman who played first-class cricket for Victoria and Australian rules football in the Victorian Football League (VFL) with Melbourne.

Born in Diamond Creek, Victoria, Cordner came from a famous Australian rules football family with three brothers, Don, Denis and Ted all having noted careers for the Melbourne Football Club.[1][2] John spent just one season with Melbourne, in 1951, and played six VFL games.

Unlike his brothers, John excelled at cricket and made his first-class debut for Victoria in the 1951/52 Sheffield Shield season. Playing against Queensland at Brisbane he dismissed both openers, Leyland Sanders and Wally Grout, with his left-arm fast-medium bowling to finish with figures of 2 for 37 in the first innings.[3] Despite playing another three first-class matches he only managed to take one further wicket. The last of those matches was for English side Warwickshire when they took on the touring Indian cricket team.[4] He was in England at the time studying nuclear science.[5] He played 34 district cricket matches for University, and took 80 wickets at 22.1.[6]

He died in December 2016.[7]

  1. ^ Taylor, Percy, "That Amazing Cordner Family: Brawn and Brains Combined Gives Them a Record Unique in Victorian History", The Argus, (Friday, 26 September 1952), p. 4.
  2. ^ Allen, David, "Dynasty: The Cordner Family", The Yorker, (Spring 2019), pp. 26–31.
  3. ^ "Queensland v Victoria 1951/52". CricketArchive.
  4. ^ "Warwickshire v Indians 1952". CricketArchive.
  5. ^ "Obituaries: John Cordner". Professional Cricketers' Association. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  6. ^ "VCA 1st XI CAREER RECORDS 1889-90 to 2019-20 A-C" (PDF). Cricket Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  7. ^ Ando’s Shout: Hawthorn gun Gary Buckenara hands back Carlton legend Bruce Doull’s 1986 Grand Final guernsey