Joseph Augustine Ongley. Born, 5 February 1918, died 22 October 2000. Married Joan Muriel Archer 1943. 4 sons, 1 daughter.

Joe Ongley, as he was known by all in the cricket fraternity, or Sir Joseph in his more formal role as a Supreme Court judge, died in Wellington Hospital after a brief illness last week. His funeral was yesterday.

A New Zealand representative for one game, a rain affected match against Sir Julian Cahn's tourists of 1938/39, he became a father figure for Central Districts cricket.

Born in Feilding, he was a country player in the old Wellington province. That meant his opportunities to play first-class cricket were restricted as Wellington city-based players tended to get preference.

As players like Martin Donnelly and Tom Pritchard emerged from the 'country' areas pressure went on for greater acknowledgement of players from the outer regions, and a bid to have a team from the Central Districts began in earnest after World War Two.

Ongley's father, known universally as A M Ongley, was at the forefront of the bid to win first-class status from the New Zealand Cricket Council.

Joe Ongley played 20 games for Wellington from the season of his debut in 1938/39. In his first summer in the side he scored the only first-class century of his career, 110 against Otago. That score was the basis of his inclusion in the New Zealand team.

He scored a total of 930 runs at an average of 25.13 for Wellington. He then played eight games for Central Districts and was the side's first captain. He scored 243 runs at 16.20.

While playing he was also filling the role of secretary-treasurer, a position he held from 1949/54. His father, A M Ongley was president of the CD association from 1949/55.

Joe was made chairman in 1954 and held the position until 1969. He was also a selector from 1952 until 1956.

In 1966/67 he managed the New Zealand team which toured Australia and in 1973/74 he was made a life member of CD.

In more recent times he was named the first Patron of the Association.

CD chief executive Blair Furlong commented: "We never had a patron for a long time and when we decided to appoint one Joe Ongley was the logical person.

"His father was the father of CD cricket and the Ongley name has always been synonymous with the game here.

"He was a huge influence on our game. I remember one occasion when we were attempting to get a lot of memorabilia together for our 50th jubilee.

"We had a lot of good material but we were never able to locate the first four annual reports of the Association. I rang Joe and mentioned this to him and he said, 'You won't find them'.

"When I asked why he related there had been one annual meeting he had been given a hard time by one particular person and he was so angry when he went home he threw some of his material away.

"It was unfortunate that he was too unwell to attend our jubilee celebrations but he always kept an interest in proceedings and we had intended to honour him in Wellington in December.

"It is a shame because we would have liked to have involved him," Furlong said.

In the latter years of his judicial career, Sir Joseph Ongley was also chairman of the New Zealand Press Council.

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