Paul Nicholls (sportsman)

This article is about the Australian sportsman. For other people of the same name, see Paul Nicholls (disambiguation).

Paul Nicholls

Personal information
Full name	Paul Allen Nicholls
Born	(1946-11-10)10 November 1946 East Fremantle, Western Australia
Died	17 January 2009(2009-01-17) (aged 62) Nedlands, Western Australia
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm offbreak
Role	Bowler
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1971/72–1978/79	Western Australia
1973	Hertfordshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A Matches 19 2 Runs scored 492 38 Batting average 23.42 19.00 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 Top score 38 34 Balls bowled 2,167 40 Wickets 30 3 Bowling average 31.43 9.33 5 wickets in innings 1 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 5/68 3/28 Catches/stumpings 7/– 0/–
Source: CricketArchive, 28 May 2020

Paul Allen Nicholls (10 November 1946 – 17 January 2009) was an Australian sportsman who played for Western Australia in first-class cricket during the 1970s and played Australian rules football with the East Fremantle Football Club.

Nicholls, a right-arm offspinner, started his career in the 1971/72 Sheffield Shield season and featured in the Western Australian side for much of the following two competitions. He then spent over four years out of the team before returning in 1977/78, but re-cement his place as the state's premier spinner.

He claimed eight wickets on his first-class debut, against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval, including a five wicket haul in the second innings. Despite his efforts, Western Australia lost the match by 25 runs. Amongst his victims in first-class cricket were the Pakistani pair of Zaheer Abbas and Mushtaq Mohammad, whom he dismissed in a tour match for Western Australia against the touring nation. In all he was part of three successful Sheffield Shield campaigns.

Nicholls spent the 1972 and 1973 English summers playing for the Haslingden Cricket Club in the Lancashire League.

Nicholls was also a good Australian rules footballer and played for East Fremantle in the Western Australian Football League. He holds a place in the club's history for his performance in the 1974 WAFL Grand Final where he kicked four goals from full-forward to help East Fremantle defeat Perth.

Later in his life, Nicholls was a successful magistrate in Western Australia before he died of cancer in 2009.