A left-handed, classically correct opening batsman,[1] Goddard was also a successful left-arm medium-pace bowler with 123 wickets at Test level.
[3] Sir Donald Bradman said he was "a completely reliable and honest player who could be depended upon before any season started to put up a sterling performance over a whole series", praised his "qualities of sincerity and integrity", and said that he "enriched the game of cricket and set a fine example".
[4] Born in Durban, South Africa, Trevor Goddard was the youngest in a family of four boys whose father was a linotype operator with the Natal Mercury.
[5] Trevor played in the first XI at Durban High School from 1946 to 1948, scoring several centuries and taking many wickets as a left-arm orthodox spinner, often bowling in tandem with Arthur Tayfield, Hugh's younger brother.
He changed to pace bowling when he began playing for the Tech club in Durban, which had a spin bowler (the Natal left-armer Les Payn) and needed a medium-pacer.
He continued to perform consistently, helping Natal to victory in the Currie Cup in 1954–55 with 460 runs at 51.11, 10 catches, and 9 wickets at 16.00 in six matches, and was selected to tour England in 1955.
He played a big part in the victory in the Fourth Test at Leeds, making 9 and 74 (in an opening partnership of 176 in four and a quarter hours with McGlew after South Africa had trailed by 20 on the first innings) and taking 2 for 39 and 5 for 69.
[15] He maintained his form in the next two domestic seasons, taking 6 for 3 (figures of 11–9–3–6) when Natal dismissed Border for 16 in 1959–60,[16] and making his first double-century, 200 against Rhodesia, two weeks later.
[19] The team vice-captain to McGlew, Goddard made 220 runs at 24.44 and took 17 wickets at 24.35 in the five Tests, although a new restriction of fielders on the leg side prevented his use of his more defensive bowling methods.
He had a job with Decca Records in London, and on weekends during the 1962 English cricket season he played as the club professional for Great Chell in the North Staffordshire League.
[24] Goddard returned to South Africa for the 1962–63 season, scoring 723 runs at 65.72 with four centuries, and taking 19 wickets at 21.31, as "his medium-paced deliveries gave indications of new-found subtlety".
His employer was unable to give him so much leave, and he was only able to tour because the cricket-loving director of a large Durban store offered him a public relations position and time off to play cricket.
[26] He suffered from severe sinusitis during the early part of the tour and spent time in hospital in Perth and Brisbane, where an operation after the First Test relieved the condition.
Sir Donald Bradman said he had "little doubt the South African side should have won the series" had they, and especially Goddard, had more confidence in their ability.
"[30] Nevertheless, Goddard believed that, after the victory in the Fourth Test, "South Africa had at long last come out of its post-war chrysalis and had spread its wings as a Test-winning nation".
[39] Goddard captained a strong South African XI to an important victory against the Australian touring team early in December 1966,[40] then made his highest score, 222 for North-Eastern Transvaal against Western Province a few days later.
Under the captaincy of Peter van der Merwe (who in 1965 had named his son Trevor after Goddard)[41] he played all five Tests against the Australians, scoring 294 runs at 32.66 and having his most successful series with the ball, taking 26 wickets at 16.23.
[42] Asked why the Australians had found Goddard's deliveries so hard to play, Denis Lindsay replied, "Trevor's swinging them in circles.
[50] The captain, Ali Bacher, said that despite the team's success, the day was "one of the saddest since I first played Test cricket for South Africa".
[59] In December 1985, while driving alone near Graaff-Reinet, he fell asleep at the wheel and his car left the road and crashed; he sustained multiple injuries and spent weeks in hospital, but eventually recovered fully.