The fast bowler Ron Gaunt, who played three Tests for Australia in the 1950s and 1960s and was later a valuable bowling coach for a young Merv Hughes, has died at the age of 78. Gaunt took seven wickets in his three Test appearances and was a formidable presence in domestic cricket forWestern Australia and Victoria, collecting 266 first-class victims at an averageof26.85.

In Durban in January 1958, Gaunt took a wicket in his first over of Test cricket, that of the South African opener Dick Westcott, and it was all the more remarkable because he had only just flown in to South Africa to replace the injured Ian Meckiff. Australia's captain on that tour, Ian Craig, described Gaunt as a "toprate fast bowler" and a fine team man.