Grahame Lawrence Cruickshanks (2 March 1913 – 8 September 1941) was a South African cricketer and airman.Grahame Cruickshanks, CricInfo. Retrieved 1 October 2022. A left-handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper, he played first-class cricket for Eastern Province and whilst serving in the military in the mid-1930s for Egypt in five matches.Grahame Cruickshanks, CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 October 2022. He was killed on active service in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Biography Cruickshanks was born in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province in 1913, the youngest son of Alexander and Agnes Cruickshanks.Wing Commander Grahame Lawrence Cruickshanks, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 1 October 2022. His brother Clive Cruickshanks also played cricket for Eastern Province.Clive Cruickshanks, CricketArchive. Retrieved 1 October 2022. He was educated at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth, playing cricket and football for the school's teams.McCrery N (2017) The Coming Storm: Test and First-Class Cricketers Killed in World War Two. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. The Southern African History Musings of Ross Dix-Peek, 22 December 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
Cruickshanks played his only two first-class matches in December 1931, playing for Eastern Province in Currie Cup matches against Natal and Orange Free State, scoring a total of 27 runs with a highest score of 19. He played five times for Egypt against HM Martineau's XI between 1935 and 1938 whilst serving in the military, and played for the RAF team, including twice in inter-service matches, during 1939, top-scoring in both innings against the Royal Navy at Lord's with scores of 90―run out "rather stupidly", according to The TimesServices match at Lord's, The Times, 18 July 1939, p. 6. (Available online at The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 October 2022. )―and then 70 not out.Cruickshanks, Wing Commander George (sic) Lawrence, Obituaries during the war, 1942, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 1943. Retrieved 1 October 2022.Cricket, The Times, 14 June 1939, p. 6. (Available online at The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 October 2022. )
His Wisden obituary described him as a "powerful left-handed batsman and sound wicket-keeper", whilst match reports in The Times commented on his willingness to "make ground with his feet" to score boundaries and that he hit the ball hard.Drawn match at Lord's, The Times, 19 July 1939, p. 6. ( Available online at The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 2 October 2022. ) He married Phyllis "Billie" Austin during the late 1930s; the couple had one son, born in Egypt.South Africa Magazine, 20 July 1940, quoted at The Southern African History Musings of Ross Dix-Peek. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
Military service and death Cruickshanks worked for Shell Petroleum in South Africa before travelling to England to join the Royal Air Force in 1933. After serving with 14 Squadron in Transjordan and Egypt for the period, he trained South African and Rhodesian air crew during the early years of World War II. He served in 9 Squadron and was appointed Acting Squadron Leader in September 1940, before moving to lead 214 (Federated Malay States) Squadron flying Wellington bombers in August 1941.Cruickshanks, Grahame Lawrence, Traces of War. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
Cruickshanks died when the Wellington he was flying was shot down over Berlin in September 1941 aged 28. At the time of his death he held the rank of Acting Wing Commander based at RAF Stradishall in Suffolk. He is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in the city. In July 1942 he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.Supplement to the London Gazette, 28 July 1942, p. 3303. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
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