Colin Hoy was an Australian cricket Test match umpire, the first Queenslander to be appointed.

Hoy took to umpiring after becoming frustrated by a run of batting failures in Brisbane's grade cricket competition, and stood in his debut First-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 match in January 1952.

He umpired nine Test matches

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 between 1954 and 1961. His first match was between Australia

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

 and England

English cricket team

The England and Wales cricket team is a cricket team which represents England and Wales. Until 1992 it also represented Scotland. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board , having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club from 1903 until the end...

 at Brisbane

Brisbane Cricket Ground

The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as The Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. It is named after the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located....

 on 26 November to 1 December 1954, won by Australia by an innings with centuries to Neil Harvey

Neil Harvey

Robert Neil Harvey MBE is a former Australian cricketer who represented the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement...

 and Arthur Morris

Arthur Morris

Arthur Robert Morris MBE is a former Australian cricketer who played 46 Test matches between 1946 and 1955. An opener, Morris is regarded as one of Australia's greatest left-handed batsmen. He is best known for his key role in Don Bradman's Invincibles side, which made an undefeated tour of...

. Hoy's partner in this match was Mel McInnes

Mel McInnes

Melville James "Mel" McInnes was an Australian cricket Test match umpire.He umpired 16 Test matches between 1951 and 1959...

.

Johnnie Moyes

Johnnie Moyes

Alban George "Johnny" Moyes MBE MC was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Victoria. Following his brief playing career, Moyes, a professional journalist, he later gained greater fame as a writer and commentator on the game.As a right-hand batsman Moyes scored 883 runs at an average of...

, writing in 1959 when Hoy was a current Test umpire, stated that "he is young, has excellent eyesight and the keenness to study his art. … He should be in the forefront for years."

His last Test match – in front of a world record crowd of over 90,000 on the second day - was between Australia and the West Indies

West Indian cricket team

The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...

 on 10 February to 15 February 1961, a close match won by Australia by 2 wickets. In this most dramatic of all Test series, Hoy stood in every Test with Col Egar

Colin Egar

Colin John "Col" Egar was an Australian Test cricket umpire.Born in Malvern, South Australia, Egar umpired 29 Test matches between 1960 and 1969.- First-class debut :...

. In the first Test, at Brisbane, Hoy gave Ian Meckiff

Ian Meckiff

Ian Meckiff is a former cricketer who represented Australia in 18 Tests between 1957 and 1963...

 run out to record the first tie in Test history. The West Indies' captain Frank Worrell

Frank Worrell

Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell is sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae and was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator...

 was full of praise for the calm and unobtrusive competence of the umpiring in that tension-filled series.

After that series, Hoy retired from umpiring to concentrate on business and grade cricket in Brisbane, playing for the Valley District Cricket Club

Valley District Cricket Club

Valley District Cricket Club is a cricket club playing in the XXXX Gold premiership, the leading club cricket competition in Queensland, Australia. The club was established on 16 August 1897 and is one of only four remaining foundation clubs...

 until 1988. He returned to umpiring for the World Series Cricket

World Series Cricket

World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...

 tour of 1978-79. His working life was spent in the retail trade and with Ansett Airlines, and he was the Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 reporter for the Brisbane Courier-Mail

The Courier-Mail

The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...

.