Henry Victor Angel Holderness (24 May 1889 – 17 July 1974), often known as Victor Holderness, was a New Zealand cricketer. He played a single first-class match for Otago during the 1918–19 season.Henry Holderness, CricInfo. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
Holderness was born at Dunedin in 1889 and lived in the Mornington area of the city. He attended High Street School and played club cricket and association football for Mornington clubs, as well as rugby union for the Zingari club in the Dunedin.Biographical sketches, Otago Witness, issue 3206, 25 August 1915, p. 53. (Available online at Papers Past. Retrieved 22 December 2023.)The war, Otago Daily Times, issue 16302, 8 February 1915, p. 3. (Available online at Papers Past. Retrieved 22 December 2023.)McCarron, Tony (2010). New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010, p. 68. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) During World War I he served as a field artillery gunner in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.Henry Victor Holderness, Online Cenotaph, Auckland Museum. Retrieved 22 December 2023. He was wounded in the left leg 1915 whilst serving at Gallipoli.Casualties, The Sun, volume II, issue 473, 16 August 1915, p. 8. (Available online at Papers Past. Retrieved 22 December 2023.) He was promoted to the rank of Bombardier and later served on the Western Front in France.Service record, Archives New Zealand. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
A well known club cricketer who was considered "a really good bowler", Holderness won a junior representative cap for Otago before the war, but made his only senior representative appearance against Southland in March 1919. Opening the bowling for Otago, he took five-wicket hauls in both Southland innings, five wickets for 10 runs and five for 29, as he and Arthur Alloo bowled unchanged through the match to dismiss Southland for 41 and 55.Southland v Otago 1918–19, CricketArchive. Retrieved 22 December 2023. About us, Southland Cricket Association. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
Holderness died at Dunedin in 1974 at the age of 85. His wife Emily died in 1979 at the age of 81.
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